The African Development Bank (AfDB) will “immediately” withdraw all its international employees from Ethiopia following an assault on its staff members by government security forces, the institution said on Wednesday. The bank sent a high-level delegation to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Nov. 22 to meet with the Ethiopian government and bank staff, Wednesday’s statement said. The delegation’s assessment was that the situation had not been resolved, AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina said in the statement. Its office in Addis Ababa will remain open, and the decision to withdraw international staff will not affect locally recruited employees. In an internal memo from Adesina distributed to bank employees on Tuesday informing them of the staff withdrawal, he said the decision related to an “assault by Ethiopian security forces on two of our international members of staff”.

Source: Ethiopian News December 20, 2023 11:38 UTC