(AG) Over 500 Ethiopian women lost jobs this week as direct result of US sanctions, an industrial manager told Awasa Guardian (AG) with condition of anonymity. The manager, who blamed US support for an insurrection in the northern Tigray region, said several local & foreign companies based in Hawasa-Sidama that exported to the US are already closing shops.
However, some businesses in the famous Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP) have survived by acquiring new markets for their products as well as by operating in partnership with other multinational companies based in China and India. Though the Ethiopian government is not doing enough to help these businesses by reducing bureaucratic hurdles and diversifying export destinations, he accused. Nonetheless thousands of Ethiopian workers have become unemployed since President Joe Biden US government unexpectedly suspended “AGOA” trade relations with Ethiopia, after war was sparked by the US-backed Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) former rulers-turned-rebels.
The industrial manager said among the latest hundreds of mostly women victims of this US sanctions was one garment worker whose husband was murdered by the TPLF during the night the Tigrayan insurrection began in early November 2020. “He was shot by Tigrayan officers inside ENDF who picked apart (ethnic profiled) non-Tigrayan members of the Northern Command, and he was actually the only provider for the household,” he added.
While many women factory workers in this hawassa industrial park (the largest IP in Africa) were lowly paid, the salary was enough to put food on the table for their children, AG has learnt.
In addition to obstructing economic growth and industrialization efforts in Ethiopia, the United States recently disrupted a historic telecom liberalization agenda of the Prime Minister Abiy’s government by blocking vital financing. While the US is historically known to block World Bank (WB) and IMF loans for major Ethiopian infrastructure projects like hydroelectric dams on the Nile, the latest hardline moves by the US has spread more fear and uncertainty among foreign investors.
It is unknown if US will fix its foreign policy around the AGOA trade agreement, though US state department last week praised the increase of humanitarian aid into Tigray region, after TPLF rebels agreed to withdraw and demilitarize aid routes in Afar region. However, with the famous TPLF supporter Kjetil Tronvoll recently announcing the need for more war before the rainy season, many Ethiopians fear that most of the trucks full of humanitarian aid & fuel headed to Tigray will likely be repurposed to transport TPLF’s army, prolonging the war once again.
The Hawassa-based industrial manager and other critics say the United States is damaging Ethiopia’s future economic outlook. To add insult to injury, critics say the US embassy in Addis Ababa recently paid $50 million allegedly for a US communication company to assist Ethiopian youth locate employment. The program, nicknamed “Kefeta,” is financed by USAID and it is designed to help unemployed young Ethiopians find jobs, only months after US sanctions made thousands of Ethiopians lose their jobs.
