He claims that the project is part of the “national recovery program”, financed by the World Bank
July 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government of Ethiopia announced this Tuesday an agreement with the United Nations to launch a reconstruction project in the Tigray region (north), shaken since November 2020 by a conflict between the Army and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF).
The Ethiopian Ministry of Finance has indicated in a statement published on its website that it has signed an agreement with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to “implement a recovery project” that is part of the “national recovery program financed by the World Bank.
Thus, it has detailed that the objectives are “to rebuild and improve access to basic services and climate resilience infrastructure” and “to improve access to a multisectoral service response for survivors of gender-based violence in communities affected by the conflict in Ethiopia.
“Based on the agreement with UNOPS, the agency will launch activities identified under the first objective of the project in the Tigray region,” he pointed out, before adding that the second objective “will be applied by another actor with whom they are having place negotiations”.
In this regard, he explained that UNOPS will carry out activities to “provide rapid response services to communities in Tigray, after consultation with the community”, “rebuild basic services in infrastructure affected by the conflict, in consultation with the communities” and “support social institutions at the community level”.
“UNOPS will implement the project in Tigray until the situation in Tigray improves and allows the Government to carry out the project with its own structure, in which case UNOPS will hand over the activities to the Government,” he said in a statement posted on his account. on the social network Twitter.
The World Bank became the first financial institution to release funds to Ethiopia in April, a decision taken after the beginning of a “humanitarian truce” between the Army and the TPLF at the end of March, although both parties have accused each other since then. of numerous violations.
The conflict in Ethiopia erupted after an attack by the TPLF against the Army’s main base, located in the capital of Tigray, Mekelle, after which the prime minister ordered an offensive against the group after months of political and administrative tensions. A “humanitarian truce” is currently in force, although both sides have accused each other of preventing the delivery of aid.
The TPLF has accused Abiy of stirring up tensions since he came to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to take office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within the ethnically based coalition that had governed Ethiopia since 1991, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, seeing them as an attempt to undermine his influence.
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