Conference on Land Policy in Ethiopia and a statement of oakland Institute

Conference on Land Policy in Ethiopia and a statement of oakland Institute

November 13, 2014 (HUMAN Rights Horn of Afrique) —  The Conference on Land Policy in Africa STARTStoday, November 12, 2014, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Government officials, representatives from INTERNATIONAL institutions, aid agencies, and civil society organizations have gathered around the theme “ensuring agricultural development and inclusive growth.”

Given the recent explosion of LAND grabs across the African continent, this international conference seems pertinent and TIMELY, especially for the millions of smallholder farmers and citizens across the continent. But let’s not allow some key facts to be drowned by the enthusiasm expressed from those attending.

We need to consider the venue and the host country, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government is not only offering a facility for the conference, but has also played a key role as a member of the Steering Committee for the gathering. The same country is arguably one of the worst offenders when it comes to forced displacement resulting from land grabs.

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Cooperation with the Regime Hostile to the Peoples’ of Ethiopia is Against the Principles of International Law

Cooperation with the Regime Hostile to the Peoples’ of Ethiopia is Against the Principles of International Law

A Statment by Oromo Liberation Front in SUPPORT of Report of Amnesty Intrnational on Human Rights Violation Against the Oromo PEOPLE

Afaan Oromoo version - PDF

November 10, 2014 (Oromoliberationfront.org) –In the history of shocking tortures of dictatorial regimes against the peoples ruled under thier iron fist the Ethiopian government cruelity is unparalleled. Since its ascension to power by force in 1991, the Ethiopian government’s records of human rights violation through extraordinary killings, forced disapearance, massive imprisonment, displacement and other means of suppresion against the Oromo people is incalculable. The world has repeatedly witnessed that the incumbent regime of Ethiopia is a government that adopted a policy of ruling by violence and commit harsh and cruel actions flagrantly.

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Land Wars: Ethiopia Accused of Massacring Civilians to Clear Way for Foreign Farms

Land Wars: Ethiopia Accused of Massacring Civilians to Clear Way for Foreign Farms

WARNING: This article contains disturbing images

An image said to show corpses piled up following the alleged MARKETmassacre

November 10, 2014 (Vice News) — Ethiopia, one of the world’s hungriest countries, is selling off vast chunks of its land to foreign INVESTORS who are growing food products for export — and those who get in the government’s way are being killed or silenced, according to a new investigation.

Under the country’s controversial “villagization” scheme, huge populations of farming communities are being moved out of their homes on land eyed for development and into new settlements built by the government. Residents not lured out by promises of better infrastructure and SERVICES are often forced to go against their will, and resistance often brings violence or intimidation into acquiescence or exile, US-based rights group the Oakland Institute says in a report due for release on Monday.

Now, for the first TIME, pictures obtained exclusively by VICE News appear to show evidence of the widespread atrocities and abuses being reported by farming communities and minority groups across the country.

The pictures were sent to the Institute in April 2012, and are said to depict a massacre carried out by government officials and members of the ethnic Dizi group on behalf of the Ethiopian state against the Suri, one of Ethiopia’s many ethnic indigenous farming groups, in the MARKET town of Maji in February that year.