Egyptian companies have officially filed an international lawsuit against Ethiopia over what they described as the “damage to the industrial zone in the Tigray region and the disruption of work there for a year and a half since the start of the conflict.”

Cairo24 quoted the head of the Egyptian industrial zone in the Tigray region, Alaa El-Saqti, as saying that the Egyptian factories who invested in Ethiopia had “incurred losses amounting to about $40 million”, adding that the companies had resorted to international arbitration to claim their rights. El-Saqti has previously highlighted that Egyptian investments in Ethiopia exceeded $700 million in the period from 2010 to 2018, according to official data.

“The Egyptian companies affected by the conflicts and civil war in Ethiopia have resorted to international arbitration to compensate them for the losses,” he noted. He pointed out that the companies were forced to take legal action after the “failure of negotiations with the Ethiopian government and the embassy in Egypt for the first six months of the year, as well as the failure to reach an agreement that protects and compensates the investments of factories operating there.”

The official explained that the acknowledgment of the dispute between the companies and the Ethiopian government could cause a “downgrade to the country’s credit rating.”

Thousands have been killed since the conflict erupted   in November in Ethiopia’s northernmost Tigray region, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent in troops to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the regional ruling party.