Millions of Ethiopian Famine Aid Used to Buy Weapons
From the Telegraph:
Millions of pounds of Western aid money intended to buy food for starving Ethiopians during the country’s 1984 famine were instead used by rebels to buy weapons, an investigation has found.
At least some of that money was likely to have come from the £150 million raised by Live Aid and Band Aid. More than three million copies of Do They Know It’s Christmas sold in just five weeks in late 1984 to raise funds for the estimated eight million Ethiopians facing starvation. Up to a million died.
According to a report published on Wednesday, rebel soldiers disguised themselves as grain traders and handed over sacks of sand hidden beneath genuine food aid, in return for cash from Western donations.
The rebel army involved, headed by Ethiopia’s current prime minister, Meles Zenawi, went on to overthrow Ethiopia’s Marxist government and has run the country since.
Mr Meles has been one of Britain’s most favoured African leaders after promising democratic reforms.
The investigation by the BBC, will raise further questions over Western support for Mr Meles and his ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.
[Read more at the Telegraph]
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