Tigray
The European Union said Wednesday it is postponing nearly 90 million euros in budget support payments to Ethiopia because of the conflict in the northern Tigray region.
The funds would only be given if Ethiopia’s government met the EU’s conditions, which include granting humanitarian aid access to everyone in need across Tigray, European Commission spokeswoman Ana Pisonero-Hernandez told AFP.
The decision came as the UN children’s agency UNICEF warned that 2.3 million children remain cut off from aid in Tigray, as food and other supplies dwindle. Another EU condition for funding was that civilians be allowed to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, after reports some had been blocked trying to join the tens of thousands who have fled the fighting into Sudan.
Pisonero-Hernandez said the other conditions were the end of “ethnically targeted measures and hate speech.—AFP
