Not ending poverty — ending the poor.

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 enforced on the Ethiopian people by the TPLF — without any public debate for over three decades — has eroded inter-ethnic coexistence and repeatedly resulted in civil wars.

The investment sectors previously controlled by the TPLF regime enriched the Tigrayan elite. The systematic misappropriation and misuse of funds, compounded by corruption and favouritism, resulted in the popular uprisings that toppled that regime. The current Oromo-affiliated regime is not merely repeating the same blunder but exacerbating the existing inter-ethnic tensions. The genocide and ethnic cleansing of one of the largest ethnic groups — the Amhara, who are known for opposing the ethnic-based political system — has intensified. Just like the TPLF, Abiy Ahmed is depriving other regions of their fair share of the federal budget; and in the case of the Amhara region, beyond the well-documented economic and political marginalisation, there is now a complete blockade of the region and a military campaign to silence opposition to ethnic-based federalism. Abiy Ahmed is misusing any funds he can access to wage a state-sponsored war against the Amhara region and to benefit government officials, rather than developing the country’s economy and alleviating poverty.

In many cities, including the capital, thousands of homes have been demolished by the government without alternative accommodation or compensation for the inhabitants. While the poor are driven from their homes and made homeless, Abiy Ahmed is building an opulent palace reported to cost around 10 billion US dollars.

Ethiopia has been gripped by civil war for a fourth consecutive year, destroying public infrastructure in the Tigray and Amhara regions and causing the loss of countless lives and the displacement of millions. In Tigray alone, over a two-year war, the destruction has been estimated at some 26 billion US dollars; no official estimate has yet been released for the ongoing war in the Amhara region. Without peace and security, neither foreign nor domestic investment is feasible — a problem made worse by the widespread corruption, nepotism and cronyism that are the hallmarks of the current regime.

The war declared by Abiy Ahmed against the Amhara people has destroyed much of the region’s education, health and religious infrastructure through drones and heavy artillery. Institutions that have been spared are turned into military camps, and the education sector has been so disrupted that an estimated seven million children are prevented from attending school. Any consideration of loans or aid to the regime should take these facts into account.

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

Even in the relatively peaceful parts of the country, lawlessness, abduction for ransom and a breakdown of law and order prevail, and the government has lost control. Ethiopia is edging towards collapse, and we fear it is on the road to becoming a failed state. Any support to the Ethiopian regime is not merely a sign of complacency but a lifeline to a decaying government.

We call on you to stand with the Ethiopian people and, for the sake of peace and stability in Ethiopia and across the Horn of Africa, to press the Ethiopian regime to halt its war in the Amhara region and to seek a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

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