UN suspends UNFPA Ethiopia chief for criticizing the TPLF terrorist group

Dennia Gayle, The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Ethiopia Country Representative [Picture: UNFPA Ethiopia]

 

Addis Ababa, October 13, 2021 — The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN's sexual and reproductive health agency, has recalled its Ethiopia Country Representative, Dennia Gayle, for criticizing the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and for exposing its influence within the UN. 

 

This is the second such departure this month following the recent leaked interview in which both of UN's higher officials, Achieng and Gayle, complained that Addis Ababa office was being sidelined by UN head office in New York with the assumption that they were "closer to the federal government".

 

AFP reported Monday that Maureen Achieng, the UN migration agency's Ethiopia chief, had been recalled and placed on administrative leave over the same interview, audio of which surfaced online last week.

Maureen Achieng, Chief of Mission to Ethiopia and Representative to the African Union and UNECA [Picture: UNECA Social Media]

In the audio interview, led by pro-Ethiopian writer Jeff Pearce, however, the two women expressed their anguish and disdain towards the TPLF terrorist group which they called “vicious”. They also revealed that the TPLF had installed its agents within the UN. It is, however, seldom mentioned one of the founding fathers of TPLF terrorist group is actually one of the directors of the UN's global health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

TPLF is Marxist Leninist group which led Ethiopia brutally for three decades and after its removal from the central government three years ago, it was labeled a terrorist group by the Ethiopian parliament for its attack on Ethiopia's Defense Forces Northern Command, which was the immediate reason for the start of the northern war.

 

Nevertheless, since the onset of the conflict in northern Ethiopia and under Gayle's leadership, the UNFPA has been closely working with government, implementing partners and other humanitarian actors to address the humanitarian needs of IDPs and host communities with gender-based violence prevention and response, sexual and reproductive health and psychosocial support interventions.

And just recently, UNFPA handed over medical supplies and commodities worth nearly 1 million USD to assist the newly displaced in Amhara and Afar regions.

This complication comes amid Ethiopia’s decision to declare persona non grata on seven UN officials. Ethiopia says the reason for expelling these same officials Achieng and Gayle criticized are for diverting humanitarian assistance to the TPLF, violating agreed-upon security arrangements, transferring communication equipment to the TPLF, continued reticence in demanding the return of more than 400 trucks commandeered by the TPLF for military mobilization, spreading misinformation & politicization of humanitarian assistance.

 

Dennia Gayle was the UNFPA Country Representative in Ethiopia since 12 October 2020. Gayle joined UNFPA in 2006 as a Programme Specialist in the Latin America and Caribbean Division where she was responsible for management and oversight of the Regional Reproductive Health Programme. In 2009, she was appointed to the position of Technical Specialist in UNFPA’s Technical Division (TD) supporting both the Reproductive Health Branch and the Technical Division Directorate. Subsequently, she held the positions of interim Deputy Representative in Uganda, Deputy Representative in Ghana, and most recently UNFPA Representative in Nambia.