Tigrayan inquiry accuses 186 suspects over aid fraud

A Tigrayan commission of inquiry on Wednesday accused 186 suspects, including authorities and NGOs, of diverting food aid meant for Ethiopia's troubled north.

The US government's humanitarian agency (USAID) and the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) announced in May announced they were freezing food aid to Ethiopia's war-scarred Tigray region after finding shipments were diverted to local markets.

Then in June both organisations extended the decision to the whole of Ethiopia, with USAID citing "a widespread and coordinated campaign" to divert donated supplies from the needy as the reason for the suspension.

According to Fiseha Kidanu, head of the inquiry set up by the Tigrayan authorities, five entities -- the Eritrean government, the Ethiopian government, Tigray regional authorities, coordinators of displaced people camps and aid workers -- had participated in the fraud, official media reported.

Eritrea was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 after sending troops  into Tigray in support of Ethiopian forces  during the two-year war in the region and has been accused of  atrocities including the massacre of  hundreds of civilians.

Seven of the 186 suspects are already in custody, Kidanu added in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.

Last week Ethiopia's government said in a joint statement with USAID that it was committed to addressing the "deeply concerning revelations of food aid diversion".

Due to conflict and drought, around 20 million people in Ethiopia depend on food aid, 16 percent of the total population, the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said in May.

Ethiopia hosts nearly one million refugees, mostly from South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea.

Nearly 30,000 fleeing the recent conflict in Sudan have since mid-April found refuge in the country.

Rebel fighters in Tigray began demobilising last month, marking a new stage in the implementation of a peace deal signed by the federal government and regional authorities.

The two-year war in Africa's second most populous country killed untold numbers of civilians and forced about two million from their homes before it ended with a surprise truce in November last year.

On Thursday, the Ethiopian foreign ministry reiterated that an investigation would be carried out at national level into the aid scandal.

"Nevertheless, this will not prevent certain entities from wanting to use 'diversion of aid' as a tool of diplomatic pressure," foreign ministry spokesman Meles Alem told reporters.

"The government considers misappropriation of food aid as a reprehensible and condemnable act," he added.