Britain freezes aid over civil unrest

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ADDIS ABABA-- Britain has frozen 20 million pounds sterling (US $36 million) in aid to Ethiopia due to last week's civil unrest that left some 36 people dead, a senior UK government official said on Wednesday.

"I am putting on hold the planned increase in direct budget support that we were looking at, which was 20 million [pounds]," Hilary Benn, Britain's development minister, told reporters in the capital, Addis Ababa.

"In my view, it is sensible to hold on to that to see how the situation develops," he added.

Benn, who was on a one-day visit Ethiopia, announced the decision hours after a meeting with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi during which they discussed the recent violence triggered by demonstrations in Addis Ababa against alleged fraud in the country's parliamentary elections on 15 May.