Agency Suspends Working Permits of 3 Foreign NGOs

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia’s Agency for Civil Society Organizations has suspended the working permits of three international aid agencies for at least three months.

MSF Holland, Norwegian Refugee Council And Al Maktoume Foundation, have been registered with the agency as foreign humanitarian organizations.

“While they have been engaged In different humanitarian operations in Ethiopia, the agency has identified rule violations by these organizations while monitoring their activities,” said a government fact check site in a statement on Wednesday.

Authorities accused MSF Holland and Nonvegian Refugee Council of engaging in disseminating misinformation in social media and other platforms “outside of the mandate and purpose for which the organizations were permitted to work”.

MSF Holland has also been accused of illegally importing and using satellite radio equipment without the authorization of a relevant authority.

Its “employees were thus apprehended by the security forces for using the equipment for illegal purposes,” it says.

Al Maktoume Foundation, on the other hand, has been accused of mismanagement of its budget, misusing the budget in the name of the school, as well failing to comply with the Ministry of Education’s Covid-19 protocol.

Besides, “all the three organizations employed foreign nationals without the appropriate work permit from the Ethiopian government for more than six months,” the statement says.

“Despite repeated discussions with t. executives of all the three organizations, they were unable to fix the situation,” adds.

This has led the Agency for Civil Society Organizations to suspend the activities of the organizations “for three months in accordance with Article 77 (4) of Proclamation No. 1113/2011 until a final decision is made”.

 

Featured Image: A logo of a social media page government uses to update on current issues in Ethiopia.