Ethiopian News
borkena
April 29,2017
Not even a week after Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegne’s vindicatory admittance that settled Amharic speaking agriculturalists were evicted from Benshangul regional state, another act of eviction happened in Methema, North Gonder zone, in North Western part of Ethiopia. There are also reports of deaths of farmers.
“Ethiopian Reporter” reported that it is district officials of Methema, in North Gonder zone who passed administrative decision to evict settlers who had legal land holdings and who were paying taxes. What looks like an investigative report seem to indicate that authorities in the district denied allegations of the eviction. For the authorities, the eviction is administrative re-arrangement of “ill appropriated” land in the area. In addition, the authorities have related the death of three farmers to “cross-border conflict” with Sudanese farmers. Administrative denials like these ones are not strange in the TPLF led government. A few weeks ago, for example, Federal government and Benshangul regional state were in state of silence and denial of forced eviction of citizens from Benshangul only to be officially confirmed later by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegne at the parliamentary session. In fact, Hailemariam disowned the forceful eviction by way of relating it to “corrupt officials” rather than a policy agenda.
So far, no detailed explanation is given as to who is “corrupting” the “officials” in Ethiopia, as to how and what the motive is on the part of those who “corrupt” the officials, and as to how “corrupt practices” that devastated lives of thousands of citizens is entrenched in the system and recurring in different parts of the country. More puzzling is that the eviction seem to be targeted at specific language speaking groups. Seemingly, many Ethiopians are swinging towards the thinking that TPLF, the dominant political and military force in the ruling EPRDF coalition, is in the business of ethnic cleanings through the agency of local authorities and officials of regional states, which are instituted on the basis of ethnicity. The Federal government is not taking the matter seriously and providing information to the public or media in a transparent way. Nor holding a press conference on the matter by inviting members of the remaining free press journalists. ( It is to be recalled that TPLF regime has locked up many journalists and opposition members on trumped up charges of “terrorism” and defying calls for the release of journalists. )
In view of the chauvinistic ethnic mentality of TPLF and its unrelenting pursuit of evil political calculations to maintain imagined political supremacy and real military power, it would be very naïve to think that the forced evictions are simply functions of “corrupt officials” at the district administrative levels.
The political crime committed against settled farmers in Ethiopia is apparently coinciding with numerous political developments around the world that are taking away the attention of political actors at the global level who could otherwise have significant influence to reverse the illegal and inhumane eviction of citizens from their land holdings. Apparently, the TPLF regime in Ethiopia seem to be taking advantage of the situation and is deepening evictions of citizens. What is more worrisome is that the ethnic nature of the eviction could fuel ethnic-based conflict and risks the Balkanization of Ethiopia in the worst form. Equally worrisome is that the international community seem to have overlooked the nature of the crisis and the potential danger it poses not just for Ethiopia but for the region as a whole.
It is clear that opposition parties in the country exist in a state of repression. Yet, they should try to press hard for the formation of an independent inquiry commission to investigate the forced eviction, the alleged “corrupt officials” and the motives of those who are in the business of “corrupting” the officials.
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What do you mean by “Amharic” speaking? Why do not you just say Amharas? Or are you one of those who deny the existence of an Amhara ethnic group? Interesting enough, i came across with a PHD desertion that tries to tell us that Amhara nationalism is an invention-to the extent that it says there is no Amhara ethnic group. Some of them who have this kind of opinion are the ones who are involved in Ethiopianism national politics. So you guys be careful, it will back fire-and it has already started. I think you are -the owner of this website-from wollo-which is a homeland of Bet Amhara! if you are involved in this kind of game, be ware of the danger!
It would have been nice some times to work instead of such antagonistic posts constantly.
@Elias Hailu,
You always vomit when the truth is told-the weyane junta as a group is the most corrupt group in todays Ethiopia! Their political ideology, their political prostitution, their ethnic hate on the Bet Amhara, their looting machine(EFFORT), their military and intellegence apparatus, and of course the savage and lier political and military leaders all are corrupt to the extent of being filthy ! So your problem is with the truth-which is your political elites identity is synonyms with falsehood, and the father of falsehood-the devil. That is why when the weyane junta starts its struggle, they started with denying God, and liberation with the barrel of the gun-but did not know that they are the most enslaved group of leaders in Ethiopian history! Your denial comes from being fearful of this fact! Understood? How come that dingay ras understands this fact?
To the Demetryos -or the owner of this site! i want to ask you to shed some light on the following topics-“Oil discovery, the laws associated with this resource, and the general political economy that surrounds this matter in Ethiopia” what would happen if oil is discovered in ethiopia! How is that the nation benefits from this resource? we do not know how much is the nation gets from its gold except that that sheik owns it, or who gets what! will you shed some light on this issue? As long as the weyane looting machine is in place, i doubt whether we can free our selves from abject poverty even if the resource is discovered.
@ Eli Moa,
With that subhuman behavior, you can get your best match in the bush.