Six U.N. staff members have been released but five others, along with a deputy, are still being held in Addis-Ababa, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday.
At least 16 UN staff and dependents were arrested earlier this month amid reports of mass arrests of Tigrayans.
However, the Ethiopian police denied making any ethnically motivated arrests, saying they only detained supporters of the Tigrayan rebel forces that have been fighting the federal government for a year.
The release of the six U.N. workers comes on the eve of the return to Ethiopia of U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman and the African Union’s High Representative for the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. They hope to restart peace talks and negotiate a cease-fire.