LONDON: Nestle, the world’s largest coffee company, was forced into a humiliating climbdown on Thursday after a wave of public outrage greeted its demand for a US dollars six million payment from famine-stricken Ethiopia. The company promised to invest any money it receives from Ethiopia back in the country after receiving thousands of emails of protest in response to the story in Thurs-day’s Guardian newspaper.

At an emergency meeting in its Swiss HQ last night, senior executives were mulling over the public relations damage. The claim represents about an hour’s turnover for a company which posted sales of US$ 59.36 billion and pre-tax profits of US dollars $6.15 billion last year.

Nestle — fearing a consumer boycott of its products across Europe — is considering donating some of the money it is demanding to help feed the 11 million Ethiopians who face starvation in coming months.

Campaigners last night repeated their call for the company to abandon its claim entirely. “I hope that Nestle reconsiders and realises they don’t need the money as much as Ethiopia. I hope they drop the issue altogether,” said Sophia Tickell, senior policy analyst at aid agency Oxfam.

However, Nestle was still insisting that it would benefit Addis Ababa to pay compensation for a company nationalised by a previous military government 27 years ago. The firm’s German owners were bought by Nestle in 1986. Nestle was boycotted for years over its aggressive sales of babymilk formula to the developing world, where hygiene standards made breast milk safer.

Last night campaigners were keeping up the pressure. By late afternoon, 8,500 people had emailed the company to complain about its treatment of the Ethiopian government.

Oxfam dismissed Nestle’s claim that Ethiopia will find it hard to attract foreign investors unless it pays the compensation bill. “This is absurd and unfair,” said Mr Forsyth. “This is not about legal rights but what is morally right. When 11 million people face famine, exceptions should be made.”

The World Bank is negotiating on Ethiopia’s behalf with 40 companies who have similar claims.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service