Dutch flower farm closes doors after attack by Ethiopian militants

Flower company Esmeralda Farms Nederland in Aalsmeer is closing its doors permanently after its farm in Ethiopia was burned to the ground by militants last week. The damage to the farm is extensive that the American parent company decided to close the Dutch branch, NU.nl reports. Esmeralda Flowers in Aalsmeer was largely dependent on the production at its Ethiopian farm. A spokesperson said to NU that the loss of supply from the African country fatally wounded the company. That means that the over 600 workers in Ethiopia and 14 employees in the Netherlands now lost their jobs, director Loui Hooijman confirmed. The militants attacked the Esmeralda Flowers farm and a number of other foreign farms near Bahir Dar because they have ties with the Ethiopian government. The attacks follow an ongoing dispute between some parts of the Ethiopian population that feel they are not profiting from the country's economic growth and the government. Human rights groups reported that the government killed more than 500 people since June in an effort to suppress the protests. According to NU.nl, there are about 350 Dutch people in the affected area in the Amhara region.