The EU cannot look away a second time.

Resumption of budgetary support to Ethiopian Regime

Dear Commissioners, Members of the European Parliament,

We, the Amhara Advocacy Group in Europe, are writing to you regarding the announcement made by Commissioner Jozef Síkela on 21 April 2026 in relation to resumption of budgetary support to the Ethiopian administration.

We had noted the European Union’s suspension of budgetary support to the Ethiopian regime during the Tigray war when the regime launched its offensive against the TPLF in 2020. We recall that Abiy Ahmed placed the Tigray region of Ethiopia under military blockade prohibiting free movement of people, goods and capital. The EU’s decision to take such action was not only due to the blockade and existence of the war but also due to the manner the war campaign was conducted.

• The EU pressed the Ethiopian authorities to allow full and unhindered humanitarian aid to reach civilians who found themselves trapped inside the blockade. The EU had also provided humanitarian aid.
• The EU called for protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure that the Ethiopian forces were attacking and destroying deliberately.
• The EU called for an immediate and independent investigation of reports of widespread human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed in Tigray by the Ethiopian army and Eritrean soldiers.
• We had also noted that the United Nations Security Council, backed by many members of the European Union states, had held 11 meetings to discuss the situation.

After the Tigray war had ended, the authorities in Addis Ababa turned against the Amhara region of Ethiopia, and the region has been under military blockade for 3 years. Whilst we have been campaigning to bring this to the attention of the EU and the world at large, we remain puzzled that the EU — which had been clear and loud in condemning the Ethiopian regime’s military campaign against its own people in Tigray — has been silent when the Amhara people are facing the exact same state of affairs now.

History is repeating itself in Ethiopia. The gross human rights violations against ordinary civilians, the collective punishment, the indiscriminate destruction of civilian infrastructure and private property, the public executions of innocent civilians, the widespread use of hunger and rape as an instrument of war — these have been ongoing for the past three years. The same atrocities, the same cruelty, the same brutality and violence, in the same country, perpetrated by the same authorities.

In light of all this, we notice a troubling inconsistency in the level of international engagement. The EU’s earlier, principled stance during the Tigray conflict is now absent. It came to our attention that the EU has announced that it will resume its budgetary aid to Ethiopia. If we draw comparisons: the Tigray war started due to political disagreements and a power struggle between the TPLF and Abiy Ahmed. However, the Amhara people are fighting for their very survival as an ethnic group — after five decades of marginalisation that reached its climax under the current regime. What makes the current regime different is that it is engaged in erasing Amhara culture and faith, and in questioning the very existence of this people as a distinct ethnic group in Ethiopia.

The European Union, which previously upheld its principles by standing in solidarity with the people of Tigray — by suspending monetary assistance, by condemning acts of violence, and by calling for accountability — cannot choose to prop up the same authorities while ignoring the ordeal the Amhara people are facing. We have grave concerns that, given the ongoing military campaign to crush the Amhara people, such budgetary support would provide funds that the regime desperately needs to purchase military hardware and weapons to perpetuate the war against its own people.

We call upon the European Union to uphold the same principles it adhered to in response to the Ethiopian regime’s brutal conduct during the Tigray War, and to impose the same fundamental conditions for the resumption of any budgetary assistance. These conditions should include:

• Urging the Ethiopian regime to lift its military blockade of the Amhara region;
• Demanding the release of all political prisoners and journalists detained without due process;
• Pressing the regime to withdraw its troops from civilian areas and cease drone strikes and extrajudicial killings targeting Amhara civilians;
• Calling for independent international investigations into credible reports of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Amhara;
• Engaging the Ethiopian government to pursue inclusive peace negotiations with Fano forces in pursuit of a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Kind regards,

The Amhara Advocacy Group in Europe
Editors
[email protected] | amharaadvocacy.eu

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Download the full letter with complete references:

• English version (PDF, 4 pages)
• Version française (PDF, 4 pages)

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Sources & References

All 37 references are hyperlinked inline in the letter above and in the PDF version. Full list below for transparency.

1. HRW — Deepening Crisis in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region (Aug 2023)
2. Wilson Center — A Reflection on the Conflict in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia
3. International Crisis Group — Ethiopia’s Ominous New War in Amhara (Nov 2023)
4. The Conversation — Ethiopia’s civil war: what’s behind the Amhara rebellion?
5. Congressional Research Service — Ethiopia: In Brief (Jan 2024)
6. OHCHR — Update on HR Situation in Ethiopia (Jun 2024) — drone strikes, 248 civilian deaths Aug–Dec 2023
7. UK Home Office CPIN — Amhara and Amhara opposition groups, Ethiopia (Jun 2025) — ACLED: 9,096 fatalities
8. HRW — Attacks on Medical Care in Ethiopia’s Amhara Conflict (Jul 2024) — 967 health facilities looted
9. US State Dept — Ethiopia 2024 Human Rights Report — Merawi: 89 civilians killed Jan 2024
10. HRW — World Report 2025: Ethiopia — extrajudicial killings, mass arrests
11. Amnesty International — Ethiopia Human Rights Report 2024
12. UN OCHA — Ethiopia Humanitarian Snapshot, Feb 2024 — food prices up 105–400% in conflict zones
13. Oxfam — Growing Hunger Crisis in Tigray and Amhara (Feb 2024) — 9.4M in extreme hunger
14. UN OCHA — Ethiopia Situation Report (Dec 2024) — 40% health facilities looted, access severely restricted
15. BBC Global Women Investigation — Nov 2025 — 2,697 rape cases at 43 facilities (4% of region); victims aged 8–65; ENDF primarily responsible
16. OHCHR — Update on HR Situation in Ethiopia (Jun 2024) — confirms ENDF perpetrated sexual violence including against minors in Amhara
17. US State Dept — Ethiopia 2024 Human Rights Report — conflict-related sexual violence in Amhara
18. UN OCHA — Ethiopia Situation Report (Dec 2024) — 1,645 documented survivors by Amhara Public Health Institute
19. HRW — EU’s Relations with Ethiopia Ignore Grim Human Rights Reality (22 Apr 2026)
20. Oxfam — USAID and WFP suspended food aid 6 months in 2023 due to diversion allegations in Ethiopia
21. EUObserver — EU restores Ethiopia budget cash as it competes with China for influence (Apr 2026)
22. HRW — World Report 2025: Ethiopia — 54 journalists fled since 2020; mass arrests of academics, lawyers, MPs
23. US State Dept — Ethiopia 2024 Human Rights Report — thousands detained on basis of ethnicity
24. Amnesty International — Hundreds of academics, lawyers, civil servants arrested (Aug–Sep 2024)
25. ICG — Ethiopia’s Ominous New War in Amhara (Nov 2023) — Amhara targeted as ethnic group, not merely as political opponents
26. UK Home Office CPIN — Amhara and Amhara opposition groups, Ethiopia (Jun 2025)
27. Abbink, J. (2006) — Ethnicity and Conflict Generation in Ethiopia — Oxford Academic / African Affairs Vol.117
28. Wilson Center — A Reflection on the Conflict in the Amhara Region — historical roots of Amhara grievances
29. The Conversation — Ethiopia’s civil war: what’s behind the Amhara rebellion? (academic, Nov 2025)
30. European Commission — Official Press Release: Resumption of Budget Support to Ethiopia (20 Apr 2026)
31. Reuters / CNBC Africa — EU resumes Ethiopia budget support after five-year hiatus (21 Apr 2026)
32. The Reporter Ethiopia — EU Resumes Budgetary Support (Apr 2026)
33. HRW — EU’s Relations with Ethiopia Ignore Grim Human Rights Reality (22 Apr 2026)
34. PBS NewsHour — EU postpones $109M aid to Ethiopia over Tigray access (Dec 2020)
35. Devex — EU dispatches humanitarian negotiator to Ethiopia after aid suspension (Jan 2021)
36. Amnesty International — It is long overdue for human rights bodies to bring Ethiopia back to their agenda (Aug 2024)
37. HRW — EU’s Relations with Ethiopia Ignore Grim Human Rights Reality (22 Apr 2026)