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Ethiopia
slams Swiss charity over Ogaden pull-out
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 ADDIS
ABEBA(July 14,2008) - Ethiopian
officials have accused a medical charity of spreading hearsay after
it halted activities in a remote region bordering Somalia citing repeated
obstructions, intimidation and arrests.
The Swiss section of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) pulled out of
the Fiiq area this week, saying it was unable to help locals caught
in a conflict between the Ethiopian army and separatist Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels.
But the regional government said development in the area would not
be hampered by what it called baseless allegations.
In a statement to Ethiopia's state news agency ENA late on Friday,
it accused the charity of "disseminating hearsay which stands
in sharp contrast to the realities on the ground."
"Some international media organisations are showing carelessness
to professional ethics as they carry one-sided information supplied
to them by MSF," it said, adding that the regional authorities
were providing all necessary assistance to groups that were committed
to development.
Ethiopia, an important U.S. ally in the region, launched a new offensive
in Ogaden after ONLF rebels killed more than 70 people during a raid
on Chinese-run oil field in April 2007.
It routinely rejects criticism of its tactics in the rocky, arid region
as a campaign of defamation by "anti-peace" forces.
MSF-Switzerland said on Thursday that "repeated administrative
hurdles and intimidations" had prevented it from helping vulnerable
locals in Fiiq, where it started a programme at the end of last year.
"The authorities' attitude towards humanitarian organisations
has translated into recurrent arrests of MSF- Switzerland staff without
charge or explanation," it said.
Since January, its medical teams had only been able to work for 10
weeks in Fiiq town and five weeks in its outskirts, where the needs
were greatest, because of a lack of work permits.
"Despite continuous attempts to improve working relations with
the authorities, (we) can only regret the absence of any room to bring
independent and impartial assistance," said Hugues Robert, who
runs the Ethiopia programme in Geneva.
Last month, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said donors who gave the
Addis Ababa government more than $2 billion a year in aid needed to
speak out against what the group called widespread and systematic
atrocities by Ethiopian forces in Ogaden. |
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