Government aid to Ethiopia ‘defies logic’

TWO Irish Aid partner countries have been spending large sums of money recently, but unfortunately not on the welfare of their peoples.

The Ethiopian government has just placed an order with Ukraine for 200 T-72 tanks, worth in the region of $100 million.

It has also ordered a consignment of unmanned surveillance aircraft (drones) from Israel, the cost of which is yet unclear.

Uganda has bought eight fighter jets and other military hardware worth $700 million from Russia.

It defies logic that the Irish Government continues to channel large sums of aid money through such governments. How, for example, after having bailed us out, would the International Monetary Fund and the European Union react if Ireland were to spend the equivalent of $720 million on fighter planes, or order $100 million worth of tanks?

There were already serious questions of probity concerning the governments of Ethiopia and Uganda, now there is a moral question of considerable dimensions facing our own government.

John O’Shea

GOAL PO Box 19

Dun Laoghaire