Aiding and Abetting: UK and US Complicity in Ethiopia’s Mass Displacement

November 5, 2013

Members of the Nyangatom, one of the communities affected
by the project,
 loading donkeys by the river. Photograph by William Davison.

In the face of evidence, the UK and US continue to deny systematic human rights abuses are occurring in the Lower Omo as thousands are displaced for an irrigation scheme.

The US-based think tank, the Oakland Institute, recently accused the UK and US governments of aiding and abetting the eviction of thousands of people from their land in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley.

The accusation was not new – it had been made before by Survival International and Human Rights Watch amongst others. What was new about this report was that it made use of transcripts of interviews conducted by officials from the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), during a field visit to the lower Omo in January 2012.

Mining Corruption in Ethiopia By Prof. Al Mariam

The Shame of a Nation

In my seventh commentary on corruption in Ethiopia this year, I focus on the mining sector. For other commentaries on the subject, visit my blog site at “Al Mariam’s Commentaries”.

I continue to offer commentaries on corruption in Ethiopia to keep public attention sharply focused on the structural nature of the issue. In the past few months, the ruling regime has been grandstanding its “anti-corruption” efforts by corralling a few officials of the “Revenue and Custom’s Authority” and businessmen on charges of corruption. The kangaroo court corruption drama for those suspects is an amusing political theater staged for the entertainment of international loaners and donors who have recently intensified their pressure on the regime to show greater transparency and public accountability. For the domestic crowd, the regime’s grandstanding has been a cynical ploy to underplay, trivialize and cleverly mask the deep-rooted nature of official corruption with high profile prosecutions.

Growth In Addis Ababa Paints The Urban Poor Into A Desperate Corner

By Jacey Fortin, November 01 2013 (International Business Times)

Traffic flows down a main street in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, where the city government aims to clear 200 hectares of slums and informally inhabited areas each year in order to make way for new construction.  Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — For urban areas across the African continent, rapid development has become a double-edged sword.

As economies grow — the IMF projected this week that sub-Saharan Africa’s economic output will expand by five percent this year and six percent in 2014 — urban areas are developing at a breakneck pace. That means plenty of new construction, which creates employment opportunities and raises standards of living. But to make room for luxury hotels, sparkling shopping centers and towering residential centers in already-crowded urban areas, something has to give. And despite governmental efforts to make development work for everyone, the urban poor are increasingly paying the highest price for economic expansion.

Ethiopian opposition alleges killings, abuse

(Globalpost/GlobalPost)

A leading Ethiopian opposition party said in a report Thursday that scores of its members and supporters had been killed, abused or jailed over the past two years.

“The report has information on human rights violations on members of UDJ, on supporters and other political party members and leaders… in different parts of Ethiopia,” said Unity for Democratic Justice (UDJ) leader Negasso Gidada.

Negasso said seven party supporters had been killed in southern Ethiopia and around 150 supporters had faced intimidation, arrest without charge, abuse, abduction and confiscation of property by police and security forces across Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian government said it had not seen a copy of the report, but accused the party of routinely coming up with “concoctions and spurious accusations”, Information Minister Redwan Hussein told AFP.

Ethiopia: When an Economy Goes Wrong – Addis Fortune

ANALYSIS

BY GIRMA FEYISSA, 27 OCTOBER 2013 - The change in the rate of economic growth from one year to the next is approximated by the aggregate values of goods and services adjusted in their current prices. These figures are often understood to be figures representing the annual economic growth of a country.

But this expression of growth is a misnomer to many people who may be taking growth to mean the reduction in the cost of living. One can not blame such folks because they are not aware of what this economic growth concept really means when it translate into what or how much of goods and services they could buy with the money in their pockets.

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ): Ethiopian Leaders to Face a Trial for Genocide

By Betre Yacob

Ogaden2 – The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) reported to have begun to work to bring Ethiopian authorities to justice for having committed a genocide in the Ogaden region. The International Commission of Jurists is a known international human rights organization composed of jurists (including senior judges, attorneys, and lawyers). The commission is known for its dedication to ensuring respect for international human rights standards through the law.

The report came right after different Swedish TV channels showed a movie smuggled out from Ogaden by an Ethiopian refugee, who had been a government official in the region. The 100 hours long movie is said to have many evidences of genocide committed by the Ethiopian government in the region.

Speaking to journalists, Stellan Diaphragm, the commissioner of the Commission, said that he would do everything necessary to bring the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).