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Live Aid charity concerts funded Ethiopian rebels - Africa - Live Aid - Ethiopia - scandal

Live Aid charity concerts funded Ethiopian rebels

Millions of dollars of aid, from Western governments and charities, including Live Aid and Band Aid, intended to buy food for starving Ethiopians during the country's 1984 famine were misused by rebels to buy weapons, a BBC investigation has found. A rebel leader claims that 95 per cent of the aid donated, US$95 million, was diverted into the rebel fight.

Published: 03/04/2010 04:59

Although millions of people were saved by the Western aid that poured into Ethiopia, the evidence from the BBC investigation suggests that not all of it went to the most needy.

Rebel soldiers disguised themselves as grain traders and handed over sacks of sand hidden beneath a layer of genuine food aid in return for cash from Western donations.

"I was given clothes to make me look like a Muslim merchant. This was a trick for the NGOs," said Gebremedhin Araya, who claims he was a senior member of the TPLF.

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