Addis Abeba — EU announced today new funding of Ꞓ22 million in humanitarian aid for the most vulnerable people in Ethiopia after the EU Council announced on April 25 that it looks forward to "a normalization of relations with Ethiopia."

The fund is said to support and assist those suffering from the impact of conflict and displacement including refugees, drought and other climate-related hazards, and epidemics, according to a press release sent to Addis Standard.

This amount adds to the 60.5 million EUR announced earlier this year for Ethiopia to support actions for conflict- and drought-affected populations, bringing the total of EU humanitarian funding support in Ethiopia to 82.5 million EUR in 2023. The figure shows the total amount of funding of 4.8. Billion in Birr.

"Against the backdrop of the widespread humanitarian needs in Ethiopia, the EU has mobilised this additional funding to continue supporting humanitarian organisations in the country to scale up their emergency, life-saving assistance to the people in need," said Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic.

Humanitarian needs in Ethiopia are massive, resulting from the two-year conflict in the north of the country, Tigray and where the conflict escalated to Amhara and Afar regions, a devastating and prolonged drought in Oromia and Somali regions of Southwestern and Southeastern parts of Ethiopia, large population displacements, as well as additional conflict hotspots and localized conflicts, according to the statement.

Additionally, more than 90,000 refugees have recently crossed into Ethiopia from Somalia, with Ethiopia now hosting now over 890,000 refugees.

On April 27, Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Ministry welcomed the EU Council's conclusions to soothe relations with Ethiopia, which were severed following the war in the Northern part of the country.

The Ministry noted in a statement on Wednesday Ethiopia's endeavor to revitalize relations with the EU and said the recent move would help strengthen the partnership. AS