In Ethiopia, civil society organizations have announced that their existence is in danger if the ban is continued. They have stated that they cannot pay salaries to their workers because their bank accounts have been blocked.

The leaders of two civil society organizations, the Center for the Advancement of Rights and Democracy (CARD) and Lawyers for Human Rights, have expressed that their organizations are facing challenges due to blocked bank accounts, making it impossible to carry out any activities, including paying employee salaries.

Dr. Moges Demse, the Director of the Center for Rights and Democracy Development (CARD), told VOA that they have been unable to find a solution to the issues resulting from the suspension of their work.

“After being told that investigations would be conducted into accusations against us, and that a monitoring team would be sent, we were hopeful that some issues, such as employee salaries and administrative expenses, would be resolved within two to three days. However, after the monitoring team visited, we have not received any further responses,” Dr. Moges Demise stated.

Ameha Mekonen, the director general of Legal Professionals for Human Rights, another banned organization, mentioned that their bank accounts had been illegally blocked, impeding their ability to pay salaries and causing difficulties for their employees.

In a report by VOA, it was noted that efforts to obtain more information from Ethiopian civil society organization Authority officials were unsuccessful. Additionally, African Intelligence reported that the three banned organizations receive significant financial support from the French government’s development agency. The report also indicated that France is very concerned regarding the suspension of civil organizations.

The report also indicated that the French International Development Agency (AFD) has supported for the three civil organizations with a total of €1.15 million in funding.

In addition to the civil organizations, the report also reminded that the French International Development Agency provided support of 54 million birr to the Authority for Civil Society Organizations (ACSO) two years ago.

Meanwhile, its remembered that the Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Authority imposed the ban on the three organizations days before the visit of French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot to Addis Ababa.

International and local organizations, including Amnesty International, have criticized the Ethiopian government’s decision to ban human rights-focused civil institutions, stating that it undermines the civil society environment.

It is recalled that we reported on the banning of the Center for the Advancement of Rights and Democracy (CARD), Lawyers for Human Rights, and the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia.