The Meles dictatorship this week has agreed to give Sudan a large tract of fertile land near Atbara River in the Gonder region, northwestern Ethiopia. The agreement was not reported by any of the state- controlled media in Ethiopia. Even the rubber-stamp parliament was not informed about it, let alone give its consent. Ethiopians in the Gonder region were also unaware of this major development.
This is the second time for Gonder to lose a large fertile land. When the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (Woyanne) came to power in 1991, it appropriated the Humera farmland to the Tigray region. That decision continues to be highly controversial.
The latest land giveaway is even more significant both politically, economically and historically to Gonder, and Ethiopia, in general. The fact that it was done secretly without the consultation of even the rubber-stamp parliament may later on cause sever problems for the Meles regime.
According to observers, the give away Gonder’s fertile land to Sudan is intended to bribe the Sudanese government not to allow Ethiopian freedom fighters to operate in its territory.