Ethiopia - EFFORT merged with Dejenna Endowment

By Yohannes Anberbir

Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), has merged with Dejenna Endowment, which has the same aim. The measure comes following Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s wife, Azeb Mesfin’s, appointment as its deputy head.

EEFORT was established in 1995 as a non-governmental foundation controlling 13 companies engaged in finance, trade, mining, construction, transport, and agriculture, and more than 10 subsidiary companies.

Criticism from opposition parties has labelled EFFORT as controlled by the ruling coalition, the EPRDF. They have urged it to withhold from business activities because of its alleged connections, but figures from the ruling party have denied giving continued support to the foundation.

According to them, assets acquired during the period of armed struggle against the Derg in the late 1980s and early 1990s provided the resources to establish the endowment fund, which aims to rehabilitate war damaged areas of Tigray, Ethiopia’s most northerly regional state.