The US announces a humanitarian assistance package valued at 312 million euros for Ethiopia

March 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, has announced this Wednesday, on the occasion of his trip to Ethiopia, a package of humanitarian assistance for the country valued at 331 million dollars (312.6 million euros).

“This funding will provide vital support to people displaced and affected by conflict, drought and food insecurity in Ethiopia,” it said in a statement, adding that this brings the total assistance to $780 million ( 736.8 million euros) in fiscal year 2023.

Blinken met this Wednesday in Addis Ababa with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Demeke Mekonnen, as well as with the Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, to discuss the cessation of hostilities in northern Tigray and access to humanitarian aid in the region. , as well as “the importance of accountability for the atrocities perpetrated by all parties during the conflict.”

The US Secretary of State also held an appointment with representatives of Ethiopian civil society, where he expressed the importance of making the Human Rights of all Ethiopian citizens prevail.

“We’ve been talking a lot, of course, about the very important cessation of hostilities in Tigray, which has produced very significant benefits, but one aspect of that is, of course, the importance of transitional justice and accountability, making sure that the rights of every Ethiopian are protected,” he reiterated.

The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 after an attack by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF) against the main Army base, located in Mekelle, after which the Abiy government ordered an offensive against the group.

The outbreak of the fighting came after months of tensions at the political and administrative level, including the TPLF’s refusal to recognize an electoral postponement and its decision to hold regional elections on the sidelines of Addis Ababa.

The TPLF accused Abiy of stoking 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 coalition that has ruled Ethiopia since 1991, the ethnically based Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, which it viewed as an attempt to undermine his influence.