Britain suspends aid increase to Ethiopia

Britain has suspended a planned £20m (€30.1m) increase in aid to Ethiopia because of political unrest, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said in Addis Ababa.

Police killed 36 people during protests in the Ethiopian capital last week which were sparked by the conduct of last month’s elections.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is committed to investigating last week’s clashes and making the findings public, Mr Benn said after meeting the Ethiopian leader, who is a member of British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa.

“I am putting on hold the planned increase in direct budget support which we were looking at, which was £20m (€30.1m). In my view, it is sensible to hold on to that to see how the situation develops,” Mr Benn told journalists.

He said his decision would not affect the £60m (€90.2m) Britain has already given Ethiopia to fund its budget.

Mr Benn was on a one-day visit yesterday to the Horn of Africa country where he also met opposition leaders to appeal for calm.

Human Rights Watch said student activists and opposition supporters are among thousands of people have been arrested across Ethiopia following the violence.

Mr Benn called for the Red Cross to be given access to the people who have been rounded up in the mass arrests, and said those held should be charged or released.

He said he gave Meles a list of five names of human rights workers and media activists believed to have been arrested.

No government official was available for comment.

Berhanu Nega, vice chairman of the largest opposition group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, said Mr Benn’s call for the charging or releasing of detainees was welcome.

“Opposition rhetoric may well have contributed to last week’s unrest, but the government must take responsibility for the conduct of its own security forces,” said Georgette Gagnon, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“The security forces have killed dozens of protesters and arbitrarily detained thousands of people across the country.”

Ethiopian government spokesman Zemedkun Teckle said police began releasing many of those arrested and more would be freed in the coming days. He did not give any other details.

Ethiopia’s ruling party, which has pledged itself to democratic reform but shown authoritarian tendencies, claimed victory in last month’s elections based on provisional results. But parties have lodged complaints in 299 of the 527 constituencies in the country.

The violence threatens to destabilise Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, which faces cyclical drought and widespread hunger. It also could strain Meles’ dealings with the international community.