By Fred Pearce, The Guardian - Vast swaths of Africa are being bought up by oligarchs, sheikhs and agribusiness corporations. But, as this extract from The Land Grabbers explains, centuries of history are being destroyed
May 20, 2012: As the Kenyan military incursion continues in Somalia, many Kenyans have begun asking the government to tell them how long the conflict will last. The questions echo similar ones Ethiopians asked as the Ethiopian invasion in 2006 led to a prolonged three-year struggle with Somali militant Islamist militias.
By William Davison - The U.S. should reassess its support for the government of Ethiopia, amid concern that more than half a million people are being evicted to make land available for foreign investment in agriculture, advocacy groups including the Oakland Institute said.
By Akway Nyigwo, Reporter - Back in 2004 when the dust in the camp was settling and the Gambella people in IFO camp was acclimatizing with the new setting. Everybody was elated to be in an environment that albeit being temporal, provided that much needed freedom and peaceful ambiance. In any settlement, part of the process of settling down would involve a buzz of activities, as those active members would already be looking for a place with the view to set up small business enterprise and take advantage of the new site with readily available customers.
Editor’s note: The appeal to the United States Senator Al Franken to intervene in the ethnic cleansing in Gambella was made in Minnesota. The appeal letter was signed by Okony O. Cham, Human Rights Advocate at the Gambela Relief Organization (GRO).Doug Mcgill, who edits http://mcgillreport.org, a former New York Times Reporter and a lecturer at Carleton College, and who has been writing extensively on the human rights abuses in Gambella, attended the meeting. The activists who attended the meeting appealed to concerned citizens, especially in other U.S. states, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia to use their letter or write a new appeal letter and meet with their government officials and discuss the ethnic cleansing in Gambella. For questions on these issues, please contact Okony O. Cham at his contacts below.Read the full letter below.
Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security
interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States. Our security is
affected when masses of civilians are slaughtered, refugees flow across borders,
and murderers wreak havoc on regional stability and livelihoods. America's
reputation suffers, and our ability to bring about change is constrained, when
we are perceived as idle in the face of mass atrocities and genocide.
Unfortunately, history has taught us that our pursuit of a world where states do
not systematically slaughter civilians will not come to fruition without
concerted and coordinated effort.
Meanwhile, at approximately 6:00 pm local time, a man survived an attack after he was chased by EPRDF soldiers in Abobo area.Gojwok Kiru, a health practitioner at a Catholic Health Center, has been accused of being one of the rebels "terrorizing" the troops. "We want him!" said the leader of the squad; "If you don't turn him in to us, we will kill too many Anuaks in the coming days" they said. Maria, the woman in charge of the center, insisted that Mr Kiru is "an innocent, hardworking young man. He is not a rebel and therefor I, for God sake, will not give him away". No words of what happened with Mr Kiru since the attack. This is the second attempt by these soldiers to capture Mr. Kiru and he survived both attempts.
By OJ, Reporter -Two Pakistani nationals and 3 civilians were killed in cross-fire on Sunday, April 29 2012 when opposition forces attacked a Battalion-size Ethiopian Armed Forces in Gambella, Western Ethiopia, sources said. Among the dead are agriculture experts Tesfaye Desta and Daniel Tesfamariam. Two more Pakistanis died in Gambella Hospital later that day. The Ethiopian Forces were guarding workers of Star Farm, a commercial farm owned by Mohammed Al-Amoudi, a Saudi businessman.
