Sunday April 17, 2022
Ethiopia on Wednesday received a massive boost to rebuild
from the Tigray war after the World Bank agreed to disburse $300 million
targeted at local communities whose lives have been destroyed.
The money given under the International Development
Association (IDA) is part of the bank’s Ethiopia project known as the
Response-Recovery-Resilience for Conflict Communities.
It will partly go to reconstructing local facilities such as
health centres and other amenities but will also help locals get assistance for
effects of war, such as sexual violations and gender based violence (GBV), the
bank said.
The decision by the bank may have come as a surprise as
Ethiopia is battling accusations of atrocities by its own military in the war,
claims it has dismissed.
Last week, the UN approved a budget for an independent
investigation by a specially assigned panel of three experts to look into the
atrocities after rights watchdogs unearthed evidence of mass graves and
interviewed people who claimed they had been tortured.
Improving services
By this week, there were still accusations of restricting
aid into Tigray, three weeks after Ethiopia formally granted humanitarian
corridors.
The World Bank grant will go into renovating damaged social
facilities like schools and hospitals as well as helping people begin a new
life from the war.
“To urgently meet the needs of conflict-affected
communities, mobile units will be dispatched to provide key services including
in the areas of education, health, water, and sanitation,” a dispatch said.
The project will begin with areas in Afar, Amhara,
Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia and Tigray regions “which have been highly impacted
by the recent conflict and host large numbers of internally displaced peoples
(IDPs),” the bank said.
“This project will help to improve access to health,
psychosocial support and legal services for GBV survivors in conflict-affected
regions where quality response services are limited,” Ousmane Dione, World Bank
Country Director for Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan said on
Wednesday.
Part of the money will also support long-term investments in
institutions, communities and policies for the conflict-afflicted communities.