EU Pledges an Extra $29 Million to Help War-Torn Ethiopia Region
EU Pledges an Extra $29 Million to Help War-Torn Ethiopia Region
(Bloomberg) -- The European Union pledged an additional 23.7 million euros ($29 million) in aid to deal with the fallout of fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
“Tigray is on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe which risks destabilizing the whole neighborhood,” the EU said in a statement on Saturday.
The United Nations on Thursday approved $35.6 million to support civilians affected by fighting that began on Nov. 4, with thousands of people displaced and an unknown number dead or injured. Access to basic services has been disrupted because of insecurity and a lack of communications.
Humanitarian partners of the EU working in Ethiopia will receive 18.8 million euros of the extra funding, bringing “total humanitarian support for Ethiopia in 2020 to 63.2 million euros,” the EU said.
Sudan, where more than 50,000 people have fled since the conflict began, will get 2 million euros, while Kenya will be allocated 2.9 million euros to deal with deteriorating conditions in refugee camps facing a major food crisis, it said.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he had to take on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which for 27 years dominated the government, after it last month seized the federal army’s Northern Command. Defeat of the TPLF would remove a major hurdle to democratic and market reforms.
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