Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday said the United States will provide financial assistance to Ethiopia to help the government pursue political reforms in the country, reported Reuters.
“An agreement has been reached regarding the strengthening of the holistic and ongoing reform in Ethiopia to which the United States Government plans to provide substantial financial support,” an official statement said.
The announcement was made during U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Ethiopia visit. Pompeo is on his maiden African trip to Senegal, Angola and Ethiopia. Ethiopia has long been an ally of Washington, which supplies about $1 billion in aid annually.
During his Ethiopia visit, Pompeo praised political reforms Abiy has spearheaded ahead of the August elections.
“A free and credible vote will show that there is no false choice between democracy and security and it will ensure that everyone has a choice,” Pompeo told reporters in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
The two leaders also spoke about regional issues, which likely included Ethiopia’s dispute with Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is nearing completion. Pompeo expressed his wish that talks on the dam would bear positive results.
Ethiopia claims the dam is important for its economy, while Egypt warns that too-fast filling of the dam’s reservoir in the coming years will adversely affect its share of Nile waters.
Notably, a major test looms in August for Abiy who vowed to conduct a free and fair ballot in a bold break from decades of repression. Ethiopia has undergone dramatic political reforms since Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Ahmed took office in 2018 following years of anti-government protests.
He freed large number of political prisoners and put dissidents and human rights activists in positions of power. Abiy’s reforms led to some violent ethnic tensions in the country that threaten the upcoming national election.
