Does a struggling Ethiopian model town offer lessons for the future?

With Addis Ababa struggling to cope with housing demand, Ethiopia’s government wants to bring urbanisation to the countryside – but the model town of Buranest has had mixed fortunes

By Tom Gardner

BURANEST, Ethiopia, Nov 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A group of shepherds amble slowly down the main thoroughfare of Buranest, a tiny village in a far-flung corner of northern Ethiopia.

The town square lies empty, as does the school, while sheep and cows graze peacefully in the overgrown grass.

Buranest is a model town, a “real life experiment” that a team of Ethiopian and European urban planners hope can provide crucial lessons for the country’s future.

Founded in 2010 by Franz Oswald of Nestown Group and experts from ETH Zurich, a Swiss university, the nascent town is a paragon of sustainability.

It features self-built homes that harvest rainwater, workshops for light industry and craft, local eucalyptus trees to supply wood for building, and irrigated fields for growing crops.

But for seven years Buranest struggled.

Its model homes are still unoccupied, and local farmers remain suspicious.

“At the beginning most locals did not like the idea,” Mestawet Libokemkem, project coordinator from the local government, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “They feared their land would be taken away from them.”

Urbanisation, and the task of bring jobs and infrastructure to the countryside, is central to the government’s future agenda.

Ethiopia’s urbanisation rate is estimated to be between 4 and 6 percent per year, while the population of the capital, Addis Ababa, is expected to double to more than 8 million over the course of the next decade.

FARMERS SUSPICIOUS

“When we started we thought we could change the world with our plans,” said Fasil Giorghis, an architect based in Addis Ababa and a lead researcher on the Buranest project. “But the farmers are very suspicious, very sceptical.”

Buranest, in the northern Amhara region, is now gradually coming alive. But its past troubles have added significance as a new plan to build 8,000 new towns across the country, gathers momentum.

Whether this dream can become reality depends on whether the kind of problems faced by Buranest can be successfully overcome.

Farmers stroll down the new road of Buranest, Ethiopia, on November 1 2017. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Tom Gardner

Relentless growth is putting enormous pressure on Addis Ababa’s creaking infrastructure, with an estimated half a million homes needed to meet demand and as much as 80 percent of residents living in slums, according to UN-Habitat, the United Nation’s agency in charge of sustainable urban development.

Efforts to expand Addis Ababa, which resulted in the displacement of farmers from its surrounding area, sparked anti-government protests in 2014, culminating in the imposition of a nine-month state-of-emergency last year.

Ethiopia’s government, which came to power in 1991 after more than a decade of civil war, has long sought to manage such pressures by curbing the flow of people from the countryside to the capital.

State ownership of land, for instance, makes it difficult to sell family plots and makes relocating to the city harder.

URBANISING THE COUNTRYSIDE

The plan to build 8,000 small towns is the latest manifestation of these efforts, reflecting a desire to keep people in the countryside “by bringing urbanisation to them”, said Dirk Donath of the University of Weimar in Germany.

Donath is part of a team developing the project in partnership with the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC).

The project, known as Rural-to-Urban Transformation, is the brainchild of Tsedeke Woldu, a wealthy Ethiopian businessman and housing developer, and Bereket Simon, an influential Ethiopian politician and former policy advisor to the prime minister.

It takes inspiration from a 2015 government growth and transformation plan, which included planning 8,000 “rural-development centres” by 2020.

“In the past we were very much focused on promoting agriculture,” said Yinager Dessie, minister of national planning and one of the authors of the plan. “But now we want to have more towns all across the country.”

A chalk blackboard in an empty workshop in the new model town of Buranest, Ethiopia, on November 1 2017. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Tom Gardner

Each village, or “rural development centre”, will be provided with a school, health centre, housing, and government offices.

Farmers will be encouraged to migrate from the surrounding area to take up jobs in light industry, urban agriculture and construction, among others.

In Ethiopia, a town must have a population of more than 2,000 people, and more than 50 percent of the population must earn a living from something other than agriculture, in order to claim urban infrastructure and services from the regional government.

This threshold will soon be lowered to 500 people to help jumpstart the urbanisation process, according to Zegeye Cherenet, an Ethiopian urban planner at the EiABC.

Woldu, the businessman, hopes to start work on 13 pilot towns across the country in early 2018, mostly with his own finances.

“I want to transform them from backwards villages into modern towns,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

CHEQUERED HISTORY

But the problems encountered by Buranest’s founders are expected in these towns, too.

“We have learnt a lot from Buranest,” said Cherenet. “It was a laboratory. And we learnt that the most difficult part of this kind of campaign is mobilizing people to live in it.”

“People are very averse to this,” said Woldu. “They are definitely suspicious. They say things like: ‘they wouldn’t come all the way here if it wasn’t for our land’.”

In Buranest, local farmers believed communal grazing land would be used for one of the many horticulture businesses that have sprung up across Ethiopia over the past decade.

Like many in the Horn of Africa country, they have been scarred by its chequered history of forced resettlement and so-called “villagisation”.

Ethiopians endured failed attempts to resettle millions in collectivized villages under the communist regime known as the Derg, in power from 1974 until 1991.

The current government, led by the Ethiopia People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), launched its own resettlement scheme in 2010.

It moved tens of thousands people in the western Gambella region into purpose-built villages before closing the programme in 2013 following criticism by rights groups.

More recently, the outbreak of mass protests against large-scale land acquisitions and the expansion of Addis Ababa has forced the government to tread more cautiously on issues concerning land.

“The problem is when we create urban centres we have to take land and pay compensation to the farmers,” said Dessie, the minister. “Expansion will definitely take a lot of land – and these days farmers ask for a lot of compensation.”

Despite the obstacles, local authorities are currently selecting poor farmers from the surrounding area to live in Buranest’s model houses, more of which are now under construction.

Over 50 farmers have come together to form a housing co-operative and are receiving bank credit to start building their own.

The school should soon be operational, too, according to Giorghis, and new residents have recently arrived in the area and set up shops along the main road, anticipating further expansion of the town.

“The farmers have changed their attitude,” said Libokemkem, the project coordinator. (Reporting by Tom Gardner, Editing by Astrid Zweynert @azweynert. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ህወሀት ጉልቻ እየቀያየረ ነው። (ጋዜጠኛ መሳይ መኮንን)

የፊት ለውጥ ይዞ ሊመጣ መሆኑ ታውቋል። አዜብ መስፍን ባፋንጉሎ ተብላለች። የኢትዮጵያን ህዝብ ደም የመጠጠው ኢፈርት የተሰኘው ድርጅት የንትርኩ ማጠንጠኛ ይመስላል። እነአዜብና በየነ ምክሩ ከዚሁ ድርጅት ጋር በተያያዘ አይናቸው ደም በለበሰባቸው በእነስብሃት ነጋ ብጫና ቀይ ካርድ ተሰጥቷቸዋል። እነስብሃት ለጊዜው በለስ ቀንቷቸዋል። የመለስ ሌጋሲን ከመለስ ጋር እንዲቀበር የፈለጉት እነስብሃት የሌጋሲውን አቀንቃኞች በጠረባ እያሏቸው ነው። ስብሰባ ሳይጠናቀቅ መግለጫው መቅደሙ ግን ገና ጦርነቱ ያላበቃ መሆኑን ያሳያል።

እነኣዜብ ኢፈርትን ለነስብሃት አስረክበው ቤታቸው ይገባሉ? የመለስ ዜናዊ አምላኪ የሆነው ሳሞራ የኑስ ምን ብሎ ይሆን? ኢፈርትን የተቆጣጠረ ሻምፒዮን ይሆናል። የኢኮኖሚ ጡንቻ የሚሰጠው ኢፈርት ለፖለቲካው የበላይነት የጀርባ አጥንት መሆኑን አቦይ ስብሃት ልቅም አድርገው ያውቁታል። እናም የመለስን ሌጋሲ ከነአስጠባቂዎቹ መንግሎ ለመጣል መንገዱን በኢፈርት ጀምረውታል። በፖለቲካው ቀጥለዋል። እነአዜብ እጃቸውን አጨብጭበው ኢፈርትን ካስረከቡ የመልስን ሌጋሲ ብቻ ታቅፈው ይቀራሉ።

ፈረንጆቹ the bottom line ይላሉ። ዋናው ጉዳይ እንደማለት ነው። እናም ዋናው ጉዳይ የአዜብ መወገድና የስብሃት ማንሰራራት አይደለም። ጉልቻ ቢቀያየር ትርጉም የለውም። ወጥ አያጣፍጥም። ኢትዮጵያን አይቀይርም። ሌሎችንም ቱባ ባለስጣናት በማባረርና በእስር የሚገኙ ተቃዋሚዎችን በመፍታት ይህቺን የምጥ ጊዜ ለመሻገር ህወሀት ተዘጋጅቷል። ፊት በመቀየር፡ ጉልቻ በመለወጥ ህወሀት የሚድን ከመሰለው ተሳስቷል። ህወሀት ከነግሳንግሱ፡ ከነኮተቱ፡ ከራስ ጠጉሩ እስከ እግር ጥፍሩ፡ አንድም ትራፊ ሳያስቀር ካልተወገደ በቀር ለውጥ አይኖርም። የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ የሚናፍቀው ያንን ነው።

የሰማያዊ ፓርቲ ቃል አቀባይ የነበረው ዮናታን ተስፋዬ ይግባኝ ተቀባይነት አገኘ

የፌደራል ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ዛሬ ማለዳ የቀድሞው የሰማያዊ ፓርቲ ቃል አቀባይ ዮናታን ተስፋዬ ያቀረበውን ይግባኝ ተቀብሎ ውሳኔውን ከሽብር ወደ ወንጀል ድርጊት ዝቅ አድርጎታል። 
በዚህም መሰረት ባለፈው ግንቦት ከፍተኛው ፍርድ ቤት ያስተላለፈበትን የስድስት ዓመት ከስድስት ወር የእስር ፍርድ በወንጀል ሕጉ አንቀፅ 257 (ለ) መሰረት ወደሦስት ዓመት ከስድስት ወር ዝቅ አድርጎለታል።
ዮናታን በታህሳስ 2007 ዓ.ም በቁጥጥር ስር ከዋለ በኋላ የሽብር ሕጉን በመጣስ ክስ ተመስርቶበት እንደነበር ይታወሳል።
በተለይም በፌስ ቡክ ፅሁፉ የጥፋተኝነት ብያኔና የእስር ፍርድ ከተላለፈበት በኋላ ይግባኝ ጠይቆ ሲከራከር ቆይቷል።

Renewed Ethiopia clashes kill over 20: state media

Oromo regional police officers wait in a pick-up car during the Oromo New Year holiday Irreechaa in Bishoftu on October 2, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

A renewed bout of clashes between two of Ethiopia's largest ethnic groups killed more than 20 people last week, the state-controlled broadcaster reported on Monday.

Fighting again broke out between the Oromo and Somali peoples along the border of their ethnically-demarcated federal regions but the cause of the violence was unknown, according to the Fana Broadcast Corporate.

Hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands displaced in a string of clashes between the ethnic groups in September until the military intervened to quell the bloodshed.

"Conflicts claimed the lives of more than 20 people from both regional states," the broadcaster said, citing government spokesman Negeri Lencho.

It added that while the security situation has improved since September's bloodshed "it is impossible to say that the conflict is totally ended."

The reports of the new clashes came after the government said 103 people had been arrested on suspicion of stoking the September fighting, though it was unclear if the arrests and the violence were connected.

Somalis and Oromos have for years squabbled over access to arable land along their borders, but the clashes two months ago were much more widespread, with one local official in a city near the border saying 67,800 Oromos alone had fled.

Ethiopia's government has prioritized ending the conflict and helping the survivors, and three other regions in the country have donated 30 million birr ($1 million, 919,000 euros) to assist people displaced by the crisis.

(Source: AFP)

ETHIOPIA SILENCES THE UNITED STATES ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

By: Elizabeth Fraser

In July 2017, when a House Resolution on human rights and democracy in Ethiopia (H. Res. 128) was heard in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, support for the bill was resounding. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) called the Ethiopian government a “corrupt regime” and “a dictatorship that knows no bounds.” Committee Chair Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) warned that the Ethiopian government must “take tangible steps to ensure opposition voices are protected, are respected, and are welcomed.”

“The U.S. Capitol Building – Washington DC.” Credit: www.GlynLowe.com. Image overlaid with text, modified background. (CC BY 2.0).

With 71 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle now co-sponsoring the bill, it was no surprise that it passed easily, and unanimously, out of the committee.

The next step in the bill’s journey was expected to happen in early October, when it was scheduled for a vote by the House of Representatives. But in late September, the bill was pulled from the calendar. According to a joint letter by eight international and diaspora human rights organizations, this was because of “threats by the Ethiopian government that if the House proceeded with a vote, Ethiopia would withdraw as a partner on regional counterterrorism efforts.”

ETHIOPIA’S WANING STABILITY

The US has long relied on Ethiopia as a key partner in the Horn of Africa, viewing the country as a haven of stability in a strategic region. As a result, US government agencies have invested significant resources, equipment, and training on surveillance and counterterrorism operations in the country, the details of which were brought to light last month with the release of classified documents on the subject. In order to preserve this relationship, the US has also repeatedly turned a blind eye to the grave human rights abuses committed by the Ethiopian government and continues to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the government’s coffers in the name of humanitarianism and development.

But in the past 36 months, Ethiopia’s stability has waned – and the human rights abuses have mounted.

Last year, the Ethiopian government imposed a draconian state of emergency in an attempt to gain some semblance of control in the face of burgeoning anti-government protests. Over 1,000 people were killed by government forces in the protests, and tens of thousands more were arrested in the ensuing months. Meanwhile, innumerable journalists, land rights defenders, religious and indigenous leaders, students, and opposition politicians continue to be jailed using Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation for raising grievances about the ruling party.

Since the state of emergency was lifted in August, state violence has continued. For example, the week that Congress was supposed to vote on H. Res. 128, Ethiopian government forces  killed 10 and wounded nearly 50 over two days of protests in Oromia.

H. RES. 128: NECESSARY, BUT INSUFFICIENT

In this context, there’s a lot that makes H. Res. 128 a necessary measure. The bill calls for the end of excessive force by security forces, the repeal of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, the release of political prisoners (including opposition politician Bekele Gerbaand indigenous leader Okello Akway Ochalla, who was sentenced to nine years in jail for speaking out about the situation of the indigenous Anuak people), the reinstatement of basic freedoms such as the freedoms of assembly and the press, and more.

But while the statements of condemnation in the bill are strong, the mechanisms for enforcement – namely asking USAID and the State Department to improve oversight and accountability of US assistance to Ethiopia, and applying sanctions on individuals and entities who have committed grave abuses in line with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act – are insufficient.

Unfortunately, western donors and agencies have a history of insufficient enforcement mechanisms in Ethiopia. For four years running, US Appropriations Bills have included language stating that US development aid cannot be used for programs associated with forced evictions in the country. However, no enforcement or accountability regarding this clause has ever been undertaken.

Similarly, in 2012, a complaint by indigenous Anuak people was filed with the World Bank Inspection Panel accusing the Bank’s Promoting Basic Services (PBS) program of financing forced evictions and human rights abuses in the Gambella region. An investigation was undertaken and a damning report filed. But rather than take meaningful action, the Bank quickly folded the PBS program and launched a nearly identical program under a new name, with no guarantees that abuses would cease. To make matters worse, the US Treasury voted in favor of this new problem, violating the very directives included in the annual Appropriations Bills noted above!

THE REAL THREAT OF H. RES. 128

Why, then, is the Ethiopian government so threatened by this bill?

As Yoseph Badwaza of Freedom House recently wrote, much of Ethiopia’s strategy for development rests on maintaining its reputation “as a development success story, a champion of peace, and a bastion of stability in the troubled Horn of Africa region.” This success story has led to massive investments, not just by the US, but by other donor governments and multilateral agencies around the world. As one example, the World Bank recently signed a five-year Country Partnership Framework worth upwards of US$5 billion with Ethiopia. If this carefully crafted success story comes crashing down, it could have grave, and serious economic consequences for Ethiopia.

As a result, the Ethiopian government has invested significant funds in lobbying efforts to defeat H. Res. 128 and its companion bill S. Res. 168. This is likely also why it has threatened Congress that it will pull out of regional counterterrorism efforts if the bill proceeds.

THE US MUST TAKE A STAND

When Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced H. Res. 128 at the House Committee meeting in July, he said that the resolution “is like a mirror held up to the Government of Ethiopia on how others see them.” It appears that the real threat to the Ethiopian government isn’t so much holding up a mirror to its own atrocities, but showing other donors that the US is finally willing to speak up about the human rights abuses it has been ignoring.

Sadly, while Congress delays its vote, thousands continue to be arbitrarily arrested, tortured, forcibly evicted, and more in Ethiopia. The very least we can do is take a stand, and the US government should do it now.

Oakland Institute

What we Ethiopians achieves under TPLF for the past 26 years

1)corruption became our identity from the lower public servant to top official and kept growing up with alarming scale.

 2) conflicts among different ethnic people show no sign of ending.

3)inflation has become a daily treat for the people of low income citizens.

4)even though promise didn't bring no fruits, lack of transport during rush hour left many people to wonder.

5)the quality of education fall down, to the point where doesn't exist anymore.

6)communicable disease like AIDS, drug addiction shows a backlash instead of defeat.

7)people are stranded in one place from afraid of being attacked in another place.

8)unprecedented low ethics and moral specially among the young become scary.

10)we as a nation every year record high rate of traffic accident. 11)we have reached to the point where don't even know what we and our children are eating clean food.

 12)the number of homeless people are growing up in alarming scale.

13)the number of children and women begging on streets are sickening. etc. these are what we achieved so far.

New York Times journalist says Ethiopia faces dangers due to oppression of majority

New York Times journalist, who worked as the paper’s East Africa Bureau chief for a decade, says the oppression that the majority, especially Amharas and Oromos, suffer under the minority government is a danger for the future of the country.

Jeffrey Gettleman, who won the most coveted journalism award, the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for his work focusing on East Africa, said in an exclusive interview with ESAT that building infrastructure is important but not an excuse to kill, jail and torture innocent civilians.

“Infrastructure is really important in Africa right now. But if you are very repressive you are jeopardizing everything because you are creating this anger and resentment and volatility. We have seen that in the last couple of years, more volatility, violence and political upheaval in Ethiopia than there has been since the 1990s,” he said.

Gettleman, who’s was detained, along with his wife and a photographer in May 2007 for travelling to the Ogaden for a reporting assignment, noted that there is widespread anger and resentment against the government in the last few years. “The two largest ethnic groups, the Amharas and the Oromos, feel they are oppressed. That is dangerous.”

He noted that Ethiopia is a country that will have 100 million people soon with powerful and important culture in Africa. “But there is a lot of repression. It is the law of physics where anything you push down doesn’t necessarily disappear. It pops out somewhere else. I worry that there will be more problems unless there is an opening, people feel empowered in Ethiopia and they don’t feel discriminated against.”

He described the escalating popular protest against the government as one that is no longer easy to stamp out as people can communicate better unlike the aftermath of the 2005 elections and the subsequent killings of protesters. “It is harder to repress because of cell phones and technology. People can communicate much better than they could. The protest movement is much stronger and longer this time. The government was not able to simply put its foot on it,” he said.

He said the reason why he travelled to the Ogaden was to tell the stories of the people and the ONLF rebels fighting the regime. According to the award-winning journalist, the government military was abusing people, was brutalizing innocent civilians, raping girls, burning down houses, hanging elders, and this was part of the government’s response to the insurgency in the region.

“I wanted to share the story because Ethiopia is a strategic ally of the United States . It receives a lot of aid from the United States,” Gettleman said.

He said the government falsely accused him of being a terrorist and helping the ONLF. He said he was never allowed back to Ethiopia after he was declared persona non grata.

Gettleman pointed out that the United States is making some terrible decisions and miscalculations in a manner that hurts its own long-term interests as well as the sub-region. “I think Africa doesn’t always get the bandwidth that other parts of the world gets.”

Gettelman says that the decision of the United States to back the 2006 invasion of Somalia by Ethiopian forces was a serious mistake as it paved the way for the rise of Al Shabab.

He said Obama’s visit to Ethiopia and referring the regime as democratic was another mistake that sent the wrong message. “Ethiopia is not democratic. Anybody that knows Ethiopia and Ethiopians living in Ethiopia will tell you that. There is little freedom of expression, there is almost no viable opposition media, the opposition have been persecuted and the government controls 100 percent of the parliament. That is not a democracy.”

According to Gettleman, U.S. foreign policy of “engaging” tyrannies has proven to be counter productive. He underlined that the U.S. should rather invest in the long term interests of Africa as well as the national interest of the United States.

The United States should pay attention to the people, not please the rulers and dictators, he said. “You cannot have stability without human rights. You cannot have long term stability crushing people.”

(Gettleman’s interview with Abebe Gellaw of ESAT will air on Monday July 31, 2017 on INSIGHT, a show which will debut on the same day.)