The British government has axed most of its aid programme to the Ethiopian police force, amidst increasing evidence of torture, rape and murder by the government, reported The Telegraph.

The decision comes soon after a report by Amnesty International which said that thousands of ethnic Oromos were being “ruthlessly targeted by the state”.

'Because I am Oromo' - Amnesty International report

British ministers decided to suspend most of the £27mn scheme, which was intended to help Ethiopian police “interact with communities on local safety”, help women access the justice system and improve criminal investigations.

Over £1bn in aid, including around £70 million for “governance and security” projects has already been given to the Ethiopian government over the past three years.

The Department for International Development said the project was cancelled because it did not represent “value for money” and because of “risk” in getting it delivered on time and insisted that suspension of the aid was entirely unrelated to the allegations of human rights abuses, saying its decision pre-dated the Amnesty International report.

"We ask the armed forces to transfer power to the civil authorities, and the council has determined a period of two weeks for the transfer."

"The African Union is convinced that the change has been against democracy. However, we know that popular pressure led to the resignation of the president... Those circumstances were taken by the armed forces to get into power, but it originated from the people."