The EU has suspended its direct budget support to the Ethiopian government for failing to obtain full humanitarian access to the victims of the conflict raging in the Tigray region, announced the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on Friday, 15 January.
“In the absence of full humanitarian access to all areas of the conflict, we have no alternative but to postpone the planned disbursement of €88 million in budget support”, he said in a blog post.
By way of reminder, the EU has mobilised €487 million to support the government's Health Preparedness and Response Plan and several budget support operations have been fast-tracked to help the country cope with the economic impact of the pandemic.
According to Borrell, “it is in the best interest of Ethiopia and the wider region to allow humanitarian access and to resume the path towards an inclusive and sustainable peace”. The High Representative hopes that a favourable outcome can be quickly reached with the authorities.
“We are ready to meet government representatives in Addis Ababa very soon”, Borrell said, insisting that the EU was willing to “do its part in cooperation with the African Union”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)