Displacement, Intimidation And Abuse: Land Loyalties In Ethiopia
By <
http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/graham-peebles/> Graham Peebles -
(March 26, 2013)
With the coming of industrial-size farms in Ethiopia, local people,
villagers and pastoralists (deemed irrelevant to the Government's,
economically-driven development plans) are being threatened, and intimidated
by the military; forcibly displaced and herded into camps, their homes
destroyed. Along with vast agricultural complexes, dams are planned and
constructed, water supplies re-directed to irrigate crops, forests burnt,
natural habitats destroyed. Dissenting voices are brutally silenced - men
beaten, children frightened, women raped, so too the land.
Over 80% of the 85 million population of Ethiopia live in rural areas, in
settlements and villages, and work in agriculture. Many are small-scale
farmers who, according to government figuresi, farm "eight percent (about
10,000,000 ha) of the national land area", and traditional pastoralists who
have, for generations, lived simple lives, culture, nature and livelihood
entwined.
Huge tracts of agricultural land with water supplies are being leased to
foreign companies for food export. The Oakland Institute (OI) ii, a US-
based policy think-tank and leader in the field, have produced in-depth
reports on worldwide land sales stating that, between 2008 and 2011,
"3,619,509 hectares (ha) were transferred to domestic investors, state-owned
enterprises and foreign companies". Amounting to a third, if government
figures are correct, of the land farmed by Ethiopians themselves, an area
the size of a small country, e.g. Holland.
Government Genocide
Land grab (and associated water appropriation), Oxfam statesiii, occurs when
"governments, banks or private investors buy up huge plots of land to make
equally huge profits". Since 2008 such speculation has vastly expanded; in
2009 alone the OI recorded that "foreign investors acquired 60 million ha of
land [worldwide] - the size of France - through purchases or leases of land
for commercial farming," up from an annual average, pre-2008, of 4 million
ha. Three quarters of all land deals take place in sub-Saharan Africa, in
some of the most food-insecure, economically vulnerable, politically
repressive countries in the world; precisely, some say, because of such
advantageous commercial factors.
In Ethiopia, land sales are occurring in six key areas. Oromia and Gambella
in the south, Amhara, Beneshangul, Gumuz, the Sidaama zone, or SNNP and the
Lower Omo Valley - an area of outstanding natural beauty with acclaimed
UNESCO World heritage status. The Ethiopian government's conduct in Omo and
Oromia, Genocide Watch (GW)iv considers "to have already reached stage 7 [of
8], genocidal massacres". A statement that shocks us all, and casts shame
upon the government and indeed slumbering donor nations, who act not, who
speak not, but know well the cruel methods, which violate a plethora of
human rights laws, employed by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF). A regime whose loyalties, it seems, rest firmly
with investors, corporations, multi-nationals and the like, and who cares
little for the people living upon the land, or indeed in the cities.
Forced from Home
Conditional within land lease agreements is the requirement that the
government will clear the area of 'encumbrances', meaning indigenous people
- families, children, pastoralists, cattle, wildlife, forests, anything in
fact that will interfere with the leveling of the land, building of
[foreign] workers' accommodation, roads and the eventual sowing of crops.
The national three-year Villagisation program, initiated in 1985, aims to
move 1.5 million people from their ancestral homes, over four states, into
large settlements. The process is well under way, as these 2010 figures from
Cultural Survivalv show, "by February 1987, 5.7 million people (15 percent
of the rural population) had been moved into 11,000 new villages. By the end
of this year, 10 million rural inhabitants (25 percent of the population)
are expected to be villagized in 12 of Ethiopia's 13 provinces." Government
propaganda justifying the policy states these new village centers will,
"facilitate the provision of human social services by concentrating
scattered homesteaders into central communities", and facilitate 'agrarian
socialism' - hence the leasing of mega chunks of land to multi-national
corporations, without the participation of local people, whose land is being
taken from them: a totalitarian version of socialism then.
Contrary to federal and international law, which requires the free, informed
and prior consent of the people, this mass movement is being carried out
without consultation or compensation, no matter the official claims to the
contrary. Human Rights Watch (HRW) (28/08/12)vi reports how "Villagers who
have been unwilling to move, or who refuse to mobilise others to do so, have
been arrested and mistreated by the soldiers." Once forcibly emptied,
villages are destroyed and cattle killed or confiscated, the OI state, by
government troops. Along with pastoralists, who number around 300,000 in
Gambella alone, villagers are herded, sometimes literally, always
metaphorically at the end of rifle, into Villagisation camps. And these,
despite Government promises to, "provide basic resources and infrastructure,
the new villages", HRW found "have inadequate food, agricultural support,
and health and education facilities".
Resistance to moving is met with abuse and violence. HRW's detailed report
"Waiting for Death"vii, found that in Gambella, where the government plans
to 'relocate' 225,000 people, "soldiers frequently beat or arrested
individuals who questioned the motives of the program or refuse to move to
the new villages [Villagisations]. Community leaders and young men are
targeted [scores are arrested without due process]. There have also been
credible allegations of rape and sexual assault by government soldiers. Fear
and intimidation was widespread." In a disturbing account of life within and
without the Villagisation centers, the OI discovered, most disturbingly,
that pastoralists (whose lifestyle and nature is to wander) if "encountered
[by the military] outside of villages are told to relocate to the villages
immediately". Such restrictions conjure images of prison life rather than a
peaceful, communal village, and contradict the government's message of
willing relocation, good community relations, participation and social
harmony.
A Culture of Fear
Such abuse is not limited to Gambella - in the Lower Omo region, where huge,
state-owned sugar plantations and the massive Gibe III Dam project are being
developed, dissenting voices are, the OI report, subjected to "beatings,
abuse and general intimidation", in addition to extra-judicial prison
sentencing.
"Fear and intimidation" is endemic, not just in areas associated with land
sales, but throughout the country; suppression is common and freedom of
expression greatly restricted. The media - TV, radio, press as well as print
companies, are state-owned, so too the sole telecommunication company,
restricting access to the internet, which is monitored. The judiciary is
simply an extension of government, lacking credible independence, the
political opposition marginalised and completely ineffective. International
media are frowned upon and, in some areas (e.g. Ogaden) completely banned,
such are the paranoid actions of the ruling EPRDF, which, it would seem, has
much to hide.
Resentment and anger simmers amongst many displaced oppressed villagers. In
April 2012 a group of men attacked the Saudi Star compound in Gambella and
killed four employees. The men were quickly labeled 'rebels' and a military
manhunt was instigated. The criminal act should be treated as such and the
men brought to justice, however government forces have reacted with
unwarranted unjustifiable violence and aggression to innocent civilians, as
HRW (28/08/12) reported: "Ethiopian soldiers went house to house.
arbitrarily arresting and beating young men and raping female relatives of
suspects". Any excuse, it seems, to unleash state violence, perpetrated by a
regime that mistrusts even it's own people. After the attack on Saudi Star,
a company that has leased some 10,000 ha of prime Gambella land, the
Ethiopian military accused four Anuak guards on duty at the time, of
involvement in the attack and carried out extra- judicial killings (murder)
on them all. Local villagers "alleged they were tortured", and "women and
girls raped either in their homes or in detention" (ibid). Illegal acts by
the Ethiopian State that by any reasonable reading fits the definition of
terrorism stated by the US militaryviii as, "the calculated use of unlawful
violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to
coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals
that are generally political, religious, or ideological." Terrifying tactics
employed by the military in the search for information about 'the rebels' -
a meaningless term evoking negative stereotypes, used alongside the 'T' word
(terrorist) to demonise anyone who disagrees with disagreeable government
policies and justify all violent measures by the benevolent regime - such is
the perverse and dangerous use of language, facilitated by the international
mainstream media that has infiltrated our imaginations.
The Myth of Development
The government proclaims land sales are part of a strategic, long-term
approach to agriculture reforms and economic development, that foreign
investment will fund infrastructure projects, create employment
opportunities, help to eradicate hunger and poverty and benefit the
community, local and national. The term development is itself an interesting
one; distorted, linked and commonly limited almost exclusively to economic
targets, meaning growth of GDP, established principally by the World Bank,
whose policies and practices in relation to land sales, the OI discovered,
"have glossed over critical issues such as human rights, food security and
human dignity for local populations", and its philanthropic sister, the
International Monetary Fund; market fundamentalism driving the exported (one
size fits all) policies, of both ideologically entrenched organisations,
that promote models of development that seek to fulfill corporate interests
first middle and last.
Defined in such limited ways, Ethiopia, having somehow achieved impressive
GDP growth figures since 2004, (with a dizzy 9.8%, average, similar to that
of India) would seem to be in the premiership of development. Inflation,
though, sits at 30% and, whilst unemployment in urban areas has dropped to
around 20%, over a quarter of young people aged 18-24 remain out of work;
high unemployment in urban areas means young women are often forced into
commercial sex work or domestic servitude.
Statistics compiled by The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)ix,
provide a broader, less GDP-rosy picture of the country. They place Ethiopia
174th (from 187 nations) on the Human development index (HDI), with average
life expectancy of 59 years and 40% of people living in poverty (on less
than $1.25 a day). The 2012 Global Hunger Index makes Ethiopia the 5th
hungriest country in the world (IFPRI)x, with between 12 and 15 million
people a year relying on food aid to keep them alive. What growth there is
benefits the rich, privileged minority. There is a growing divide between
the 99.9% and the small number of wealthy Ethiopians - who, coincidentally,
are mainly members of the ruling party trickle down, gushing up',
concentrating wealth with the wealthy; as the Inter Press Service (IPS)
22/08/12xi reports, "development has yet to reach the vast majority of the
country's population. Instead, much of this wealth - and political power -
has been retained by the ruling party and, particularly, by the tiny
Tigrayan minority community to which [former Prime Minister] Meles
belonged."
"Protect, Respect and Remedy"
Protagonists laying claim to the all-inclusive healing powers of agriculture
and agro-industrial projects, contradict, the OI states, "the basic facts
and evidence showing growing impoverishment experienced on the ground". What
about the bumper benefits promised, particularly the numerous employment
opportunities? It turns out industrialised farming is highly mechanised and
offers few jobs; overseas companies are not concerned with providing
employment for local people and care little for their well-being, making
good bedmates for the ruling party. They bring the workers they need, and
are allowed to do so by the Ethiopian government, which places no
constraints on their operations.
Such shameful indifference contravenes the letter and spirit of the United
Nations (UN) "Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework. Endorsed by the UN
Human Rights Council on 16th June 2011, the guiding principles outlined,
"provide an authoritative global standard for preventing and addressing the
risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity."xii
Corporations have a duty under the framework to "prevent or mitigate adverse
human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations. even if
they have not contributed to their impacts"xiii Although not legally
enforceable, these principles of decency offer recourse to human rights
organisations and community groups, and should be morally binding for
multinationals, whose profit-driven activities in Ethiopia, facilitated by a
brutal regime that ignores fundamental human rights, are causing intense
suffering to hundreds of thousands of indigenous people.
Notes:
i.
http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/counprof/ethiopia/ethiopia.htm
ii. [1]
www.oaklandinstitute.org/faqs-indian-agriculture-investments-ethiopia
iii.
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/our-campaigns/grow/gui
de-to-land-grabs
iv.
http://www.genocidewatch.org/ethiopia.html
v.
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/resettlement-and
-villagization-tools-militarization-sw-ethiopia
vi. [1]
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/08/28/ethiopia-army-commits-torture-rape
vii. [1] www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/./ethiopia0112webwcover_0.pdf
viii.
http://ra.defense.gov/documents/rtm/jp1_02.pdf
ix.
http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/ETH.html
x.
http://www.ifpri.org/publication/2012-global-hunger-index
xi.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/08/death-of-ethiopian-leader-meles-brings-opport
unity-for-peace/
xii.
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/human_rights/The_UN_SRSG_and_the_UN_Gl
obal_Compact.html
xiii. www.ohchr.org/Documents/./GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf
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Received on Tue Mar 26 2013 - 23:09:58 EDT
