Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 20:14:20 +0200
<http://quatero.net/archives/27380> Ethiopia's 'villagisation' scheme fails
to bear fruit[By William Davison]
By William Davison
Residents say government has not delivered on resettlement promise of land,
clean water and livestock
. William Davison <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/william-davison>
in Gambella
* theguardian.com <http://www.theguardian.com/> ,
* 23 April 2014 12.24 BST
*
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/apr/22/ethiopia-villagis
ation-scheme-fails#start-of-comments> Jump to comments (9)
The orderly village of Agulodiek in Ethiopia
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.theguardian.com/world/ethiopia> 's
western Gambella region stands in stark contrast to Elay, a settlement 5km
west of Gambella town, where collapsed straw huts strewn with cracked clay
pots lie among a tangle of bushes.
Agulodiek is a patch of land where families gradually gathered of their own
accord, while Elay is part of the Ethiopian government's contentious
"villagisation" scheme that ended last year. The plan in Gambella was to
relocate almost the entire rural population of the state over three years.
Evidence from districts surrounding Gambella town suggest the policy is
failing.
Two years ago people from Agulodiek moved to Elay after officials enticed
them with promises of land, livestock, clean water, a corn grinder,
education and a health clinic. Instead they found dense vegetation they were
unable to cultivate. After one year of selling firewood to survive, they
walked back home.
"All the promises were empty," says Apwodho Omot, an ethnic Anuak, sitting
in shade at Agulodiek. There is a donor-funded school at the village whose
dirt paths are swept clear of debris, and the government built a hand pump
in 2004 that still draws water from a borehole. Apwodho's community says
they harvest corn twice a year from fertile land they have cleared. "We
don't know why the government picked Elay," she says.
Gambella region's former president Omod Obang Olum reported last year that
35,000 households had voluntarily moved from a target of 45,000. The
official objective had been to cluster scattered households to make public
service delivery more efficient. Critics such as
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/j
an/17/ethiopia-relocation-programme-report> Human Rights Watch said the
underlying reason was to clear the way for agricultural investors, and that
forced evictions overseen by soldiers involved rape and murder. The
Ethiopian government refute the allegations.
Last month the London-based law firm Leigh Day & Co began proceedings
against the UK
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.theguardian.com/politics/department-for-i
nternational-development-dfid> Department for International Development
(DfID) at the high court after
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/j
an/22/ethiopia-resettlement-scheme-lives-shattered> a man from Gambella
alleged he suffered abuse when the agency supported the resettlement scheme.
Since 2006, DfID and other donors have funded a multibillion-dollar
programme in Ethiopia that pays the salaries of key regional government
workers such as teachers and nurses
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/d
ec/21/dfid-human-rights-ethiopia> through the Protection of Basic Services
scheme.
A DfID spokesman said: "We will not comment on ongoing legal action,
however, the UK has never funded Ethiopia's resettlement programmes. Our
support to the Protection of Basic Services Programme is only used to
provide essential services like healthcare, schooling and clean water."
Karmi, 10km from Gambella town, is a newly expanded community for those
resettled along one of the few tarmac roads. Two teachers scrub clothes in
plastic tubs on a sticky afternoon. A herd of goats nibble shrubs as purple
and orange lizards edge up tree trunks. There is little activity in the
village, which has bare pylons towering over it waiting for high-voltage
cables to improve Gambella's patchy electricity supply.
The teachers work in an impressive school built in 2011 with funds from the
UN refugee agency. It has a capacity of 245 students for grades one to five
- yet the teachers have only a handful of pupils per class. "This is a new
village but the people have left," says Tigist Megersa.
Kolo Cham grows sorghum and corn near the Baro river, a 30-minute walk from
his family home at Karmi. The area saw an influx of about 600 people at the
height of villagisation, says Kolo, crouching on a tree stump, surrounded
only by a group of children with a puppy. Families left when they got hungry
and public services weren't delivered. "They moved one by one so the
government didn't know the number was decreasing," he says.
The Anuak at Karmi have reason to
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.hrw.org/news/2012/08/28/ethiopia-army-com
mits-torture-rape> fear the authorities, particularly Ethiopia's military.
Several give accounts of beatings and arrests by soldiers as they searched
for the perpetrators of a nearby March 2012
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17360598>
attack on a bus that killed 19. The insecurity was a key factor in the
exodus, according to residents.
As well as
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.anuakjustice.org/history_brief.htm> the
Anuak, who have tended crops near riverbanks in Gambella for more than 200
years, the region is home to cattle-herding Nuer residents, who began
migrating from Sudan in the late 19th century. Thousands of settlers from
northern Ethiopia also arrived in the 1980s when the highlands suffered a
famine. The government blamed the bus attack on Anuak rebels who consider
their homeland colonised.
David Pred is the managing director of Inclusive Development International.
The charity is representing Gambella residents, who have
<http://quatero.net/goto/http:/www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/m
ar/19/world-bank-ethiopia-villagisation-project> accused the World Bank of
violating its own policies by funding the resettlement programme. An
involuntary, abusive, poorly planned and inadequately funded scheme was
bound to fail, he says. "It requires immense resources, detailed planning
and a process that is truly participatory in order for resettlement to lead
to positive development outcomes," he adds.
Most of flood-prone Gambella, one of Ethiopia's least developed states, is
covered with scrub and grasslands. Inhospitable terrain makes it difficult
for villagisation to take root in far-flung places such as Akobo, which
borders South Sudan. Akobo is one of the three districts selected for
resettlement, according to Kok Choul, who represents the district in the
regional council.
In 2009, planners earmarked Akobo for four new schools, clinics, vets,
flourmills and water schemes, as well as 76km of road. But the community of
about 30,000 has seen no change, says 67-year-old Kok, who has 19 children
from four wives. "There is no road to Gambella so there is no development,"
he says. One well-placed civil servant explains that funds for services
across the region were swallowed by items such as daily allowances for
government workers.
A senior regional official says the state ran low on funds for resettlement,
leading to delivery failures and cost-cutting. For example, substandard corn
grinders soon broke and have not been repaired, he says. The government will
continue to try to provide planned services in three districts including
Akobo this year and next, according to the official.
However, the programme has transformed lives, with some farmers harvesting
three times a year, says Ethiopia's ambassador to the UK, Berhanu Kebede.
The government is addressing the "few cases that are not fully successful",
he says. Service provision is ongoing and being monitored and improved upon
if required, according to Kebede.
At Elay, Oman Nygwo, a wiry 40-year-old in cut-off jeans, gives a tour of
deserted huts and points to a line of mango trees that mark his old home on
the banks of the Baro. He is scathing about the implementation of the scheme
but remains in Elay as there is less risk of flooding. There was no violence
accompanying these resettlements, Oman says, but "there would be problems if
the government tried to move us again".
<http://quatero.net/archives/27380/gambela2> In the village of Elay, people
are defying the government and returning home. Photograph: William Davison
In the village of Elay, people are defying the government and returning
home. Photograph: William Davison
(image/png attachment: image001.png)