By Andrew England, Financial Times
Donors are to withhold direct budgetary support worth about $375m (€317m £218m) from Ethiopia following the government’s brutal crackdown on opposition supporters last month, western development officials said yesterday.
Until the situation improves, the donors – which include the World Bank, the European Union and the UK – will look to disburse the funds in other ways to continue tackling the country’s massive poverty challenges, Ishac Diwan, the World Bank’s country director, said.
The move is a further blow to the credibility of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s prime minister, who was once regarded as a visionary African leader and was appointed to the UK’s Commission for Africa.
“Because of the situation, trust has broken down so we are trying to find other ways of doing it (funding),” another western development official said.
At least 46 people were killed and thousands detained during several days of politically motivated violence in the capital in November. Some 40 others were killed in similar clashes in June, which erupted after disputed elections in May.
More than 100 people, including opposition leaders and journalists were charged last week with treason, genocide and other offences, despite calls from donors that political detainees should be released.
Opposition groups made unprecedented gains at the elections, but later alleged the process was rigged and called for peaceful protests. The government blamed the opposition for the violence and used extreme force to put down rioters, deploying huge numbers of police, as well as soldiers armed with sniper rifles, on the capital’s streets.
The heavy-handed manner in which the supposedly-reformist government handled the crisis shocked many and raised serious concerns about Mr Meles’s democratic credentials.
The quandary for donors, who pump about $1bn in development aid into the country annually, is how to be seen to be taking a tough stance towards the government while at the same time continuing to work to alleviate poverty in the impoverished nation.
“We are very concerned and have taken principled positions, along with our development partners, on the recent disturbances,” Mr Diwan said. “It’s a very important issue today in several African countries: how to at the same time get good economic growth and improvements in governance in order to achieve sustainable development.”
Despite the crisis, Ethiopia was one of 19 countries the International Monetary Fund approved 100 per cent debt relief for last week – part of an agreement reached by the Group of Eight nations to cancel multilateral debt to the world’s poorest nations.
The IMF, to which Ethiopia owed $161m, makes its decisions based on macroeconomic stability, not governance issues. The World Bank, to which Ethiopia owes about $3.5bn, is due to announce its decision on debt relief next year.
Ethiopian Review, Dec 29, 11:30 AM
The popular uprising in Ethiopia against the fascist regime of Meles Zenawi continues today. Most high schools in Addis Ababa and other cities are closed. Students at Wondyrad and Abiyot Qirs high schools staged a protest rally today. Troops shot at students at Wondyrad school in Kotebe. A nationwide peaceful protest has been called for next Wednesday.
The jailed CUD leaders and journalists appeared in court again today and asked to return next Wednesday.
Many observers, including legal experts and foreign diplomats, are expressing the view that the trial is being used by the Meles regime to prevent demands from the international community to release the prisoners.
The court today was surrounded by special forces armed with heavy weapons. Many schools were closed.
Pamphlets calling for general strike starting January 9 are being distributed through out the city.
Ethiopian Review
Dec 28, 2005
On Thursday December 22nd, police entered Felege Edget and Fasiludus schools in the early morning hours and waited for students to arrive. The unsuspected students gathered in their respective school compounds as usual before classes begin. The students were taken by surprise when a large number of troops emerged out of their hiding and charged towards them. The troops blocked all exits and started to savagely torture the students. They were beaten with large sticks and forced to kneel down on their knees and crawl on sharp rocks covered with blood. The troops broke the arms and legs of many of the students. The torture was so intense that some students fainted from massive blood loss and severe body injuries. There are reports that unknown number of students were murdered. Eye witnesses have seen military pick ups taking students to unknown locations. Residents of the city saw the incidents from a distance in great horror.
On Monday December 26th, the authorities announced that all schools are closed in Gonder for one week. The authorities have called for a mandatory parent meeting in all the Kebele associations to discuss the escalating unrest in the city. Authorities have started to warn parents that they will face severe consequences, including beating and imprisonment, unless they report any suspicious activity by children.
Police and students clashed at Ambo’s Meskerem Hulet high school yesterday. Police opened fire on students and arrested many of them.
In the town of Gedo, 68 km from Ambo, a bomb exploded injuring several students. The students say that the police threw the bomb at them.
In Addis Ababa, students and teachers continued their protests today. There were protests in Menen, Shimelis Habte, Tikur Anbessa and other high schools, and Tegbareid Technical School.
In Kera, near Shimelis Habte high school, government buses were burned today.
Agazi troops were seen shooting at civilians. Roads were closed for many hours. Pamphlets are being distributed calling for a nationwide uprising against the fascist regime of Meles Zenawi.
Hundreds of people from the towns of Mendi and Gimbi, western Ethiopia, are rounded up and taken to Senkele Police Training Center in Ambo. Special forces surrounded these towns after the residents started holding protests demanding the removal of Meles Zenawi and Junedin Sado. The protests were held after an unknown group distributed a pamphlet asking the people to rise up against Junendin Sado, “the Grazianni of Oromia.” Eyewitnesses who escaped arrest told Ethiopian Review that the protest will continue after the special forces leave the towns for other areas. They said the towns’ police are with the people. Similar protests are going on in Bale, southern Ethiopia, since last week. ER is trying to get more details.
