United Nations Resumes Work in Drought-Hit Ethiopian Region - Bloomberg
The United Nations resumed some operations in Ethiopia’s drought-stricken Somali region as a search for two workers who went missing in an ambush earlier this month continued, a World Food Programme spokeswoman said.
“We will resume full operations when it’s safe to do so,” Judith Schuler said in a phone interview today from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. “We are constantly evaluating the situation.”
One WFP worker died and another was injured in the May 13 attack that took place on the road from Jijiga, 447 kilometers (278 miles) east of Addis Ababa, and Fik.
Ethiopia blamed the attack on “remnants” of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a rebel movement that has been fighting for self-determination of the Ogaden area of the Somali region since 1984. The group said in a May 16 statement that the attack was carried out by the government.
The state last month issued an appeal backed by aid agencies for $75 million to provide emergency help to 2 million people in the south and southeast of the Horn of Africa nation amid a drought.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Nairobi atpmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
