By Cheryl Pellerin | American Forces Press Service
July 20, 2013
ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, July 20, 2013 – Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter began a weeklong trip today that will take him first to Israel and then to Uganda and Ethiopia in sub-Saharan Africa.
During Carter’s first official trip to Israel as deputy secretary, he will meet with senior Israeli defense officials to discuss issues of mutual strategic importance and reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the relationship between the United States and Israel.
While in Israel, Carter will meet with Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, Deputy Defense Minister Amos Gilad and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror, and attend an official dinner hosted by Ehud Shani, director-general of the Ministry of Defense.
After leaving Israel, Carter will stop briefly in Uganda to meet with senior Ugandan government and defense officials. The deputy secretary will thank the Ugandans for their continued commitment in maintaining and improving security in the region.
From Uganda, Carter will travel to Ethiopia to meet with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegu and senior defense officials to discuss issues of mutual importance. The deputy secretary also will thank the Ethiopians for the positive and important security role they continue to play in the region
British aid money flows into offshore fund
By Robert Mendick | The Telegraph
July 7, 2013
More than £160 million of British foreign aid is being channelled through an offshore investment fund used to buy Boeing jets for an African airline and other big business deals.
The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) has received funding from the British taxpayer through a set of offshore companies.
The British aid money is used to put together multi-million pound business deals in Africa.
A recent deal, signed last year, helped finance the purchase of 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners – the world’s most advanced passenger plane – by Ethiopian Airlines, owned by the Ethiopian government.
The EAIF is managed by the Frontier Markets Fund Managers (FMFM), which receives about £4 million a year for its services from the money it receives from the Department for International Development (DfID) and other governments.
FMFM’s staff are based at Standard Bank in London, which receives 70 per cent of the profits the fund earns.
But the company is registered in Mauritius, where foreign companies receive an 80 per cent discount on corporation tax, meaning any profits earned by companies linked to the fund pay tax at a rate of 3 per cent.
This compares with a UK rate of 23 per cent.
Critics said yesterday that DfID appeared to be using aid money to pay City bankers and fund corporate deals rather than help the world’s poor.
“International aid should be used to help the world’s poorest, not invest in international airlines,” said Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
John Hilary, executive director of the anti-poverty charity War on Want, said: “DfID is legally obliged to use the aid budget to combat poverty around the world. Instead, it is now channelling hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to private investment funds run out of tax havens.”
He said using Mauritius as a base allowed companies funded by DfID to escape public scrutiny.
“The British public has a right to know why aid money is being used to prop up wealthy corporate enterprises rather than fighting poverty as it is supposed to do.”
EAIF was set up in 2002 by the then Labour government and received £68.5 million over the next eight years. The Coalition has committed £100 million of further funding until 2015.
FMFM also runs another investment fund called GuarantCo, which has received £64 million from DfID in the past decade.
The EAIF receives its money through the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), also registered in Mauritius. PIDG was set up by DfID with funding from the Swiss, Dutch and Swedish governments.
EAIF provided a £20 million bridging loan for the Ethiopian deal.
Nick Rouse, FMFM’s managing director, said the fund – because of its backing from DfID and other governments – could secure financing for schemes that commercial banks would not lend to.
Mauritius was used to register the varuious funds because it had a developed regulatory system able to handle large sums of money from a number of donor countries, he said.
Mr Rouse said the financing of the Dreamliners allowed Ethiopian Airlines to compete with rivals such as Emirates. “They couldn’t get the money anywhere else,” he added.
A DfID spokesman said: “Providing commercial loans when other finance is simply not available helps African economies to flourish and end their reliance on development assistance. This is an excellent example of how investing in local companies and creating jobs can lay the foundations for future growth.”
World Bank Board approves investigation into allegations of bankrolling human rights abuses in Ethiopia
July 16, 2013
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a full investigation into whether the Bank has breached its policies in Ethiopia and contributed to a government program of forced population transfers known as ‘villagization.’ The Bank’s move follows the resolution of a five-month standoff with the Ethiopian government, which had publicly threatened in May not to cooperate with the investigation. A preliminary report issued by the Bank’s internal watchdog, the Inspection Panel, recommended the investigation in February after receiving a complaint submitted by indigenous people from Ethiopia’s Gambella region.
The complaint alleges that the Anuak people have suffered grave harm as a result of the World Bank-financed Promoting Basic Services Project (PBS), which has provided 1.4 billion USD in budget support for the provision of basic services to the Ethiopian Government since 2006. The Bank approved an additional $600 million for the next phase of the project on September 25th – one day after the complaint was filed. A legal submission accompanying the complaint, prepared by Inclusive Development International (IDI), presents evidence that the PBS project is directly and substantially contributing to the Ethiopian Government’s Villagization Program, which has been taking place in Gambella and other regions of Ethiopia since 2010 and involves the relocation of approximately 1.5 million people.
According to the Villagization Action Plan of the Gambella regional government, villagization is a voluntary process, which aims to increase access to basic services, improve food security, and “bring socioeconomic and cultural transformation of the people.” The services and facilities supported through PBS are precisely the services and facilities that are supposed to be provided at new settlement sites under the Villagization Program.
The complainants, on the other hand, describe a process of intimidation, beatings, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture in military custody, rape and killing. Dispossessed of their fertile, ancestral lands and displaced from their livelihoods, Gambellans have been forced into new villages with few of the promised basic services and little access to food or land suitable for farming, which has in some cases led to starvation. They believe that many of the areas where people have been forcibly removed have been awarded to domestic and foreign investors.
In its official response to the complaint, the Bank’s management denies any connection between PBS and villagization. The Inspection Panel, however, found that this not a “tenable position.” The Panel notes that, “the two programs depend on each other, and may mutually influence the results of the other.” It found that there is a “plausible link” between the two programs but needs to engage in further fact-finding to make definitive findings.
The report also noted that the Bank is required under its policies to ensure that the proceeds of any loan are used for the purposes for which the loan was granted, and that it must assess project risks and report to the Board on actions taken to address those risks. The Panel reports that the case “raises issues of potential serious non-compliance with Bank policy.” It recommends a full investigation in order to determine conclusively whether or not the Bank complied with its policies and procedures, including those intended to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and those subjected to involuntary resettlement.
David Pred, IDI Managing Associate, welcomed the decision of the World Bank Board of Directors. “The next step is to ensure that the Inspection Panel has free and unfettered access to Gambella, without putting local people at risk of reprisals,” he stated. “I’m not sure if that is possible given the level of repression that exists today in Ethiopia, but I am sure the Panel will do its best under the circumstances to confirm the facts and keep people safe.”
The complaint, the Bank’s response and the Inspection Panel’s Eligibility Report are available here.
Source: http://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/
By Businessweek.com
July 12, 2013
Mary Schiavo, a former U.S. Transportation Department inspector general, talks about a fire at London’s Heathrow airport today involving a Boeing Co. 787 jet operated by Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise. A second Dreamliner, operated by Thomson Airways Ltd., was forced to abandon a trip with technical issues after takeoff from Manchester, U.K. Schiavo speaks with Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.”
