Ethiopia Buys $504,000 Swiss Villa
GENEVA — The military regime of famine-plagued Ethiopia has bought a posh suburban Swiss villa, complete with swimming pool, for $504,000, Swiss newspapers reported.
The villa, in the Geneva suburb of Chambesy, was bought to house the Ethiopian diplomatic mission to the European headquarters of the United Nations and U.N. specialized agencies in Geneva.
The newspapers criticized the purchase in light of Ethiopia’s famine, which has prompted the West to contribute millions of dollars to aid the starving people there. However, Ethiopian Ambassador Kassa Kebede defended the deal.
“We will save a lot of money by having our own property without having to pay the high rents in Geneva,†the ambassador was quoted as saying. “We did not receive any money from (our government) but raised the funds by cutting down the size of our staff.â€
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