General Fiseha Kidanu, the head of an investigation committee established by Ethiopia’s Interim Regional Administration (IRA) of Tigray Region, announced Thursday that regional and federal authorities as well as Eritrean soldiers engaged in the theft of food aid in Tigray, Ethiopia. He also stated that 7 out of 186 suspects have been taken into custody. According to an internal humanitarian memo, the USAID believes that food was diverted to Ethiopian’s military in a scheme orchestrated by regional and federal government entities. While the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments did not respond to media requests for comment, the Ethiopian government stated that it is investigating the assertions of the WFP and USAID. It disapproved the agencies’ decisions to suspend food aid, holding that the suspension would escalate the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, where more than 20 million people are in need of food assistance.

Source: Ethiopian News June 17, 2023 08:30 UTC