Government to forcefully uproot farmers in the vicinity of the capital

ESAT News (May 6, 2016)

Hundreds of families in Akaki and Kality in the vicinity of the capital would be forcefully relocated despite objections by the farmers who wish to stay on their land. At a meeting with the farmers, government officials warned that the farmers would be removed by force if they failed to heed to government’s orders to be relocated.

The farmers who attended the meeting told ESAT that they had already given their farmlands at dirt cheap prices and they have now been asked to leave their houses to build condominiums for some members of the Ethiopian community in the diaspora who are sympathizers of the autocratic regime.

The farmers were forced to sell their farmlands at 11 birr (0.51 cents) per hectare and the government in turn sold the land at 5000 birr (250 dollars) per hectare, leaving the farmers to be destitute in their own lands.

The government has continued to uproot farmers from their land despite its promise to stop displacing farmers at the height of the protest in the Oromia region. Uprooting poor farmers from their land to make space for condominiums for the diaspora community has been one of the reasons for the protest in the Oromia region that is still continuing despite heavy presence of the military and security all over the region.