Sir, - Kevin Myers tapped on a Pandora's Box in his piece concerning aid and Africa's need for less charity and more fairness (An Irishman's Diary, July 8th). Ethiopia invaded Eritrea in May this year, looting and destroying homes and property and rendering one third of Eritrea's 3 million people homeless, destitute and starving.
Ethiopia is Ireland's biggest aid recipient. The Ethiopian government recently lauded the Irish Government as the only donor country to provide no-strings-attached aid while it carried on its war with Eritrea. The Tigray region, home of the Ethiopian government and the driving force for the invasion for Eritrea, now gets half of Ireland's £30 million aid for 7 per cent of Ethiopia's population. Is Ireland Aid out on a limb in increasing its aid to a country and to a region that is hell bent on destroying its neighbour?
Our Minister for Development gave carte blanche for the invasion a week in advance, praising the Tigrayan regime for "trying to solve a problem with a difficult neighbour" (Ethiopia, 60 million people, Eritrea, 3 million)! No Ireland Aid official or diplomat has visited Eritrea since the war started to hear the other side of the story. Not one penny has been allocated to Eritrea's 1 million destitute people. The imbalance is total.
What about our cozy cartel of Irish NGOs? Goal, Concern and Trocaire have danced to the Ethiopian tune, apart from John O'Shea spanking a few bureaucratic bottoms. Not a dime for Eritrea - "they didn't need us before, so why should we help them now?" Only Refugee Trust has had the integrity to swim against the tide and try to inform the Irish people that a grave injustice is being committed in the name of charity.
Kevin Myers alluded to Africa's need for less charity and more self-reliance. Eritrea is widely regarded as Africa's beacon of self-reliance. Ireland, having filled Ethiopia's begging bowl to the brim for 15 years, is spurning Eritrea in her one hour of need. Kevin Myers observed in his excellent piece that the Irish NGOs shape our understanding of countries and influence decisions in Iveagh House. As an Irishman living in Eritrea and witnessing her trauma while not one single penny is provided from the most generous people on earth, I am ashamed of my country for pursuing a policy which belittles Ireland's own history. - Yours, etc.,
John Weakliam, PO Box 5540, Asmara, Eritrea.