NAIROBI (Somaliguardian) – Rebels in Ethiopia’s war-wrecked Tigray region have been looting aid warehouses, US agency said on Tuesday, calling the alleged thefts a “great concern for humanitarians”, just weeks after it accused the government of Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed of blocking aid to the northern region.
“We know for a fact… that the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front), every town they’ve gone into they looted the warehouses, they’ve looted trucks, they’ve caused a great deal of destruction in all the villages they visited and it’s a great concern for humanitarians,” Sean Jones, head of the USAID mission in Ethiopia, told Ethiopian state television EBC.
“I do believe that TPLF has been very oppertunistic. May be they are stealing from citizens, we don’t have proof of this,” she added.
USAID official said they have proof “that several of our warehouses have been looted and completely emptied in the areas, particularly Amhara, the TPLF soldiers have gone into”.
Tigray forces have not immediately commented on the US agency’s claims, but the leadership of Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – the party that dominated Ethiopia for decades before Abiy rose to power in 2018 – accused government troops of looting aid vehicles heading to the northern region.
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