Ethiopia on Wednesday defended its decision to suspend two humanitarian groups active in its war-hit Tigray region, accusing them of “disseminating misinformation” online.
The three-month suspension of the Dutch section of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) represents the latest blow to the troubled humanitarian response in Tigray, where the UN says hundreds of thousands are suffering from famine.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ethiopia said both MSF and NRC “have been disseminating misinformation in social media and other platforms outside of the mandate and purpose for which the organisations were permitted to operate”.
Jan Egeland, NRC’s secretary general, has frequently used his Twitter account to issue stark warnings about the humanitarian situation in Tigray.
