MSF quits Ethiopian region
2008-07-10 13:23
Geneva - The Swiss branch of Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) on Thursday said it was withdrawing from Ethiopia's Somali region due to intimidation from the Ethiopian authorities.
"The authorities' attitude towards humanitarian organisations has translated into recurrent arrests of MSF Switzerland staff without charge or explanation," MSF said in a statement.
These "repeated administrative hurdles and intimidations" had prevented the aid agency from bringing urgently needed medical aid to the population.
MSF Switzerland had started an aid programme in December 2007 in the Fiiq region, which was in the Somali part of Ethiopia.
"Over the six months of our intervention, our medical teams could only work for ten weeks in Fiiq town and five in the periphery of the town where the most important needs are," said Hugues Robert, who was in charge of the Ethiopia programme in Geneva.
Since April last year, increasing violence and economic blockages linked to ongoing conflict between the authorities and opposition movements had hit the civilian population hard.
The situation had been further worsened by regional drought.