ADDIS ABABA, 05 August 2021, (TON): The head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said she had raised concerns about “dehumanising rhetoric” with Ethiopian authorities and also called on rebel forces to “immediately” withdraw from two regions bordering the country’s war-hit Tigray.

Wednesday’s call by Samantha Power came as the conflict threatens to envelop other parts of the country and humanitarian groups struggle to reach cut-off populations.

Tigray has been in the throes of a humanitarian crisis for months, with hundreds of thousands of people suffering from famine, according to the UN, while access for aid to the northern region remains hobbled by delays and bureaucratic hurdles.

The situation took a turn for the worse this week when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government suspended two aid groups active in Tigray, accusing them of “disseminating misinformation”.

Ethiopia said on Wednesday the Dutch section of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) “have been disseminating misinformation in social media and other platforms outside of the mandate and purpose for which the organisations were permitted to operate”.

The move sparked condemnation from Washington, with the US ambassador to the UN calling the suspension “unacceptable”.