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Month: October 2012

Ethiopia: What We Can Learn From Our Distance Runners

Posted on by Alemayehu G. Mariam

rucEthiopia is known for the best and the worst. Ethiopia is known for the legendary hospitality and charm of its people, unrivalled beauty of its picturesque landscape, fabulous coffee and, of course, unbeatable distance runners. Ethiopia is also known as the epicenter of human rights abuses, citadel of press repression and home to the largest population of political prisoners in Africa. Sadly, famine (or as the experts call it “acute/chronic malnutrition”) has marred the beautiful face of Ethiopia for decades. But Ethiopia is marching out of dictatorship into democracy, or should I say Ethiopians are running away from tyranny to freedom?Ethiopia has produced a high percentage of the most competitive middle distance and distance runners in the world for the last two decades. The great Abebe Bikila was a trailblazer not just for Ethiopians but the entire continent. He was the first African to win a gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Perceptive observers at the time noted that it took an entire division of the Italian Army to invade Ethiopia in 1935 but one barefooted member of the Imperial Guard to conquer Rome 25 years later. For Abe, it was all about duty, honor and country: “I wanted the world to know that my country Ethiopia has always won with determination and heroism.” So were the noble words of Ethiopia’s greatest athletic hero of all time. Abe repeated the same performance in Tokyo in 1964.  Few noted the fact that Abe had triumphed in two former Axis capitals.

Others followed. Mamo Wolde won gold in the marathon event in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Mirus Yifter won gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m events at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Gezahegne Abera became the youngest marathon gold medalist in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. In the past decade, Haile Gebreselassie dominated the distance events winning two Olympic gold medals and four World Championship titles in the  the 10,000m. Haile broke so many world records and won so many titles that Runners World, America’s foremost track magazine, called him “the greatest distance runner of all time”. Kenenisa Bekele holds the world and Olympic records in both the 5,000m and 10,000m winning a double at the 2008  Olympics in Beijing. He had won the same events in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.  His victories at the World Championships and other international championships are too numerous to list.

The women champions have been equally impressive. Tiki Gelana won gold in the women’s marathon event at the 2012 London Olympics with a time of 2:23:07, a new Olympic record. Fatuma Roba won gold in the same event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Derartu Tulu won gold in the 10,000m event at the 1992  Olympics in Barcelona. Tirunesh Dibaba won the 10,000m and 5,000m events in Beijing in 2008 with a repeat performance in the 2012 London Olympics in the 10,000m. Just last week, the Ethiopians made a clean sweep at the Chicago Marathon: Tsegaye Kebede won gold by crossing the finish line in 02:04:38, followed by Lilesa Feyisa at 02:04:52 and Regassa Tilahun at 02:05:27. Atsede Baysa won the women’s race in 02:22:03.

The list of Ethiopian distance runners who have won gold, silver and bronze in the Olympics, World Championships, World Marathon Majors and other international distance events is endless. Many have wondered about the athletic prowess of these distance runners. According to one researcher, “transcending all of the known physiological and environmental elements, the key variable [for the Ethiopians’ unending string of victories] is the hunger to succeed”.

Long Distance Running as a Metaphor for Ethiopian Politics

In a weekly commentary in November 2009, (“The Great Ethiopian Run to Freedom”), I wrote, “… The multitudes were not just running for freedom, they were also running away from tyranny and dictatorship, despair and hopelessness, and from their daily life of indignity and humiliation under a ruthless dictatorship. Sadly, they were all running in circles in the prison nation Ethiopia has become…”  The distance run could be an apt metaphor for Ethiopian politics and the struggle to transition that country from dictatorship to democracy. The distance run is not merely a physical challenge but also a formidable test of mental fortitude. Running long distances requires great physical effort, but it also requires extraordinary  stamina and endurance. The distance run is often painful, intense, strenuous, laborious and tedious. But the distance runner creates her own rhythm and tempo as she pounds the pavement and dirt road going up and down the hill sweating and thirsty, turning a corner with the wind pushing her back, the hot sun baking her face and exhaustion pulling every fiber of her sinewy muscles. The distance runner always looks forward with his eyes fixed on the prize notwithstanding the pain and strain. As Jacqueline Gareau, the 1980 Boston Marathon champ observed, “The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy… It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.”

The secret of the distance runners is the “will to succeed”, which for the Ethiopian runners is raised one notch to the “hunger to succeed.” Like our distance runners, we too must have the will and hunger to succeed in the race for democracy, freedom and human rights in Ethiopia. The gold medal for democracy does not come by winning the 100m sprint or the 400m relay. The gold medal for freedom does not come by winning the 400m hurdle or the 1500m steeple chase. The gold medal for human rights does not come by winning the  200m spring. It comes at the end of a long, arduous and exhausting marathon over the mountain ridges of dictatorship, through the valleys of oppression, across treeless plains of injustice and waterless deserts of intolerance, arrogance and ignorance.

In the marathon race for democracy, freedom and human rights in Ethiopia, we must think, feel and act like our distance runners. We must develop the special qualities of our distance runners. What are those qualities? First, they are not superhuman attributes. They are qualities which most of us possess but rarely use. Second, they are not physical qualities, but psychological, intellectual, mental and spiritual ones. Long distance runners are singularly focused. They set their sights on their objective and pursue it single-mindedly. They are not easily distracted. They keep on keeping on until they get to the finish line. They have fortitude, a mental toughness which gives them resoluteness, staying power, tenacity and perseverance. They will not give in or give up even when they experience excruciating pain, thirst and fatigue. They know they are not competing with those behind and in front of them but the voice inside their head that says, “It’s too hard, too long and too difficult. Give it up.” But distance runners who have the will and hunger to succeed have developed the mental, emotional and spiritual strength to face not only the daunting hills and menacing valleys but also any unexpected adversity along their way. They are unafraid and calmly plug away at a steady clip stretching their legs nimbly to the finish line.

Distance runners have steely determination and always prepare to win. They devise a plan of action for victory,  but adjust it as they go along. They will even change it completely if the unexpected occurs because they are flexible and adaptive. As they prepare, they always maintain a winning attitude. Haile Gebreselassie said, “First, do enough training. Then believe in yourself and say: I can do it. Tomorrow is my day. And then say: the person in front of me, he is just a human being as well; he has two legs, I have two legs, that is all. That is mentally how you prepare.” They also believe that when they win, it is not a personal victory for them but a triumph for their  people and country. That was what Abebe meant when he said, “I wanted the world to know that my country Ethiopia has always won with determination and heroism.”

Distance runners have vision which is the “art of seeing what is invisible to others.” They can visualize their objective even when the finish line is shielded from view by hills and winding roads. In their mind’s eye, they see themselves entering the stadium for their victory lap or dashing the last hundred meters to the finish line to set a new record. They have endurance which is a mental and spiritual quality that keeps them going beyond what they believe to be their limits and helps them overcome weariness of body and affliction of spirit. Distance runners have confidence in themselves and their ability to get the job done. They do not doubt their cause or determination to win. They don’t run looking backwards, but push forward relentlessly believing that every mile they cover gets them closer to the finish line and to victory. Distance runners are self-disciplined, persistent, patient and dedicated. When they lose an event or do not perform as well as they thought they could have, they don’t sit around and mope and wear a long face. They look at their performance, determine the reasons for their deficiencies, identify the things they could have done better and differently, correct their mistakes and prepare for the next race. No excuses, no blaming others, no grudges, no bull!

The prize of democracy, freedom and human rights cannot be won in a sprint, spring, hurdle or relay. It can be won only after a grueling, painful and challenging distance race. It is a marathon race between those running for freedom and running away from oppression and those chasing the ones running away from oppression and towards freedom. The chasers have a leg up on the runaways and will do all they can to trip them up, halt and reel them in. But the fugitives from tyranny must keep on running.  They win by outrunning their cruel pursuers. That is why the struggle for democracy, freedom and human rights is not for the sprinters but for the distance runners.

Each One of Us Must be a Distance Runner in the Race for Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights  

The distance race for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia will be won by one individual at a time running alone and collectively with others across the rugged and jagged landscape of ethnicity, religion, language and region. But every Ethiopian must win the race first and foremost in his/her mind and heart. As Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” We must first win the distance race against our own prejudices, hatred, intolerance, ignorance and arrogance. With a clear heart and open mind, we will have the vision, persistence, tenacity and courage to win the gold in the  “Olympic Marathon” for freedom, democracy and human rights.  When we multiply our individual efforts 80 or 90 million times, we can transform Ethiopia from the land of 21 years of dictatorship and oppression to a land of 13 months of sunshine.

Let there be no mistake about prize at the end of the long and arduous distance race. When we win the race, we would have won a society where there rule of law reigns supreme, human rights are respected, abuser of power are held accountable, government governs with the consent of the people, government functions with utmost transparency, government is afraid of the people and the people are not afraid of their government and the people freely exercise their right to live with dignity and without fear, loathing and government persecution. It will be the race of our lifetimes. It may take generations to finish the race and win gold. We may have to create a “marathon relay” where each generation does its level best to struggle and win its leg of the race and pass the baton to the next generation. But to win this formidable distance race, we must have confidence, that is, robust self-confidence, full confidence in each other, absolute confidence in the younger generation and infinite confidence in the future.

Like the Olympic and World Championship distance runners, the distance runners for democracy, freedom and human rights in Ethiopia will feel tired and beat and even despair from time to time for the prize seems so distant and victory unattainable. Their heads might ache, their muscles and bones tired and pained and their spirits broken by a ruthless and savage dictatorship. They might feel like calling it quits because they cannot carry on to the finish line. They may lose heart because the distance is too long, the road too hard, the finish line out of range and the prize out of reach. But the distance runners for democracy, freedom and human rights must think and do what our champions have done time and again. We have to have to develop the mental fortitude to say, “I can do it! We can do it! Not completing the race and not winning are not options. We can outrun, outturn, outleap, outpace, outmaneuver, outperform and outlast those who are chasing us!”  That is what it takes to win the “Olympic Marathon” for democracy, freedom and human rights in Ethiopia.

Our champion distance runners do not give in when they see a big hill or a winding road. They do not abandon their course because it is hot, cold, windy or raining. They do not give in or give up because the competition has more money, better resources or facilities. The never, never give in or give up no matter what. In the distance run for democracy, freedom and human rights in Ethiopia, we too must “Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

“I wanted the world to know that my country Ethiopia has always won with determination and heroism.” Abebe Bikila.

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at: http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic and http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

Previous commentaries by the author are available at: http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/  and www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

 

TPLF boss says Muslim protests have to be stopped

Posted on , Updated on by Negash

Debretsion Gebremichael, TPLF spy chief who also doubles as Minister of Communication and Information Technology, appears to suggest that the ruling party has mobilized to crush peaceful Muslim protests.  Debretsion used Addis Ababa University as a platform to declare war on what he called “religious radicalism” and “terrorism.”

 

Eskedar Kifle | Capital Ethiopia

October 8, 2012

The Addis Ababa University, the longest serving higher institution in Ethiopia, gave a three day seminar to its teachers in all campuses, Capital learned. The meeting was originally intended to take place at one location from October 3 to 5, but they later decided to carry it out separately on different campuses.

The notorious Debretsion who intercepts email, other electronic communications

When the seminar came to a close at the Sidist Kilo Main campus on Friday, October 5, Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD), Minister of Information and Communication Technology gave guidance to the participants saying that in the coming years the university must focus on the problems of religious radicalism and the dangers of terrorism.

“We don’t want to have a destabilization movement under the guise of religion. In every religion we trace fundamentalism which is contrary to the basic principle of religion that teaches coexistence with each other,” Debretstion was quoted as saying. This movement has to be stopped, he strongly warned.

He also attended the meeting at the Arat Kilo Science Faculty on Thursday, October 3. Sources told Capital that at Science Faculty like in other faculties raised questions about the teachers’ salary increase. Dr. Debretsion discouraged the issue out of hand by saying:

“This time don’t expect a pay raise. You have the capacity to generate additional income by having additional work elsewhere. We don’t like that option. But on the government side there is no plan to increase the salary of teachers at this time,” he said.

A teacher who preferred anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue told Capital that he is not happy with the response of Debretsion. “Inflation is extremely high. So life is difficult to manage with the salary we are receiving now. House rent is increasing literally every month. The government wants us to provide a quality education. With this small pay it is impossible to have first class teachers. So the fall of the standard of education, due to mediocre teachers, is an avoidable fact,” he said.

But Dr. Debretsion was positive about the housing question. “I know that the late Prime Minister wanted the housing problem of the university teachers to be tackled. Accordingly something has been done in that direction all through. So we will exert every effort to resolve the housing problem that the teachers face,” Dr. Debretsion said.
The other major discussion point was about the quality of education. There was a consensus that the quality of education has tremendously gone down. Though all of them agreed to improve the quality of education, no viable future plan was put in place. “We all said that we will improve the quality of education.  This is a cliché like saying we shall realize the dreams of the visionary leader,” remarked one disgruntled teacher. But making change requires a backbreaking job, he concluded.

OBEDIENCE to Tyrants due to habit

Posted on , Updated on by EthiopianReview.com

To break any habit, including obedience to authority, we must make a deliberate decision to quit, constantly remind ourselves of that decision, and reiterate why it is important to break the habit. Breaking the obedience habit is a difficult task, just like quitting smoking. Both the decision to stop, and reiteration about why it is so important to stop, are constantly required… [read more]

Mental illness in the Ethiopian community

Posted on , Updated on by Hiawkal Gizachew

By Hiyawkal Gizachew

In Ethiopia, counselors are seen as helpers for “crazy” people. When most people in Ethiopia are faced with a problem, they tend to talk to their family members, neighbors, friends, or they go to church to talk to the priests and pray about it. Also, traditional healing plays a big role. In Ethiopia mental health issues are not talked about, or if it is brought up, it is always associated with “mad people” who walk around half naked on the street and talk to themselves. Mental illness is also seen to have supernatural causes such as spirit possession; people with mental illness are seen as violent and will never recover. These are myths that have a part of Ethiopian culture today. As a result, people don’t seek professional help, whether they are experiencing minor or major mental illness.

This raises a question, what is mental illness is? Do we know what causes it? People with mental illness experience problems in the way they think, feel or behave to the point that these despair feelings, thinking and behavior interfere with their daily functioning. As a result, their relationship with family and friends are affected, as well as their employment. It is essential for us to understand that having a mental illness is no one’s fault. According to experts in the field, there are many factors that may cause a mental illness, such as a {www:genetic predisposition}, chemical imbalance in the brain, stress and exposure to severe trauma. Mental illness includes disorders such as anxiety, {www:post-traumatic stress disorder}, depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

When major negative life events occurs such as losing loved ones, divorce, an accident, or serious prolonged problems such as substance abuse or domestic violence, coping becomes progressively more difficult, and resulting distress begins to impair one’s daily functioning and can cause sleep disturbances, appetite changes, energy level changes and intrusive thoughts.

It is unfortunate that mental illness is running rampant within Ethiopian community. It is an issue no one is addressing. People are suffering from severe depression, the number of young adult committing suicide is increasing, some are abusing substance to cover up what they are feeling while other are showing it in their aggressive and violent behavior. Divorce, domestic violence, parent-child conflict, and crime are increasing. In a culture where mental illness is associated with “madness,” it is not shocking that Ethiopians don’t seek help. Mental illness is a major problem in our community that needs to be addressed by everyone including, youth, adults and the elderly. Mental illness doesn’t discriminate by age, gender, socioeconomic status, or education level. We need to come together to educate and jointly fight the stigma that is holding us back from seeking professional help.

(Hiyawkal Gizachew, a Mental Health Counselor with the Northern Virginia Family Service, can be reached at [email protected])

The Ethiopians and moral conduct

Posted on , Updated on by Yilma Bekele

By Yilma Bekele

I dreamt about my uncle. He has been dead for over ten years so I was wondering what brought him to my conscious now. It was a vivid dream and I awoke both sad and happy. So all day long I kept wondering what is it that made me dream about him. I really think I was able to come up with a reasonable explanation why this memory was triggered in my brain. I believe it is due to what I have been reading lately that awaken this memory about service, integrity and today’s Ethiopia.

The night before the dream I read a very revealing article on goolgule.com about the land grab in Oromia region. It is a depressing tale of what those in position of power and authority do to our people. The story was told to give us perspective about Ato Junedin Sado, who seems to find himself in a very precarious position lately. His problem that started before the death of the tyrant has escalated to his being dismissed from that TPLF satellite organization OPDO. It looks like this puppet who has been serving his TPLF masters faithfully betraying the Oromo people is now paying the price for his sins.

I also have been reading about the Deputy Mayor of Addis Abeba Ato Kefyale Azeze defecting and moving to the US as a fellow refugee. I have also been informed about Ato Getachew Belay, a high ranking TPLF official, who decided to stay in the US abandoning his post. Ato Getachew has served his party as head of the Privatization Agency and head of EFFORT. Both are posts normally reserved for party loyalists.

The defections must have been what got me to think about service to people and country. That must be what triggered this deeply held memory to surface in the middle of the night. My uncle is one of the few people that have left a mark in my brain. I always think of him in a very pleasant manner. The earliest I remember of him from is the picture hanging on our living room wall. It was taken before he left for Korea as part of the United Nations peace keeping force. He was dresses in a greenish uniform sitting on a chair with medals on his chest. It was a serious picture but his boyish face betrayed the stern garish looking uniform and made him look like a kind solder unlike a warrior he was supposed to be. No question that picture impressed all of us growing children.

Upon his return from Korea he was recruited to work at our embassy in Egypt. He must have stayed there a long time because when we met next I was already in high school. He was working as administrator at Paulos Hospital in Addis Abeba. He got married and built a beautiful bungalow in Gulele. My brother and I used to love going over to visit him in the weekends and spend the day listening to him talk and observe the disciplined and meticulous way he lived.

He built the house himself and for us it was like a Ferenji place. It has a beautiful bathroom with toilet, bathtub and bidet with working plumbing system including hot water. The house has a beautiful dining area and a living room for entertainment with couches and a radio. His flower garden was a marvel to look at. We sat and ate in the dining room and washed our hands in the bathroom without a maid fetching water and towel to our table.

A few years later he built an addition on his land to rent for income and help raise his three beautiful daughters. He was making an honest living and looking forward to enjoying his retirement. I finished High school and came to America.

The appearance of the Derg changed everything. The turmoil that followed affected my uncle and his contemporaries in a negative manner. The Derg expropriated all wealth created regardless of how it was achieved. My uncle became the victim of this haphazard and meaningless policy. The Derg became the landlord of his property and his tenant started paying rent to the government. My uncle was forced to retire due to the turmoil in the country.

When I visited him next I couldn’t help but notice how fast he has aged. He was still living in his house but there was no incentive to do any repair or make his house into his own castle. It was shocking to see the deterioration of both man and property. Such a vibrant and go getter of a person was reduced to spending his days on trifle affairs and mundane subjects. It was odd to see his previous tenant subleasing the house and making money. The coming of Woyane did not make things any better. They took over where the Derg left off. That is how much things have turned topsy turvy.
May be I am grasping for straws, maybe I am letting my imagination go wild but the truth is I saw a connection between my dreaming of yester year and the current news coming out of Ethiopia. My uncle’s life was a simple straight line of service and hard work with rewards of stable and fulfilling end until it was rudely interrupted. His achievement was on merit and his honest service is what makes the wheels of society turn in predictable manner. His honorable way of life was an example to all our family. We all learn by example and he was a proud mentor.

Why am I writing about my uncle is a good question. I wanted to tell you we have not always been the way we are now. Lawless, corrupt, shifty, no roots and void of faith, this is what has become of us. I believe this describes the new Ethiopia. Not long ago our country and people were different. Yes there was inequality, there was injustice and we were definitely backward. But we were not degraded, self-loathing and hopeless.
What do we have today? There is no sense of public service but public robbery, there is no sense of do the right thing but a sense of what can I get away with, there is no sense of pride in workmanship but cheap labor for fast money, there is no sense of us but it is all about me. That is what the TPLF regime cultivates. That is why they could do all kinds of damage to our people and at the end of the day abandon all and move out of the country.
When I read about the likes of Junedin, Kefyalew and Getachew I start to wonder about the future of my country and people. What do our people learn from such disgraceful action? What kind of society produces such individuals? How did our country find itself putting such people in charge?
Let us take Ato Junedin. Let us also remember the entire OPDO leadership was rejected by the Oromo people during the 2005 elections. They were restored to their position after Ato Meles ordered recount of the ballots. It was in the aftermath of this event that the OPDO leadership decided to teach the people a lesson. Land is the only wealth the Ethiopian peasant owns. He has no bank account, no capital in machinery and no stocks and bonds. People like Junedin robed the land from the simple peasant. The stolen land was leased to grow flower for the export market while some was used to build condominiums and town houses.

The same peasant that lost his land was recruited to work as a day laborer while his children were let loose in the green houses where they grew flowers. Fifteen and sixteen year old Oromo girls were exposed to chemicals and fertilizers without adequate or no protection. The land given to the developers with fancy names puts the children’s fable Alice in wonderland to shame. In a country where the per capita income is less than $700 a year our developers are constructing housing that costs five million to twenty million. That is what a company called Country Club Developers is building in Legetafo, Oromia. It is also true that over 95% of the residents of Oromia cannot afford to purchase their dream house in Legetafo. Ato Junedin made all this possible.

Folks like Kefyalew and Getachew are the engines that facilitated the working of the TPLF anti Ethiopian machine. Today they come to America as victims. They followed high officials of the Derg regime that left before the fall of Mengistu. Derg era criminals today are respected members of our community. I assure you in a few years Kefyalew and Getachew will join our Church, Mosque and Eder as ordinary fellows in exile. How could a lesson be learnt if yesterday’s criminals are today’s freedom fighters?

Do you think the problem is with them or with us? Do you think people like Junedin, Kefyalew and Getachew can exist with us? There is no ying without yang, there is no smoke without fire and there is no criminal without a victim. Our indifference, our apathy makes people like the above flourish. When we keep quiet while observing injustice we encourage such evil act to continue. When we participate in buying stolen land, building on stolen land we facilitate the coming to death of our homeland. We mock our people’s plight because we ventured out and collected a fist full of dollars.

It does not require a fortune teller to predict sooner or later the injustice, the famine; the hopelessness will force our people to resort to force as they have done before. Today’s Ethiopia is reaching that boiling point. This is not because it is written but it is so because her children failed her, because her children refused to act because her children looked the other way. The solution lies in each one of us. We all know what is right and what is wrong. We all know we cannot judge the Junedins and the Kefyalews and the Getachews if we would act like them given the chance. The question to ask ourselves is would I be different? Am I a better human being aware, conscious, and keeper of my brother?

In Ethiopia, World Bank finances repression: Huffington Post

Posted on by Negash

World Bank Support for “Development” by Force

Jessica Evans | The Huffington Post

October 11, 2012

“Soldiers came and asked me why I refused to be relocated,” a 20-year-old Ethiopian told me in September at a refugee camp in Kenya. “Ojod,” not his real name, was still visibly shaken from the horror he had left behind: “They started beating me until my hands were broken… I ran to tell [my father] what had happened, but the soldiers followed me. My father and I ran away… I heard the sound of gunfire.” Ojod heard his father cry out, but he kept running and hid from the soldiers in the bushes as he was “full of fear.” When he returned the next day he learned that the soldiers had killed his father.

Abuses such as this in Ethiopia, including arbitrary arrests, beatings and killings, have been occurring not in an armed conflict or political uprising, but as part of a government program billed as improving life for indigenous people and other ethnic minorities in designated rural areas. Donor governments supporting World Bank programs in Ethiopia, including the United States, are indirectly funding these atrocities.

Under its “villagization” program, the Ethiopian government plans to relocate 1.5 million people spread out across these areas by the end of 2013. People are to be moved into new villages where the government has promised improved access to health care, schools and other public services. The idea, says the government, is “to bring socioeconomic and cultural transformation of the people.”

The problem is, as Human Rights Watch field research has found, that the government is being duplicitous on both ends of the relocation. The largely indigenous people being moved have had no say in the process, despite being forced off land closely tied to their culture. Those who object, or later return to their old lands, become targets of abuse by the Ethiopian security forces.

Once forcibly evicted and moved to the new villages, families are finding that the promised government services often do not exist, giving them less access to services than before the relocation. Dozens of farmers in Ethiopia’s Gambella region told us they are being moved from fertile areas where they survive on subsistence farming, to dry, arid areas. Ojod’s family farm was on the river, but as part of the villagization program, the government took his farm and forced his family to relocate to a dry area. There are reports that this fertile land is being leased to multinational companies for large-scale farms.

The villagization program is an Ethiopian government initiative, not one designed by the World Bank. But villagization appears to be the government’s way of implementing a certain World Bank project in five of Ethiopia’s eleven regions. The World Bank’s “protection of basic services” (PBS) project is intended to enhance access to education, health care, and other services. Through it, the Bank is paying a portion of the salaries of local government staff, including teachers who are being forced to implement villagization. At least one regional government is deducting funds from these same salaries to fund villagization.

The World Bank has policies that are designed to prevent against forced resettlement and to protect the rights of indigenous peoples affected by World Bank projects. But it has been closing its eyes to these abuses. On September 25, the Bank’s board of directors approved the third round of this PBS loan, the biggest ever granted in Ethiopia, again without applying the Bank’s own safeguard policies.

A day before the Bank approved the loan, several Ethiopians affected by villagization brought a complaint to the Bank’s accountability mechanism, pressing it to apply its safeguard policies. They were not asking for special treatment, but for the World Bank to apply its own policies, which are designed to prevent harm by its projects. As the Bank’s leading shareholder, the US is well-placed to demand that the Bank vigorously implement its own safeguards. But it has not effectively done so to date.

Ethiopia remains in much need of development aid, particularly in the areas of food security, health, and education. But donors need to hold true to their own policies to ensure that they don’t fund harmful projects, directly or indirectly. The US and other donor countries should be telling the World Bank that they do not want to become complicit in further abuses of “villagization” and that World Bank funding for Ethiopia’s misguided effort needs to stop.

Jessica Evans is the senior advocate and researcher on international financial institutions at Human Rights Watch. You can follow her on twitter at evans_jessica.