The United Nations (UN) and the Ethiopian Government hold talks regarding the Tigray conflict, the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reported on Wednesday.
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The official said that the UN is aware of reports about the shooting of a convoy. However, the spokesperson did not report any casualties among the international staff."These are alarming reports, and we are engaging at the highest level with the federal government to express our concerns and avoid any such incidents in the future," Dujarric said.
According to the UN, there are at least 950.000 people displaced by the conflict; over half of them have fled to Sudan, and hundreds more to bordering Eritrea. Last month the Ethiopian government had started talks with the Eritrean authorities for the return of migrants.
However, the United Nations and other agencies are pushing to have access to the Tigray region. Last week both parties reached an agreement to access the region. Nonetheless, on Sunday, there were reports of targetting of UN convoys.
In this sense, the spokesman for the Ethiopian government's task force for Tigray Redwan Hussein said that the understanding they reached with the United Nations "was in the belief that the U.N. would coordinate with us, but the government would call the shots."