Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to investigate Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, for supporting rebellious forces fighting the Ethiopian government.
Ghebreyesus, Ethiopia’s former health minister and foreign minister, said last week that aid is being blocked from reaching rebellious Tigray where the government is fighting rebel forces.
“Tedros Adhanom’s moral, legal and professional standing that threatened WHO’s organisational standing,” Ethiopia said in a statement late on Thursday.
“He has spread harmful misinformation and compromised WHO’s reputation, independence, credibility which is evident from his social media postings.”
The WHO acknowledged it received a diplomatic communication from Ethiopia’s foreign affairs ministry, called a note verbale.
It said the WHO “will continue to ask the Ethiopian government to allow access to deliver humanitarian supplies and services to the 7 million people in Tigray, Ethiopia…”
He said, “WHO and partners have been repeatedly calling for urgent and unimpeded access to deliver humanitarian health supplies and services to the people in Tigray.”
Government officials have denied blocking aid and alleged the rebellious forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) requisitioned trucks previously sent in.
Tedros has previously been accused by Ethiopia’s army chief of trying to obtain arms and diplomatic backing for the TPLF. He denied this.
Thousands have died in the conflict in Tigray, which spilled over into two neighboring regions before Tigrayan forces were forced to withdraw back to Tigray in December.
According to the UN, the government is operating a de facto blockade of humanitarian assistance to Tigray; since Dec. 15, no trucks have entered the region. There are more than 90% of Tigray’s population who require food aid, and many people – such as malnourished children – are dying since no medicine has been allowed into the country.
On Thursday, Tedros tweeted “People in #Tigray #Ethiopia, living under de facto blockade for over a year, are dying from lack of medicine & food, & repeated drone attacks. @WHO & partners call for safe, unimpeded access to deliver humanitarian aid to the millions of people in great need.”
The WHO stresses that access to those affected, as well as political action by all parties to achieve peace and security, is the primary call of the international community.
Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said Tedros didn’t show integrity or professionalism and was a member of the Ethiopian People’s Liberation Front, which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly 30 years before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018.
“Tedros encourages the TPLF in his media engagements and celebrates what is presumed to be a military success of the group, besides engaging in selective outrage where he discriminately addresses the humanitarian concerns in Ethiopia,” the ministry said.
After the conflict erupted in November 2020, the government designated TPLF as a terrorist group. Tedros, a Tigrayan, was a member of the TPLF. In the past, Abiy served as chief of intelligence under the TPLF government.
In May 2017, Tedros was elected the WHO’s first African director general, with support from Ethiopia and other African nations. Tedros ran again as a sole candidate in October. The Ethiopian government refused to support Tedros, and 28 other countries appointed him for a second term.