APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The European Union Tuesday provided a $650 million financial support to Ethiopia three years after it cut direct aid to the east African country over atrocities committed during a bloody civil war.
The financial support was announced during a news conference after Ethiopian Finance Minister Ahmed Shide and Jutta Urpilainen signed an agreement in Addis Ababa.
“It is time to gradually normalise relations and rebuild a mutually reinforcing partnership with your country,” said Urpilainen, describing the aid package as “the first concrete step” in this process after a ceasefire ended the war last November.
The EU aid package was initially worth €1-billion ($1.04-billion) and was due to be given to Ethiopia from 2021 to 2027, but it was suspended in late 2020 after fighting broke out in the northern Tigray region. The U.S. also halted assistance and legislated for sanctions.
Shide said the aid would help boost Ethiopia’s postwar recovery and facilitate badly needed economic reforms at a “critical juncture” for the country.
“This strategic partnership is now back on track,” he said.
However, direct budgetary support to Ethiopia’s government remains suspended and will not be restored until “very clear political conditions” are met, Urpilainen said without specifying.
She added that a program from the International Monetary Fund was also needed first.
Earlier Tuesday, Urpilainen held meetings with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairman of the African Union Commission.
Ethiopia has tried to block a UN probe from investigating the atrocities and has launched its own transitional justice process, which human rights experts say is flawed.
The UN probe has said all sides committed abuses, some amounting to war crimes.
MG/as/APA