በአሶሣ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ግንባታ ሰበብ የተፈናቀሉ 400 የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች ካለ ፍትሕ ከስድስት ዓመት በላይ እየተጉላሉ ነው

ግንቦት ፲(አሥር) ቀን ፳፻፰ ዓ/ም ኢሳት ዜና :- በቤኔሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ክልል ውስጥ የሚኖሩ ቁጥራቸው ከ400 በላይ የሚሆኑ የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች ከነባር ይዞታቸው መፈናቀላቸውን አስመልክቶ ለአማራ ክልል ብሶታቸውን አሰምተዋል።
ለአሶሣ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ግንባታ ተብሎ ከዛሬ ስድስት ዓመት በፊት 163 ሺህ ሄክታር መሬታቸው ላይ ካለምንም ካሳ ተነስተው ጎዳና ላይ መጣላቸውን ገልጸዋል። እስከ ከፍተኛው ፍርድ ቤት ድረስ አቤት ቢሉም ሰሚ አካል ማጣቸውንና የፍትሕ ያለህ በማለት ለከፍተኛ ችግር መዳረጋቸውን አመልክተዋል።
ከቦታቸው መወሰድ በተጨማሪም በክልሉ ውስጥ የመኖር ዋስትና ማጣቸውንና ከክልሉ ነባር ተወላጆች እኩል የአስተዳደር አገልግሎት እንደማያገኙም አስታውቀዋል። በአማራ ተወላጅነታችን ብቻ እኛ ላይ የተለየ አስተዳደራዊ በደል ተፈጽሞብናል ያሉት አርሶ አደሮቹ በክልሉ የነበረንን የእርሻ መሬት ከህግ ውጪ ተቀምተን የመኖሪያ ቦታ ከሌለንና ተሠማርተንበት በነበረው ግብርና ልጆቻችንን ማሳደግ ካልቻልን የኛ በክልሉ መኖር ትርጉም የለውም ብለዋል፡፡
ከ6 ዓመት በፊት ለአሶሳ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ግንባታ ተብሎ ለተወሰደባቸው ቦታ ምትክ እንዲሰጣቸው ወይም ካሣ እንዲከፈላቸው የጠየቁት አባወራዎቹ ለዚህም የቤኒሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ክልል መንግስትንና ትምህርት ሚኒስቴርን በፍርድ ቤት ቢከሱም ሰሚ አካል አለማግኘታቸውን በመጥቀስ፡ ክልሉ መብታቸውን እንዲያስከብርላቸው ጠይቀዋል፡፡
አቤቱታቸውን ለአማራ ክልል ፕሬዝዳንት አቶ ገዱ አንዳርጋቸው ቢሮ ለማቅረብ ከአሶሣ ወደ ባህርዳር ቢያቀኑም አቶ ገዱ ሊያነጋግሯቸው ፈቃደኛ ሳይሆኑ ቀርተው ወኪላቸው ደብዳቤያቸውን እንዲቀበሉዋቸው አድርገዋል። ይህን ያህል ዓመት ካለ ፍትሕ ከቀያችን እንድንፈናቀል የተደረግነው የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጅ በመሆናችን ብቻ ነው ሲሉ መናገራቸውን አዲስ አድማስ ጋዜጣ ዘግቧል።

Source:

World Bank Reinvents Tainted Aid Program for Ethiopia

by Elizabeth Fraser (Oakland)Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Inter Press Service
OAKLAND, Mar 29 (IPS) - I was taught that responsibility means admitting your mistakes and being accountable when you make a mistake. I still believe this to be true for individuals and institutions. So when a powerful group like the World Bank makes a mistake, I expect it to be accountable for its wrong-doings, and to do everything possible to make sure those mistakes don't happen again.

The issue I'm referring to is last year's launch of the World Bank's "new" program in Ethiopia, Enhancing Shared Prosperity through Equitable Services (ESPES). On the surface, ESPES looks reasonable. Its main goal is to send money to local-level authorities across the country to make sure all citizens have access to basic services like water, roads, education, healthcare and more. But once you start peeling the layers back, the program stops looking so rosy.

The biggest issue is that ESPES is replacing the almost decade-long, World Bank-funded Promoting Basic Services (PBS) program. PBS started in 2006 with almost identical goals to the ESPES program. The snag is that for years, there were extremely serious allegations that PBS had become entwined with the Ethiopian Government's program, "villagization," which has forcibly relocated indigenous communities and made their land available for large-scale land grabs.

In 2012, members of the Anuak community – an indigenous group that has borne the brunt of these forced relocations and abuses – filed a formal complaint with the World Bank's independent Inspection Panel. In early 2015, the Panel released its final report and it was scathing:the Bank's finances couldn't be properly tracked, important safeguards had not been applied, and there was poor monitoring and oversight.

The Panel shied away from making rulings about whether the Bank should be responsible for the human rights abuses that the Anuak faced – they claimed it was outside of the scope of their investigation, a point worthy of analysis itself – but they did rule that the PBS program had become enmeshed with the villagization program, with far-reaching consequences.

When the Panel report came out, one expected the Bank to admit that mistakes had been made and to take every possible action to both address the situation and ensure that it never happens again. But the Bank did no such thing. Instead, they quietly ended the PBS program early, and a few months later announced a new program – which will run until 2019 with 600 million dollars behind it – called ESPES.

ESPES looks almost identical to PBS, and most shockingly takes very few of the hard recommendations from the Inspection Panel report into consideration. Two aspects of the program are particularly appalling. First, instead of applying important social safeguards to the new program, ESPES uses Ethiopia's own institutions to address possible social and environmental harm. A cornerstone for addressing social harm is increased community engagement and a "Grievance Redress Mechanism" (GRM). This system relies on marginalized communities to self-report when things go wrong. It's ludicrous in any situation to put the onus on the marginalized to report social harm, but it's even more ridiculous in a country like Ethiopia, where the government routinely arrests critics of its government as terrorists. To add fuel to the fire, the Bank's own internal assessment of the GRM admitted that there is a lack of confidence in the GRM with many vulnerable groups feeling uncomfortable using it, demonstrating that they knowingly launched this mechanisms despite its serious weaknesses.

Second, in order to ensure that ESPES doesn't get mixed up with problematic programs of the Ethiopian government in the future, the Bank has proposed on-going high-level dialogues with government officials. The chance that government officials – the masterminds of the villagization program who have pinned their country's development on leasing indigenous land to large-scale investors –will accurately and appropriately have - these kinds of conversations with the Bank is preposterous.

If this isn't enough to get riled up, we turn now to the US. As the biggest donor to the World Bank, the US Treasury gets to vote on World Bank projects like ESPES. Congress has taken a vital stand on the issue of forced relocations in Ethiopia, including language in numerous Appropriations Bills forbidding the Treasury to vote in favor of World Bank programs that could – directly or indirectly – lead to forced evictions in Ethiopia. Yet somehow, despite these rulings, the US Treasury voted in support of ESPES.

How can the US and the World Bank get away with this? It's hard to know whether these institutions are completely dysfunctional or morally bankrupt. Either way, they both appear to be extremely irresponsible, and need to finally wake up or be accountable for their mistakes.

(End)

© Inter Press Service (2016) — All Rights Reserved
Original source: Inter Press Service

Exposed: Forced evictions in Ethiopia – what the UK government tried to cover up

The UK government has tried to suppress evidence of gross human rights violations in Ethiopia's Lower Omo Valley, such as the forced resettlement of the Bodi and other tribes.

© Nicola Bailey/ Survival, 2015

The U.K. government tried to suppress evidence of gross human rights abuses in Ethiopia to appease the government there, a new investigation by Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, has revealed.

The key aid donors to Ethiopia, including the U.K.’s DFID, USAID and the European Union, sent two missions to the Lower Omo Valley in the south of the country in August 2014, to investigate whether tribes there were being forced off their land to make way for commercial plantations.

The U.K. authorities refused to release the missions’ reports under the Freedom of Information Act, saying their disclosure would significantly prejudice international relations. But Survival then appealed to the European Commission, which has released them.

The reports reveal:

- That the Ethiopian government has not obtained the consent of tribes of the Lower Omo to their resettlement;

- It has pressured and threatened them into leaving their lands – in some cases in fear for their lives;

- One tribal group told the donors, "before you come back next year, the government will come to kill and finish us”;

The reports of two donors missions to the Lower Omo Valley reveal that land grabs deny the tribes access to the river banks they need for cultivation.

© Survival

- That land grabs associated with large scale plantations deny the tribes access to ancestral grazing and farming lands on which they depend for survival, and to the river banks they need for cultivation;

- On the conditions in one resettlement site the report states, “Their situation during our visit was deplorable; the absence of sanitation means the villagers are suffering from diseases such as bloody diarrhoea, malaria and unspecified headaches … Despite the dire circumstances in [name redacted], residents say the Government does not allow this impoverished and vulnerable group to move
out”;

- Donor guidelines designed to ensure that resettlement complies with international law have been routinely ignored.

Survival International has been urging the international donors to freeze further aid to the Lower Omo Valley until the human rights abuses are stopped, but virtually no action has been taken. The U.K.’s 2014-15 aid budget to Ethiopia exceeds £360 million.

Survival’s Africa campaigner Elizabeth Hunter said today, “It took DFID almost two years to investigate allegations of serious human rights violations in the Lower Omo. The reports it desperately tried to prevent the British public from reading show just how far it will go to cover up gross human rights abuses carried out by a regime which receives hundreds of millions of pounds of UK taxpayers’ money. While entire tribes are subjected to violence, the destruction of their homes and livelihoods, and the theft of their land on a staggering scale, the UK government turns a blind eye in the name of political and economic expediency.”

Background:

Around 200,000 tribal people live in the Lower Omo. Many have suffered from brutal repression, forced relocation, and prejudice from a government that views them as “backward” and in need of “modernization.” One expert has warned that the loss of their land and resources will lead to a “humanitarian catastrophe,” and one of the mission reports warns that the influx of more than 500,000 workers into the area is “likely to significantly increase the risk of conflict.”

Survival has received reports that the Kwegu are starving following the construction of the Gibe III dam.

© Survival International, 2012

The central findings of the donor missions were covered up in a letter to the Ethiopian government, published in February 2015. The letter sanitised the reports’ conclusions to the extent that the Ethiopian press was able to claim that the donor missions had “found no evidence of people being forced to move for either resettlement for agricultural development projects in the areas they visited,” and that it “found none of the problems claimed by Survival International or Human Rights Watch and others …”

In March 2015, Survival received disturbing reports that many of the small Kwegu tribe are starving as a result of the destruction of their forest and the death of their river following the construction of the Gibe III dam and associated irrigation schemes.

- Download the full reports of the donors’ visits to South Omo and Bench Maji in the Lower Omo Valley

Source:http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10894