Key donors to quit Ethiopia

2005-12-29 17:15

Addis Ababa - International donors will withdraw $375m in aid to Ethiopia's government after its recent crackdown on the main opposition party and the independent press, said Western diplomats on Thursday.

The money would be reallocated to the United Nations and aid agencies working to combat poverty among the bulk of Ethiopia's estimated 77 million people who lived on less than a dollar a day.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the diplomats said that some of the money could also finance programmes intended to strengthen democracy.

Main opposition group

Political unrest claimed the lives of at least 46 people in November.

Another 42 died in June in similar protests, which begun after the main opposition parties accused authorities of rigging May 15 polls that returned Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to power.

Thousands of people were detained in the subsequent crackdown. Among those seized were leaders of the main opposition group, editors, journalists, aid workers and human rights activists.

Meles had said the opposition deliberately stirred up the violence in a bid to topple the government.

Development programmes

Ethiopia received about $1.9bn in aid a year - the largest recipient of foreign assistance in Africa.

About $700m was for emergency assistance, while the rest was for development programmes. Aid accounts for up to a third of the government's entire budget.

Britain, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, the World Bank, European Commission and African Development Bank provided direct budget support.

The diplomats said that they informed Ethiopian officials about two weeks ago that they would freeze aid to the government until the political situation improved.

Britain announced earlier that it planned to freeze $35.4m in new aid to Ethiopia, ranked the seventh poorest country in the world.

- AP