Ethiopian Political Parties condemned what they called alienating and unconstitutional demolition
borkena
Toronto – Residents of Addis Ababa are familiar to what government ruthlessness looks like as they have lived it under the TPLF government. However, one they are facing in the past few years is unprecedented. The target is not just a family member or those who have dissenting views. It is the entire family and their incoming generations that are targeted, and all under the guise of “development.”
It is increasingly clear that Abiy Ahmed’s government unending home demolition project in the capital Addis Ababa is politically motivated with the aim to impoverish residents who lived in the city for generations by destroying their social base and economic nexus.
Four Ethiopian opposition parties on Monday released a joint statement confirming the government project is politically motivated.
AEUP, EPRP, Amhara Ghion Movement and Enat Party shared a critical view of the way the government is handling the matter. In the latest string of what appears to be gentrifying the city based on ethnic ideology is extensively underway in Arat Kilo, Amest Kilo, Piassa, Bella, Ambassador, Ferensay, Bole, Kazanchis, Gerji, and parts of the cities near river sides.
There have have been stories of suicides, heart attack and stroke in the city as hundreds of thousands of residents of Addis Ababa were uprooted from their hand holdings – a generational heritage for many of whom- and their houses demolished with short notices.
Abiy Ahmed’s administration has a way of camouflaging what many people tend to think, rightly, is a ruthless project with a political goal. He selects occasional holidays and renovates a handful of shanty homes for the elderly – mainly in the neighborhood- mainly with funds from “investors” who benefited from his government. And then this narrative persists on all state media outlets for several days and even weeks overshadowing the demolition project that reduced hundreds of thousands of residents to destitution and homelessness in their very own city.
His government has been undertaking the project with impunity, with no due legal process or parliamentary debate. The four opposition parties highlighted it in their joint statement. They stated that the project was undertaken “In a sense of none of your business,” top-down approach – based on emotion rather than research based action – with no input from professionals in the sector. They added that the glittering prestige project “complicated the residents’ economic and social problem rather than adding value and resolving their problem.”
The parties, while noting that thoughts to beautify the city could emanate from leaders, expressed their belief that more than the leaders’ “inspiration” it has to take into consideration the views of experienced professionals in the sector and should have been debated. In reality, as many activists who have been voicing concern indicated, the demolition in Addis Ababa seems to be rather Abiy Ahmed’s order and the consideration seems to be primarily the Oromuma ideology – that is said to be after – in the case of Addis Ababa, “leaving its marks” by displacing natives of Addis Ababa.
There were instances where the projects proved to be a failure in just a few months. The parties pointed to the roads from Bole bridge to Megenagna and from Gotera to Kera to demonstrate the unplanned nature of the “corridor development” project. The constructions in those roads were demolished months after they were developed as part of the project.
“The beauty of Ethiopian cities is man; they are ages old ; in other words they are historical,” they said. Historically, many of the cities were established in relation to their relevance for military strategy purposes.
While leaving a legacy on the city is not necessarily undesirable, the parties said that “what is occurring is one that is laden with political interest, alienate people, demolishes history, shakes age old social and economic interaction, impoverishes residents overnight, kills business that are livelihoods to hundreds of thousands of people, impulsive and one that creates a sense of insecurity over eviction and displacement…”
The Party’s statement is based on research and they shared that the demolition process “is isolating the original residents of the city from their social base”, weakening and leaving places of worship without man.
The party sees the government move as one intended to show off its power in the city to make up for the legitimacy it lost elsewhere and create a new narrative.
In terms of action, the parties called for :
1) The government to respect constitutional rights of citizens and stop a plot under the cover of ‘development’ from actions that shakes the community in a fundamental way,
2) The victims of the demolition – residents of Addis Ababa- to peacefully protest the action and defend their rights peacefully
3) hose whose houses are demolished and displaced from their place to keep evidences of their land holdings including land holding certificates
4) Called on “investors” who are building on lands dispossessed from residents to think about the possibility that their compatriot whose home was demolished would return one day
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Fields of Tears & sorrow, (forced on by ‘our own’)!
In China when they lifted 800 million people (families) from extreme poverty the first thing they did was to build new accommodations schools and other institutions move the people to the new settlements houses and demolish / repurpose the old settlements.
The same strategy was implemented in Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore, stressing on affordable ‘house ownership’ for the citizens without prejudice of ethnicity.
These thoughtful actions were taken by governments that represent the people & whos priority is serving their population and providing for their needs first.
Unfortunately, what we have been observing & experience by the vast majority in Ethiopia, a country that has been run by ‘foreign-agents’ since at least 1991.
And these ‘hand-picked-men’ (by their master) have no interest or concern for the citizens of this country and use ethnics divisions to prolong their stay while fulfilling their masters betting (divide and rule, ‘and bring the bacon home’).
History shows’, this are short lived adventures, and will end unexpectedly & spectacularly.
The reverse actions on the perpetrators would have similar or even worse consequences, when their past catches-up with them all, and the chickens come home to roost.
Tears & sorrow, have to be repaid at some point in time.
The natural law dictates, one has to experience what one has created, aka ‘Karma’!
We have no enough homes to house our people, but our ‘leaders’ priority is to build a NAVY on an imaginary ‘virtual’ port.
Delusional disorder at its best. (aka ‘Ego trip’)
Be well
When Love & care is scarce… signs of, ‘darkens invades human hearts & minds’, “፰ኛው ሺ”, or “End of Times”.
“Too many people are hungry (displaced) not because there is a dearth of Food (places to stay). It is simply because there is a dearth of Love and Care in human hearts.”, SG
Be well.
”Parties react to ruthless, politically motivated demolition in Addis Ababa”
Which parties? Weg naw alu sedaru malkes :) a collection of ”kotet” only takes space, unless recycled you will not get any value out of it!
Honestly speaking which part of this move is politically motivated? Can a good government clean up junk neighborhoods to facelift our abused country? when do you think this supposed to be done? or are we supposed to keep this 100 plus years junk? just say Thank you this happened to mama Ethiopia, always known for unclean.
Well, the men in Addis have no balls “kolet “. They might as well dress up, put on lipstick, get their hair braided and have little abiy stick his gala dick up their ass. Shentam hula!! This is beyond rage! Makes my blood boil. Even slaves weren’t treated as such. “Gemena menged lay wodko “ little abiy lounges in the palace with his wife and children! How atrocious! People of Addis have to kick, bite, scratch, punch and do whatever they must to stop this madness and crime! Bite them in their arteries.
Ted,
One thing i know for sure about Ethiopia is that ”SHE” is blessed with lots of idiots like you who always prioritize their little cause over the big picture, who always trying to led others while sitting under ignorance.
Just like our King Abiy said, Wereghoch seyaweru egna eneseralen!
Yes, getem adregen eneseralen! Demo le mama Etiopia!
I wish I can demolish some people as well to recycle them or to fix them, we are wasting lots of food feeding Idiots…
One thing you forgot to mention is that most of these people have given new and modern places to live,
He also said Idiots like you are the one who will be rushing to such developed areas upon completion to take a selfie, keza weche mentawkeleh. ANKOLA!
Hello there! As I told you I was away for a week cuz I was busy doing some work over there. During the week I lead my 300-man commando force that was trained in Mogadishu to liberate the Amhara, Oromo and Tigray regions wiping out every Oromo and Amhara on the planet. The next day after liberating them, the credit score of everyone in those regions went thru the roof to 850. Meanwhile, since I had wiped out every Oromo and Amhara, I declared Ogadenia liberated and handed it over to the only expert in the foreign affairs for The Horn of Africa, Af-Mishaar. As you already know, Af-Mishaar and I go way back to our days in the former Republic of Jigjige that was founded by his late uncle and mentor 5 star general Siad Barre. He is happy now like a kid at a toys store. On the other hand, I had the chance to make my benefactor el-Sisi very happy by giving him the ownership keys of the GERD Dam.
All problems solved! See how genius I am? You guys are so stupid that you have no clues. Losers!!!
Ye little abiy shermuta speaks!! Your little pigmy king is a murderer, a liar, a genocider, and inhuman ruthless criminal! He will get what is coming to him. He will not forever lounge in his evil infested forrest with his bitch wife and the rest of his defective children. The spilt blood of all murdered Amharas will be avenged by the Fanno men and women very soon! In the meantime, go suck little abiy’s dick like you did to your wretched mother!
One more thing I forgot telling you. After handing over the management and ownership of the GERD Dam to my beloved benefactor el-Sisi and the entire eastern half of Ethiopia to my very dear Arab-Somal friend at Villa Mogadishu, I had also transferred the ownership and operation of all precious metals(silver,gold, platinum, and diamond) mines including known reserves of iron ore, copper, tin, lithium, opal and all other metals along with all exports of all agricultural products like coffee, oil seeds and hides to Eritrea to pay off the 250 billion US dollars Ethiopia owes Eritrea. As you all know Ethiopia had invaded Eritrea at Keren in 1941 killing one millions civilians and illegally occupying that country for 50 years until 1991.. During those horrifying 50 years Ethiopia had killed five million and six hundred fifty thousand Eritrean citizens(I have the list of the victims right here in my hand) and destroyed 25,876 factories(I also have the list) worth 156 billion US dollars. By doing so I have made Eritrea as happy as a kid at a candy store, Ethiopia being the candy store. Am I genius or what! You guys are so dumb you don’t know which way is up because all of your life experiences have been going down! Boy, I hate those Oromos and Amharas! They were the ones that invaded Eritrea at Keren in 1941, occupied it for 50 years killing over 8 million citizens.
You