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Safaricom’s Plans in Ethiopia Hit Snag Due to Possible US Payment Ban

Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom’s plans to expand into Ethiopia have hit a complication as a US State financier is threatening to recall its loans to a Safaricom-led consortium following an escalation of armed conflict in the horn of Africa. The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) says that acts of violence against civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray region could affect the release of $500-million in loans to the consortium. If the conflict deepens, it could push the DFC to forgo the investments altogether and pressure the telecoms in the consortium to seek finances from elsewhere. War in Tigray DFC’s financing of the consortium had previously been thrown into doubt over US economic sanctions against Ethiopia related to the ongoing conflict in Tigray, which has killed t...