Ethiopian Review

Addis Ababa — Washington is rethinking the strategy of directing the bulk of its aid through non-governmental organisation (NGOs), a US State Department senior official said last week.

Paying a one day visit to Addis last Monday, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Jacob Lew said the new administration is looking at the overall balance of assistance programs.

Donating over a billion dollars worth of aid last year alone, the US is among Ethiopia’s leading donors. Most of the non-food aid comes through local NGOs and, with the law in effect, these NGOs are not allowed to receive more than ten per cent of funding from abroad.

“We think there should be the right for NGOs to work and to do as much work as they can effectively do. We are separately looking at what the right balance is in terms of assistance programs,” Lew said at last Monday’s press conference held at the US Embassy.

Welcoming the signal that US assistance may curb third parties’ involvement, the Ethiopian Government Communication Affairs Office Minister Bereket Simon said: “Humanitarian aids are essential and very beneficiary. However assistances should improve quality and support efforts we exerting to eradicate poverty in a sustainable manner.”

Secretary Lew, the second senior US official to visit here after the new administration took office, visited the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange and Gandhi Memorial Hospital and also conferred with senior officials, including the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Human rights spat

“We stand by the findings of the report,” Lew said during the visit retreating US position to support the accuracy of the annual congressional mandated Human Right report that accuses Ethiopian Government of serious violations of rights including unlawful killings.
“We have demonstrated point by point all the allegations included the report are baseless,” Minister Bereket commented on the Secretary’s remarks: “Through meetings we held with various Embassy officials after the release of the report, the officials admitted that they didn’t have both the structural and financial preparations to verify the allegations included in report, which were submitted by the opposition.

“After admitting that this is a report compiled without any work of verification, to show public support is artificial.”

- By Kirubel Tadesse | Capital Ethiopia