On December 16, 2020 a facebook post was emerged by a facebook user named Solomon Tekaligne (an account with 56,900 followers and 4,999 friends) sharing the European Union flag with the claim that the European Union has decided to cut a 90 million euro budget support to Ethiopia over the ongoing armed conflict in Tigray. The text which is written in Amharic reads “Thanks European Union, it reached a decision to suspend the 90 million euro budget support to Ethiopia…. We expect, next that .. Abiy Ahmed to be accused of war crime by the International Criminal Court…” However, HaqCheck has interogetted the case and confirmed that the European Union (EU) did not suspend the 90 million euro budget support to Ethiopia due to the ongoing armed conflict in Tigray. But the EU has decided to postpone a decision on a potential 90 million euro budget support payment due before the end of this year. Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post as PARTLY FALSE.
Granted, the European Union has decided to delay a decision on a potential 90 million euro budget support payment to the Ethiopian government before the end of 2020. In an email sent to Addis Zeybe by a Political Officer at the Delegation of the European Union to Ethiopia Jozef Naudts, the EU has decided to postpone a decision on the 90 million euro budget support payment due to the conflict in Tigray and following the humanitarian crisis in the region as a result of these hostilities. According to the Political Officer the EU has set forth clear conditions that must be fulfilled by the government of Ethiopia before the said support may be resumed. These preconditions according to Jozef are identified as granting full humanitarian access for relief actors to reach people in need in all affected areas; the guaranteed ability of civilians to seek refuge in neighbouring countries; the cessation of ethnically targeted measures and hate speech, the erection of mechanisms to monitor human rights violations to investigate allegations of breach of human rights as well as the full restoration of communication and media access in Tigray. However, according to the Political Officer these cuts in aid are not related to EU humanitarian programs and interventions on the ground as well as development actions implemented or funded by the European Union in Ethiopia.
In conclusion HaqCheck has interrogated the post and confirmed that the claim is PARTLY FALSE .
Fact Checked by: Hagos Gebreamlak
Edited by: Bruck Negash Teame
The following article is part of HaqCheck, Addis Zeybe’s multilingual fact checking running in five languages (Affan Oromo, Amharic, Somali, Tigrinya and English)
Editor’s Note:
The following article was published as part of Addis Zeybe’s multilingual fact checking initiative. As the reconstruction of our website continues, Addis Zeybe would like its readers to note that it will be publishing fact checking articles on a permanent basis in five languages (Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Somali, Tigrinya and English. Addis Zeybe will also be publishing monthly pandemic impact assessment and human rights reports in the coming months.
