- Target: President Barack Obama
- Sponsored by: Tesfaye Metta
Oromo Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Self Help Association (ORRRSHA) is a non-profit organisation that believes in a world of social justice and of environmentally sensitive development that recognises and respects the rights of indigenous peoples to actively participate in and enjoy the benefits of development in their own territories without prejudice. ORRRHSA,Oromo Human Rights and Relief Organization have been campaigning to stop land grabbing and the associated human rights violations, displacement and land eviction programme in Oromia/Ethiopia by issuing numerous reports that highlight the dangers of land grabbing to the livelihoods of Oromo and other indigenous people and the potential insecurity threats in the affected Oromia & southern Regions of Ethiopia. These concerns have either been deliberately ignored or undermined with no room for viable alternatives to land grabbing discourses that could mitigate the catastrophic consequences.
Tigray as the home region of the ruling party of the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) is spared from the land grabbing policy. Alone this fact confirms that TPLF’s land grab policy is ethno centrically motivated. The Oromia region, by contrast, is the largest and main target of the land grab policy as it has been the case with human right violations in general. It is estimated all together that millions of acres of cultivable land have already been leased to foreign investors. The tendency is to double or triple in the five Transformation plans, as the TPLF regime recently started publicly to defend its land grab policy as economic imperative
Tigray as the home region of the ruling party of the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) is spared from the land grabbing policy. Alone this fact confirms that TPLF’s land grab policy is ethno centrically motivated. The Oromia region, by contrast, is the largest and main target of the land grab policy as it has been the case with human right violations in general. It is estimated all together that millions of acres of cultivable land have already been leased to foreign investors. The tendency is to double or triple in the five Transformation plans, as the TPLF regime recently started publicly to defend its land grab policy as economic imperative
Even International institutions such as FAO, World Bank and Aid and Development of the European Commission do share the mentioned concerns, as this became clear from their various released statements on pertinent seminars, studies and conferences.
So far, most foreign investors in Ethiopia are from China, India and some Arab countries like Saudi Arabia. Their interest in acquisition of land in the country is largely motivated in producing agricultural products they themselves need back at home. These are mainly oilseeds such as sesame and flowers. China, for example, who is currently the largest investor in Ethiopia, wants to produce sesame. China has been Ethiopia’s largest market for sesame export. China uses sesame for chocolates, biscuits, and extraction of oil for both its external and domestic markets. If China is to satisfy its enormous needs for oilseeds through its own production of sesame in Ethiopia, this would certainly put Ethiopia on a disadvantaged position. The expected advantage in employment and technology transfer may also not be realisable as China often uses its own employees. All these arguments hold more or less true as far as other investing countries, like India and Arab countries, are concerned.
This shows that the humanitarian consequences of the kind of foreign investment under discussion are far reaching, indeed. It uproots the peasants from their land, which is not only the source of their social identity but also their means of earning life. In doing so it may even turn the self employed to unemployed bulk of people with no means of livelihood. This is not to mention the destruction it would certainly entail in respect to environment and the ecological balance in general. For example, drinking water may get even scarcer in the face of irrigation necessities or deforestation that could result from the aggressive and irresponsible nature of foreign mechanised farming. As this is endemic to the entire social fabric, the current government campaign for land grabbing by foreigners is not less than what one might be tempted to call “global agrarian colonialism”.
The prime and sole motive of the Ethiopian government in leasing land can only be maximizing its hard currency reserve, which it often uses for its military expenditure for war and suppressing its own subjects as this has been the hallmark of the TPLF government in the last two decades. This is a typical self-estranging or self-alienating situation to the Ethiopian peoples, in which case they became victims of their own possession and labour. In short these are the most gross human rights violations perpetrated by the TPLF government against the very people it considers to be its own subjects.
The security and safety of the local population in Oromia and the environment and wild life in the Oromia and southern part of Ethiopia have been a critical concerns for both local and international campaigners across the globe.BBC News night, Human Rights Watch, AI & other issued numerous alerts (“Land Grabbing” in Ethiopia: Soldiers Poisoning Water Sources, Forcing Thousands off Ancestral Lands and Killing Wildlife, Violence Surges in Oromia & Gambela) and Rivers International (Gibe III Dam Fuels Land Grabs in Ethiopia Ethiopia's Gibe III Dam: Sowing Hunger and Conflict) among others have warned international organisations, donor countries and nongovernmental organisations to pay attention to the escalating and aggravating situation in Oromia and southern territories in Ethiopia.
Oromo community in Europe is alarmed by the trend of systematic killings, the campaign of murder, the land dispossession, the displacement, and the flight of Oromo and other indigenous people into neighbouring countries & Europe.
So far, most foreign investors in Ethiopia are from China, India and some Arab countries like Saudi Arabia. Their interest in acquisition of land in the country is largely motivated in producing agricultural products they themselves need back at home. These are mainly oilseeds such as sesame and flowers. China, for example, who is currently the largest investor in Ethiopia, wants to produce sesame. China has been Ethiopia’s largest market for sesame export. China uses sesame for chocolates, biscuits, and extraction of oil for both its external and domestic markets. If China is to satisfy its enormous needs for oilseeds through its own production of sesame in Ethiopia, this would certainly put Ethiopia on a disadvantaged position. The expected advantage in employment and technology transfer may also not be realisable as China often uses its own employees. All these arguments hold more or less true as far as other investing countries, like India and Arab countries, are concerned.
This shows that the humanitarian consequences of the kind of foreign investment under discussion are far reaching, indeed. It uproots the peasants from their land, which is not only the source of their social identity but also their means of earning life. In doing so it may even turn the self employed to unemployed bulk of people with no means of livelihood. This is not to mention the destruction it would certainly entail in respect to environment and the ecological balance in general. For example, drinking water may get even scarcer in the face of irrigation necessities or deforestation that could result from the aggressive and irresponsible nature of foreign mechanised farming. As this is endemic to the entire social fabric, the current government campaign for land grabbing by foreigners is not less than what one might be tempted to call “global agrarian colonialism”.
The prime and sole motive of the Ethiopian government in leasing land can only be maximizing its hard currency reserve, which it often uses for its military expenditure for war and suppressing its own subjects as this has been the hallmark of the TPLF government in the last two decades. This is a typical self-estranging or self-alienating situation to the Ethiopian peoples, in which case they became victims of their own possession and labour. In short these are the most gross human rights violations perpetrated by the TPLF government against the very people it considers to be its own subjects.
The security and safety of the local population in Oromia and the environment and wild life in the Oromia and southern part of Ethiopia have been a critical concerns for both local and international campaigners across the globe.BBC News night, Human Rights Watch, AI & other issued numerous alerts (“Land Grabbing” in Ethiopia: Soldiers Poisoning Water Sources, Forcing Thousands off Ancestral Lands and Killing Wildlife, Violence Surges in Oromia & Gambela) and Rivers International (Gibe III Dam Fuels Land Grabs in Ethiopia Ethiopia's Gibe III Dam: Sowing Hunger and Conflict) among others have warned international organisations, donor countries and nongovernmental organisations to pay attention to the escalating and aggravating situation in Oromia and southern territories in Ethiopia.
Oromo community in Europe is alarmed by the trend of systematic killings, the campaign of murder, the land dispossession, the displacement, and the flight of Oromo and other indigenous people into neighbouring countries & Europe.
We are concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Oromia and we appeal to peace loving governments, organisations, and individuals to hold the government in Ethiopia accountable for the atrocities and inhumane treatment of innocent civilians in Oromia and southern part of Ethiopia.
The Oromo Human Rights and Relief Organization unequivocally condemn the land grabbing policy of the Ethiopian government.
We demand the TPLF/EPRDF ruling party to immediately stop this dangerous policy.
We call upon all international communities to use all means available to stop the TPLF regime from its irresponsible and self destructive land grabbing policy less
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