Violent land grabs in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley are forcibly evicting tribes and preventing them from producing food. This is leaving thousands of people hungry and ‘waiting to die’ – experts are predicting a humanitarian crisis if the evictions aren’t stopped now. Rape, beatings, torture, and arbitrary arrests – these intimidation tactics have reportedly been used against those who resist resettlement. Tribal lands are being cleared to make way for vast cotton, palm oil and sugar cane fields. Cattle are being confiscated, food stores destroyed, and communities ordered to abandon their homes and move into designated resettlement camps.
Did you know that your tax money may be supporting these atrocities? Ethiopia is one of the biggest recipients of American aid, but the US Agency for International Development (USAID) claims there are ‘no reports of widespread or systematic human rights abuses in the area’. Congress disagrees, and has now taken action with the 2014 spending bill by demanding that aid to Ethiopia must not be used to fund forced evictions and resettlement.
We need YOU to make sure USAID abides by the rules Congress has laid out in the bill. Send an email today to Dennis Weller, the USAID Mission Director in Ethiopia, and tell him to ensure that American taxpayers’ money is not used to finance forced resettlement in the Lower Omo.
You can use this text below to send an email to Mr. Weller at dweller@usaid.gov . So if you have five minutes, please write your own message. This is much more powerful. If your email bounces, don’t worry about. It’s probably because the recipient has blocked their account due to the high number of protests. It means the campaign is working! Here below is the text of the lette. Thank You. To learn more about, or to donate, follow the link below.
Dear Mr. Weller,
I am extremely concerned that the Ethiopian government is forcibly resettling thousands of self-sufficient tribal people, including the Mursi, Kwegu and Bodi. Many are being left with no land, cattle herds or livelihood. Unable to sustain themselves they say they are now just ‘waiting to die’. The government justifies this plan, in a country renowned for famine, by claiming it will give the tribes ‘a modern life’. The beneficiaries of this ‘development’ are being arrested, beaten and raped and their grain stores are being destroyed in an effort to force them to give up their lands, livelihoods and ways of life. Tax payers’ money must not be used to assist the Ethiopian government in creating this humanitarian catastrophe. I urge you to make your country’s aid to Ethiopia conditional on putting an end to these devastating resettlement policies and the accompanying human rights violations. Please act now – If Ethiopia’s top donors take a stand against these devastating plans, the Ethiopian government will be sure to listen.
Sincerely,