Yet, despite the heavy criticism levelled at the human rights record of the Ethiopian government, international donors continue to support the government. The US remains Ethiopia's largest bilateral donor, giving almost US$1bn per year, while annual UK state aid for Ethiopia is over US$500m, making the country the largest recipient of British aid (April 2011, Economic policy). In addition to uninterrupted aid flows, there has been no high-level response from the US government regarding the Ethiopian government's recent more aggressive stance against Eritrea (April 2011, The political scene). Ethiopia has stated explicitly that it will provide support to opposition groups looking to overthrow Eritrea's current regime. The US ambassador to Ethiopia, Donald Booth, has simply stated that the US shares interests with the Ethiopians in tackling the security threat posed by Eritrea in the region.

Donors claim that the level of aid for Ethiopia reflects its substantial needs, as well as the progress that it has made in recent years, and there is some truth in this, but the strategic political importance of the country plays a large role. There has been good economic progress in recent years; Ethiopia boasts the highest economic growth of non-oil producing countries in the region and has made significant progress in the areas of health and education, making the government a good development partner, despite its authoritarian tendencies. However, the most significant reason behind the continued international support is that Ethiopia is a key ally in the volatile Horn of Africa region. It is this role that will ensure that critical human rights reports and poor democratic systems will not deter other countries from co-operating with Mr Meles' government.