Ireland rejects call to cut off aid to Ethiopia

January 22, 2006

“Wubishit Solomon, a 17-year-old student, said he had been running from police when he was hit with a bullet that passed through his neck.” – AP on police firing into a crowd celebrating Ethiopian epiphany. At least two were killed, and over 34 wounded. (January 20, 2006)

DUBLIN – The Irish government has rejected calls by the charity Goal to withdraw all aid to the Ethiopian government because of its poor human rights record.

Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Conor Lenihan defended the multi-million-euro budget, saying the State chose very carefully where the money was spent.

However, he admitted that some of the money did go through the Ethiopian central government but insisted this was specifically tagged to such areas as health and education.

“Last year we were confronted with the choice of strengthening our partnership with Ethiopia and putting in an additional 2.5m onto that 30m in direct budget support,” he said on RTE radio. “We refused to do so.

He said he was “deeply unhappy” at the manner in which the opposition in Ethiopia was being treated.

But he added that other charities were not asking him to cut aid in the same way as Goal.

Chief executive of Goal, John O’Shea, said the Government should channel aid through other means such as non-government agencies rather than give government-to-government support.

“We want to see the poor of Ethiopia benefit” he said. “We don’t want to see aid cut off but we want it channelled through other routes,” he said.

(Irish Independent)