https://www.yahoo.com/news/dutch-farmer-ethiopia-violence-terribly-scared-172653287.html
Dutch farmer on Ethiopia violence: 'I was terribly scared'
AFP on October 23, 2016, 1:27 am
Dutch farmer on Ethiopia violence: I was terribly scared - The West Australian
Alaga Dore (Ethiopia) (AFP) - When protesters torched a nearby
Dutch-run farm in Ethiopia's Oromia region, Marc Driessen watched
anxiously as smoke billowed above the horizon, fearing his own
business would meet the same fate.
"I was really terribly scared because I saw AfricaJuice burning from
our farm and we were getting noise from people that most likely our
farm would be next," he told AFP from his flower farm, Maranque, which
boasts recently installed solar panels worth 600,000 euros ($650,000).
The farm, some 125 kilometres (77 miles) south of Addis Ababa, is at
the heart of the restive Oromia region where anti-government anger
erupted into violence after at least 55 people died in a stampede at a
religious festival on October 2.
An employee of Maranque was among those killed in the disaster. The
stampede was blamed on police who fired tear gas at Oromo
demonstrators, who are waging an unprecedented protest movement
against the authoritarian Ethiopian government.
After nearly a year of protests demonstrators turned their anger to
foreign investors who they blame for occupying land appropriated by
the government.
Not long after AfricaJuice, a Dutch fruit farm, went up in flames,
hundreds of protesters brandishing sticks, rocks and a few guns
gathered in front of Maranque.
It was a group of elders from the nearby village who rushed to the
farm on their scooters, who saved the day.
"We put ourselves in front of the protesters and we told them
'Maranque is our property, do not burn it. Burning this farm will not
change the government. You'll kill us rather than destroying this
farm'. And our youngsters backed away," said community elder Shumi
Telila.
More than 800 residents of the village of Alaga Dore work at the farm.
- 'It was like a war' -
The spike in violence after the stampede, during which government
buildings and more than a dozen foreign companies were targeted,
prompted authorities to declare a six-month state of emergency for the
first time since the fall of communist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam
in 1991.
"It was like a war," said Abraham Negussie, an employee at
AfricaJuice, describing an attack by thousands of men, some armed with
Kalashnikov rifles, according to witnesses.
"Protesters say we don?t want to hurt the people, only to destroy this
property completely," he added.
The attack left a trail of destruction with warehouses destroyed and
vehicles and equipment burned.
Outside the farm several tonnes of passion fruit now lie rotting in
the sun as they can no longer be processed into juice destined for
Europe.
Calm has returned since the strict state of emergency was put in
place, with the government reporting over 1,500 people have been
arrested.
Large rocks used by protesters as barricades still line the road,
which is now patrolled by numerous soldiers.
The unrest began in November in the central Oromia region then spread
to Amhara in the north.
Together, the Oromo and Amhara people make up 60 percent of the
population. The protesters accuse the country's leaders, who largely
hail from the northern Tigray region, of monopolising power.
- 'It will affect investors' -
International rights groups estimate at least 500 demonstrators have
been killed in a bloody crackdown on protests over the past 10 months.
The violence in Ethiopia poses a threat to its reputation as an oasis
of relative political stability and its double-digit growth, which
make it a magnet for foreign investment.
Driessen, who has been in Ethiopia for 12 years, is convinced that
carefully nurtured ties to the local community helped protect his
farm, where chrysanthemums, dahlias and lavender grow in greenhouses.
"We built a water line in the village, we put a cement floor in the
school, we fixed their electricity generator... we need to do what we
can to help the people surrounding us," he told AFP.
Driessen said he was drawn to the Horn of Africa nation by its low
production costs and the ideal climate of the Rift Valley. His company
has invested 10 million euros in Ethiopia.
"It will affect new investors dramatically," he said of the recent violence.
Received on Sun Oct 23 2016 - 10:36:12 EDT