A DELEGATION from the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee has had what it describes as a “very frank and open” exchange about Ethiopia’s human rights record during a meeting with the country’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, in Addis Ababa.
The committee has responsibility for parliamentary oversight of programmes run by Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas aid division.
The Irish Aid budget for Ethiopia for 2011 amounts to €25.7 million, making it one of the State’s biggest aid recipients.
The delegation was briefed by Human Rights Watch ahead of this week’s visit in relation to issues of concern, including allegations that aid was being used as political tool and the arrests of opposition figures and journalists under anti-terrorism laws which were passed last year.
Two Swedish journalists are currently on trial on charges of supporting a rebel group in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.
The delegation, which includes committee chairman and Fine Gael TD Pat Breen, Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Fine Gael TD Dan Neville and Labour Senator Lorraine Higgins, also raised concerns yesterday over legislation which prevents local NGOs that get more than 10 per cent of their funding from abroad from working on issues including human rights.
Mr Breen said the Ethiopian prime minister was “fairly up front and frank” in his response.
“He did say that they were not a perfect government and acknowledged that they do make mistakes,” Mr Breen said, “but he was emphatic that they were striving to do their best in the interests of Ethiopia, which is a very poor country with little resources.”
The question of how to transform Ireland’s relationship with Ethiopia into one defined more by trade than aid was also discussed.
This approach is at the heart of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s new Africa strategy launched in September.
The delegation also raised the issue of forging a bilateral agreement on adoption in Ethiopia.