EU freezes millions in aid to Ethiopia, ‘PM must honor his Nobel Prize’

The European Union demands that the Ethiopian government give aid agencies access to the northern Tigray region, where millions of people have fled their homes because of fighting between the Ethiopian army and the rebels. Until such access is granted, the EU will withhold some € 88 million in aid to the country, Foreign Chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU had promised money for, among other things, the reception of refugees in Ethiopia. In a blog post, Borrell writes that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has now “won the Nobel Peace Prize, he in 2019 must do him justice ”and do everything in his power to end the conflict in Tigray.

The situation in the northern region climbing in early November, when Prime Minister Abiy sent troops against rebels from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), which allegedly attacked a military base shortly before. The fighting that followed claimed the lives of thousands of people. Millions of people have fled, more than 50,000 of whom have crossed the border into neighboring Sudan.

The fighting continues

At the end of November, the Ethiopian government declared that the insurgents were reports, but according to the United Nations, it appears that fighting is continuing in various parts of Tigray.

A week ago, the UN reported that nearly 2.5 million people in the region were in need of food aid, among other things. Despite an agreement with the Ethiopian government on this subject access to refugees in Tigray, according to the UN, it is still not possible to provide emergency aid in a number of refugee camps on the edge of Eritrea.