Ethiopia to lift duty on Western aid vehicles, says O'Donnell

A commitment to lift the duty on vehicles used by NGOs to transport humanitarian aid in Ethiopia has been made by that country's government, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, has confirmed.

The Minister secured the commitment from the Prime Minister, Mr Ato Meles Zenawi, during a meeting on Friday evening in the capital, Addis Ababa. Implementation of the commitment will now be worked out with the international Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission.

Speaking to The Irish Times in Addis Ababa at the weekend, she said it was a cause of major concern for Irish NGOs involved in the humanitarian effort that 95 per cent of the cost of bringing in vehicles was composed of government duties. She said the lifting of this duty would "presumably" apply to all NGOs, not just those working from Ireland.

Welcoming the news as a "major achievement", Mr David Begg, chief executive of Concern, who is visiting Ethiopia at the moment, said the lifting would mean savings of about £40,000 per vehicle.

Ms O'Donnell, who returned to Ireland last night, spent a week in Ethiopia during which she visited a number of projects run by Irish NGOs. She is the only European development minister to have visited the country in advance of a meeting of EU development ministers in Brussels, on May 18th.

"My major concern will be the effectiveness of EU aid pledges," she said. "It is currently taking eight months from the time it is pledged for aid to reach the people here. In general, the slow response of the EU to this current humanitarian crisis is terrible. Shortfalls in aid mean people dying."

She would also seek the support of her fellow development ministers in her call that humanitarian aid should not be made conditional on Ethiopia reducing its war effort against neighbouring Eritrea. "I will challenge the concept of restricting long-term aid to the world's third poorest country."

On Ethiopia's hostilities with Eritrea, and international concerns that the Ethiopian government is spending a significant proportion of its GNP on prosecuting them, Ms O'Donnell said she could understand how the government was "hurt".

"I feel terribly sorry for them," she said, "because they just can't understand how it was Ethiopia that was aggressed by Eritrea and now the international community is turning on Ethiopia and putting restrictions on aid to it, as it faces famine."

Ms O'Donnell also met the director of the World Food Programme in Ethiopia, Ms Judith Lewis; the director-general of the Euro-American Directorate MFA, Mr Ato Hiruy Emanuel; the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Tekedu Alemu, and the Minister for Economic Development and Co-operation, Mr Ato Girma Biru.

Ms O'Donnell said she was "very glad" she had visited the country, which, according to Mr Beggs, is facing a humanitarian crisis on a par with that during the famine of 1984-1985. The most harrowing part of the trip, she said, was to the Damot Weyde area in Wollita which is currently enduring the harshest effects of the three-year drought.