Britain suspends planned aid increase to Ethiopia after deadly unrest
ADDIS ABABA, June 16 (AFP) — Britain has suspended a planned increase in direct budget support to Ethiopia after deadly clashes in the capital last week during protests over disputed elections.
The announcement from British International Development Minister Hilary Benn was the first by a foreign donor that the unrest in which at least 36 people were killed and the ensuing police crackdown would affect assistance on which impoverished Ethiopia depends heavily.
At the close of a brief visit to Addis Ababa late Wednesday, Benn said London had decided to scrap for the moment plans to boost its current budget support to Ethiopia from 30 to 50 million pounds (55 million to 91 million dollars, 45 million to 75 million euros) in September.
“I am putting on hold the plan to increase direct budget support that we were looking at,” he told reporters. “In my view it is sensible to hold onto that to see how the situation develops.”
He stressed, however, that the decision to suspend the 20-million-pound (36-million-dollar, 30-million-euro) increase did not mean Britain was abandoning its assistance to Ethiopia.
“Britain remains committed to the development partnership that we have with Ethiopia, above all because it is in the interests of the people and I do not want the Ethiopian people to suffer about what has happened here in the last few weeks,” Benn said.
He said he had raised direct concerns with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi about the actions of the security forces on June 8 when they opened fire on crowds during election protests and the crackdown on students and opposition members blamed for the violence that followed.
“The prime minister told me there would be an investigation and the results of that would be published,” Benn said, adding that he had told Meles that the thousands of detainees rounded up should be given due process.
“Those detained should either be charged or released and the Red Cross should have access to camps where people are being held,” he said.
His comments came after the US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said the crackdown in the capital had spread to at least nine other Ethiopian cities and that many thousands of detainees were at increasing risk of abuse by security forces.