Six months after suspending aid to Ethiopia on democracy concerns, two of the impoverished nation’s top donors agreed on Friday to put much of that money to education and health projects.
The World Bank and Britain said they had redirected a total of more than $385-million from suspended direct budgetary support to programmes to help the poorest of Ethiopia’s poor over the next two years.
They said they were still troubled by the situation in the country after last year’s disputed elections, deadly post-poll violence and a crackdown on the opposition, but stressed that the poor should not be punished.
”The political signal we want to send is … we want you [the government] to continue your work on poverty while at the same time we have concerns on the human rights issue,” said Paul Ackroyd, the head of Britain’s Department For International Development in Ethiopia
”We do not feel that the political events of last year should penalise the poor people in Ethiopia,” he told reporters at an Addis Ababa news conference called to announced the move.
On Thursday, the World Bank board of directors approved a $215-million basic support programme to fund the projects while Britain separately agreed to put up $176-million.
”The programme … reflects a determination to protect the country’s poorest citizens from unnecessary setbacks flowing from the contested elections and the ensuing period of political uncertainty,” bank country chief Isaac Diwan said.
”This is not a blank check that we are signing now, this a check we sign in the hope there will be some progress in reducing poverty and in the political and human rights situation,” he said.
Ethiopia has come under intense criticism for its high-handed response to opposition protests against alleged fraud in last May’s in demonstrations that rocked the capital and outlying towns in June and November.
At least 84 people were killed, many of them by police, and thousands detained while a group of opposition figures are now on trial, accused of conspiring with Eritrean-backed rebels to overthrow the government.
In December, many of Ethiopia’s donors, including the World Bank and European Union, suspended direct aid to the government, amounting to nearly $400-million, with an eye to shifting it to humanitarian projects.
Then in January, Britain itself withdrew about £50-million of its £90-million in direct budget support in opposition to the crackdown. — AFP
