Forced Relocation
The Ethiopian government relocated forcibly ca 70,000 indigenous people from the Gambela Region between 2010 to January 2012 to new villages that lack adequate food, farmland, healthcare, and educational facilities. State security forces threatened, assaulted, and arbitrarily arrested villagers who resisted the transfers. From 2008 through January 2011, Ethiopia leased out at least 3.6 million hectares of land, an area the size of the Netherlands. An additional 2.1 million hectares of land is available through the federal government’s land bank for agricultural investment. In Gambella, 42 percent of the land is marketed for investors.
Gambela Region has a population of 307,000, mainly indigenous Anuak and Nuer. Its richly fertile soil has attracted foreign and domestic investors who have leased large tracts of land at favourable prices.
Read more about this topic: Human Rights In Ethiopia
Famous quotes containing the word forced:
“Work-family conflicts—the trade-offs of your money or your life, your job or your child—would not be forced upon women with such sanguine disregard if men experienced the same career stalls caused by the-buck-stops-here responsibility for children.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)