ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – U.N. aid officials and human rights investigators ended a week-long mission to Ethiopia’s troubled Ogaden region on Thursday and said they would present their findings to the government next week.
The mission primarily assessed the food, water and health needs in the remote area, said Paul Hebert, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia.
“Considering this was not an investigative mission, we gathered enough information to enable us to draw preliminary conclusions on the humanitarian situation in the region and on protection issues,” Hebert told Reuters.
The international community has increasingly focused attention on Ogaden, which borders Somalia, after rights groups accused Ethiopian soldiers of shooting civilians and burning homes there in a crackdown on separatist rebels.