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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 9 december 2020
Ethiopia's forces shoot at, detain U.N. staffers in Tigray

By CARA ANNA 100,000 refugees from Er-
Associated Press itrea amid reports that they
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — have been attacked and
Ethiopia's security forces abducted. The camps are
shot at and detained Unit- near the border with Eritrea,
ed Nations staffers as they which some fleeing people
tried to reach part of the have accused of entering
embattled Tigray region, a the conflict, a charge that
senior official said Tuesday, Ethiopia denies.
and he blamed the U.N. Food ran out at the camps
staffers for trying to reach days ago.
areas where "they were not "Regaining access to refu-
supposed to go." gees and others in need is
The shooting occurred urgent and critical for UN-
amid soaring frustration HCR and humanitarian or-
among humanitarian offi- ganizations," the head of
cials as desperately need- the U.N. refugee agency,
ed aid is still not freely Filippo Grandi, tweeted
reaching the Tigray region Tuesday.
more than a week after the The head of the Norwe-
U.N. and Ethiopia's govern- gian Refugee Council, Jan
ment signed a deal for ac- Egeland, said his organiza-
cess. tion is "deeply concerned
The senior government of- Tigrayans who fled the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, start wood fires to prepare dinner, in front to find that humanitarian
ficial, Redwan Hussein, told of their temporary shelters at Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, Monday, access to the region is still
reporters that the U.N. em- Dec. 7, 2020. significantly constrained. ...
ployees "broke" two check- Associated Press These people can no lon-
points and were trying to ger be made to wait. Aid
go through a third when incidents in the future." according to international last month declared vic- must not be left at a stand-
they were fired upon. He He said the four U.N. staff- principles. tory in the conflict in the still. We have been stand-
said the staffers have since ers on Sunday had been "The situation on the ground Tigray region against the ing ready to deliver food,
been released. trying to assess roads, a is complicated" at the local Tigray People's Liberation emergency shelter and
"They were told in some key step before larger aid level, Dujarric said, and dis- Front. The government as- other essential materials for
areas they were not sup- convoys can go in. An- cussions continue with the serts that the fighting has weeks, and we expected
posed to move. But they other U.N. spokesman, Far- government "to try to get stopped except for some this deal to clear the way."
indulged themselves in a han Haq, said the staffers where we want to be." "sporadic shootings," but The U.N. announced the
kind of adventurous expe- were stopped at a military Crucially, the deal allows the TPLF has said fighting deal with Ethiopia's govern-
dition," he said. checkpoint near Sheraro. aid only in areas under continues. The TPLF leaders ment last Wednesday, say-
United Nations spokesman The town is near the Eritre- Ethiopian government con- are on the run. ing it was signed on Nov.
Stephane Dujarric called an border. trol. The government on Food, medicines and oth- 29.
the report "alarming" and Ethiopia's government is Tuesday said 44 truckloads er aid for some 6 million The fighting in the region
said U.N. officials "are en- making it clear it intends of food aid had been de- people — some 1 million erupted Nov. 4 between
gaging at the highest level to manage the flow of hu- livered to Shire, the main of them now displaced — Ethiopia's government
with the federal govern- manitarian aid, but the U.N. town near the refugee are in the balance. Of spe- and the government of
ment to express our con- has openly sought unfet- camps. cial concern are camps the Tigray region following
cerns and avoid any such tered and neutral access Ethiopia's government late that are home to nearly months of rising tensions.q

Bavaria to leave medieval anti-Jewish sculptures on churches

BERLIN (AP) — Authori- of Jewish communities a "Jew pig" sculpture else-
ties, churches and Jewish agreed on the approach where in Germany makes
communities in Germany's with representatives of its way through the court
southern state of Bavaria Christian churches and system.
have agreed that anti-Se- state officials, according to Earlier this year, an appeals
mitic statues and carvings dpa. court rejected a Jewish
dating back to the Middle There are around a dozen man's bid to force the re-
Ages shouldn't be removed such relics in Bavaria, such moval of the 700-year-old
from churches, an official as one on the cathedral relic, which depicts people
said Tuesday. in Regensburg. Spaenle identifiable as Jews suck-
The Bavarian government's said those considering the ling the teats of a sow while
point man against anti- matter had decided unani- a rabbi lifts the animal's
Semitism, Ludwig Spaenle, mously against their remov- tail, from a church in the
said that relics such as the al, and argued that if the eastern city of Wittenberg
"Judensau," or "Jew pig," statues were removed from where Martin Luther once
sculptures that still adorn their context it would be preached. In this Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020 file photo the so-called "Juden-
some churches should be hard to explain them. They The plaintiff, who argues sau," or "Jew pig," sculpture is displayed on the facade of the
explained "visibly and easi- might also lose their func- that the sculpture is "a def- Stadtkirche (Town Church) in Wittenberg, Germany.
ly recognizably" where they tion as a warning against amation of and insult to the Associated Press
stand, the news agency anti-Semitism, he said. Jewish people," has sug-
dpa reported. The Bavarian decision gested removing the relief ting it in a nearby museum and work. He has taken the
Bavaria's association comes as a dispute about from the church and put- dedicated to Luther's life case to a federal court.q