Ethiopia Curbs Foreign Relief in Rebel Areas

The Ethiopian government said Wednesday that it is temporarily withdrawing all foreign relief workers from the drought-stricken northern provinces of Eritrea and Tigre because of mounting rebel activity in the region.

A statement issued by the government’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission called on foreign relief agencies to hand over their operations to the agency, the government organization that coordinates relief work in Ethiopia, but it said that local charities could continue working in the area.

The commission said the Ethiopian Red Cross Society will carry on the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Vincent Bernard, a Red Cross representative in Addis Ababa, said his organization has 25 to 30 expatriate officials in northern Ethiopia.

A U.N. relief official said there are probably 20 to 30 more foreign relief officials who will have to leave the region.

Food Distribution Cut

Relief workers say fighting in the north has virtually stopped the distribution of emergency food aid to an estimated 3 million drought victims in Eritrea and Tigre.

The rebel Tigre People’s Liberation Front recently has claimed spectacular victories over Ethiopia’s Soviet-backed government. A rebel spokesman said Tuesday in London that his organization now controls the province, except for the capital, Makale, and two garrison towns to the south.

Another rebel movement, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, has broken out of its stronghold at Nacfa to seize several government-held towns in northern and western Eritrea, a spokesman in Brussels said.

The Tigre group is fighting for regional autonomy in Tigre and a more liberal political system in Ethiopia as a whole, while the Eritrean group is fighting for independence for Eritrea, which was an Italian colony until World War II and later joined Ethiopia in a federation.