November 11, 2024

Re : Abiy Ahmed is not committed to eradicate poverty, but the poor!! 

Your Excellency,
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz,

It has come to our attention that your government has reached a funding agreement with the Ethiopian regime worth the sum of €30 million. 

In Ethiopia, the ethnic based federalism that has been enforced on Ethiopian people by the TPLF without any public debate for over 3 decades has been eroding inter ethnic coexistence and thereby resulting in civil wars. 

The investment sectors previously controlled by the TPLF regime  have enriched the Tigray elites. The systematic unfair misappropriation and misuse  of funds compounded by corruption and favouritism resulted in popular uprisings that topped the regime. The current   Oromo affiliated regime is not just repeating the same blunder but exacerbating the already existing inter ethnic tensions. Genocide and ethnic cleansing  of one of the biggest ethnic groups, the Amharas, who are known for opposing the ethnic based political system is intensified. Just like TPLF, Abiy Ahmed is depriving other regions the fair share of the federal budget and in the cases of Amhara region not only the well known systematic economic and political marginalisation but a complete blockade of the region and a military campaign to silence the anti ethnic based federalism is going on. Abiy Ahmed is misusing any funds it can access to fund the state sponsored genocidal war against the Amhara region and benefit the Oromo government officials rather than developing the country’s economy and alleviating poverty.

In many parts of cities including the capital, thousands of homes have been destroyed by the government without providing the inhabitants with alternative accommodation or compensation for their properties. Whilst the poor are driven out of their homes, their houses erased to the ground and made homeless, Abiy Ahmed is building an opulent palace worth 10 billion US dollars. 

Ethiopia has been gripped in civil wars for the fourth consecutive years destroying public infrastructure in Tigray and Amhara region, resulting in loss of millions of lives and displacement of millions of people. In Tigray alone during the war that lasted for two years, the destruction is estimated to have reached 26 billion US dollars and no official estimate has been released about the destruction in the ongoing civil war in the Amhara region. Without peace and security, neither foreign nor domestic investment is feasible. The Lack of investment is exacerbated by the blatant and widespread corruption. Nepotism and cronyism are the whole mark of the current regime in Ethiopia. 

The ongoing  genocidal war declared  by Abiy Ahmed against the Amhara people has destroyed most of the education, health and religious institutions in the region, using drones and heavy artillery. Those that are spared of such attacks  have been turned into  military camps and the entire education sector  has been disrupted, preventing an estimated 7 million children from attending school. Any consideration of loans or aid to the regime should take these facts into account. 

We bring these clear facts to the attention of donors to press the Ethiopian regime to stop  its deliberate destruction of public infrastructure including education, health and religious institutions as well as its indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, its collective punishment of innocent people, its use of hunger, rape and destruction of properties as instruments of war against its own people. 

Even in the relatively peaceful part of the rest of the country lawlessness, abduction of people for ransom, a complete breakdown of law and order characterises Ethiopia and the government has lost control. Ethiopia is literally edging towards a complete collapse and we worry that it is on the road to a failed state. Any support to the Ethiopian regime is not just a sign of complacency but an offer of a lifeline to the decaying regime.  

We call for a stance  with the Ethiopian people and for the sake of peace and stability not only in Ethiopia but also in the Horn of Africa by pressing the Ethiopian regime to stop its genocidal war in the Amhara region and seek a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Any development aid or funds that are made available to the Ethiopian regime should be earmarked for specific projects, their spending monitored and verified that they deliver the intended results. 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Federation of Amhara Association in Europe