Etiopien standser indtil videre salg eller udleje af agerjord til storkoncerner og rige udenlandske private investorer. Det sker bl.a. efter langvarig international kritik af hvad der betegnes som massivt “jordtyveri”.
ADDDIS ABABA, 19 March 2012: The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has suspended land allocations for investment purposes to take time for assessment, writes internetsite Merkato.com.
The MoA will reassess its internal structures and evaluate the work that is being performed on the land that has already been provided for investment before it commences its regular services.
The Ministry will review requests on a case by case basis to provide land for big projects said Isayas Kebede, Director of the Investment Supporting Directorate with the ministry.
Since the Investment Supporting Directorate has been established the ministry has allocated a total of 342.099 hectares to local and foreign investment companies.
The Directorate took 3,6 million hectares of land in Oromia, Benishangul Gumuz, Gambela and the Southern Region and has been allocating large land grants between 100.000-500.000 hectares of land.
It has been reported, however, that investors have not been utilizing land allocated for investment appropriately according to sources.
The Ministry will need to re-evaluate the current status of land in the possession of investors before allocating further land for investors it was said.
Krav om åben og uafhængig undersøgelse
Den amerikanske tænketank, Oakland Institute, har ligesom flere andre NGOer ligget i åben strid med regeringen i Addis Ababa om jordhandler-ne og der har været flere rapporter i international presse om følgerne.
Eksempelvis at fattige bønder er tvangsforflyttet fra deres fædrene jord og nu går som underbetalte daglejere for de nye, fortrinsvis asiatiske, ejere.
Oakland Institute skriver i en presseudtalelse mandag:
Every once in a while things happen and you know that you are doing your job.
Last week the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Ethiopia issued an incredibly defensive, attacking press release that targets the Oakland Institute as launching a “crusade” against their development efforts – se http://www.mfa.gov.et/Press_Section/Week_Horn_Africa_March_09_2012.htm#9
Today the Ministry of Agriculture has suspended land allocations to take time for assessment (se ovenfor).
Oakland Institute welcomes the announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture that it will reassess its policies promoting land investments.
However, we ask for a full-scale transparent investigation to be completed by an independent committee comprised of media, academic experts, and civil society members from Africa and beyond.
Secondly, we believe that such an assessment will need that all Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) for large-scale land deals be made available to the public.
Such documents are essential information for communities to be able to give free and informed consent prior to the investments moving forward.
Udbedes: Bevis på at jordhandler har udviklingseffekt
Lastly, we respectfully ask that the Ministry also backs its claims that its land lease scheme in lower Omo and elsewhere will actually result in accelerated and sustainable development to end poverty in Ethiopia.
More concretely, it is essential that accounting of revenue (regnskaber over indtægter) garnered through such land deals be reflected in the federal and state budget and made available for review to ascertain (vurdere) the much-hailed benefits of large land deals and to determine what contribution is being made to the national economy and its trickle down effect.
Read Oakland Institute’s Open Letter to the Government of Ethiopia at http://oaklandinstitute.org/open-letter-government-ethiopia
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The Oakland Institute is an independent policy think tank whose mission is to increase public participation and promote fair debate on critical social, economic and environmental issues. Se også www.oaklandinstitute.org
