Aid funds
EU: 650 million euros for Ethiopia
Jutta Urpilainen has announced aid for Ethiopia. photo
© Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa
The EU had suspended a planned aid package due to the civil war with serious human rights violations in the Tigray region. Now the aid is being resumed – but there are concerns.
“It is time to gradually normalize relations and rebuild a mutually reinforcing partnership with your country,” Urpilainen said. However, direct budget support to the Ethiopian government remains suspended.
It will only be resumed when “very clear political conditions” are met, said Urpilainen, without elaborating. Ahmed said the aid will support Ethiopia’s recovery and facilitate much-needed reforms at a “critical period.”
Tigray war marked by human rights violations
The EU aid package was originally worth one billion euros and was intended to be made available to Ethiopia from 2021 to 2027, but was suspended at the end of 2020 after fighting broke out in the northern Tigray region.
The Tigray war claimed thousands of victims and was marked by massacres, rape and allegations of forced starvation. The EU has long stressed that it will not normalize relations with Ethiopia until these crimes are accounted for.
Ethiopia has recently tried to prevent a UN investigation into the atrocities and launched its own transitional justice process, which human rights experts say is insufficient. The UN investigation found that all sides committed abuses, some of which qualify as war crimes.
Human rights experts continue to see risks
The EU’s aid pledge to Ethiopia came a day before the deadline for the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to extend the mandate of the inquiry. Today, UN experts warned that further independent investigations into the “catastrophic human rights situation” in Ethiopia are needed because there is an “overwhelming risk of future atrocities.”
A U.N. fact-finding mission report last month highlighted “serious and persistent” atrocities in Tigray and questioned the Ethiopian authorities’ commitment to real accountability.
Last week, Human Rights Watch called for the EU to submit a resolution to the UN Human Rights Council calling for continued investigations into the atrocities. “If it does not do this, it would be denying its own obligations,” said the human rights organization.