ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -The Ethiopia government has proposed five billion Ethiopian birr ($102 mln) in supplementary budget to help finance rehabilitation of war ravaged areas, the government-affiliated media outlet Fana reported on Monday.
Fana said Finance Minister Ahmed Shide had proposed the supplementary budget to “be used for rehabilitation of people affected by war and conflict.”
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government and its allies have been at war for over a year. [L8N2T8353]
The media outlet did not give details on which areas would be covered by the rehabilitation program or the specific projects the program would have.
The conflict that spilled over into the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar has killed thousands, displaced millions, and pushed 400,000 people in Tigray towards famine. The TPLF and the federal government blame each other for the war.
The TPLF accuses Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of wanting to centralise power at the expense of the regions, which he denies. The federal government accuses the TPLF – which used to dominate national politics for nearly three decades – of trying to reclaim power, which it denies.
(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; writing by Elias Biryabarema; editing by James Macharia Chege)
