Ethiopia halts Addis Ababa ‘Master plan’ after deadly protests

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

January 15, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopian government announced that it has abandoned the “Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan” aimed to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, to parts of the Oromia region.

The decision follows two months long protests by ethnic Oromo university students and farmers across Oromia region led to deaths of at least 140 protesters and wounded many more in clashes with security forces.

The government’s move to drop the expansion plan after The Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organization (OPDO) party which is the regional ally of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) decided to withdraw its support to the controversial master plan.

In a televised statement OPDO announced that the plan which was proposed by the federal government had been “scrapped” after discussions with local Oromo residents.

The government said it had “huge respect” for the Oromo people and respects their rights to oppose the master plan.

It further underscored that no expansion plans will be implemented without the knowledge or contest of the Oromo people and said the unrest was caused due simple misunderstanding created by a “lack of transparency”.

Although the government said the plan has been scrapped, Oromo opposition activists however doubt that the government would keep its promise.

Opposition activists told Sudan Tribune that the government’s decision might be taken deliberately to calm down the unrest and there by to prevent it from spreading to other parts of the country.

Jawar Mohamed, an exiled opposition figure says the concession was a success to Oromo people but protest movement must continue until long-standing grievances of the Oromo people are addressed.

“These concessions are not voluntary gifts from the ruling party but hard fought victory achieved through sacrifices of the daughters and sons of the Great Oromo Nation,” he wrote on Facebook.

“The Oromo people cannot take today’s announcement as lasting solution to their to freedom from eviction, systematic exclusion and mass incarceration. Just as we achieved these concessions through our struggle, we must step up to force their practical implementation”

Meanwhile an Ethiopian dissident group in exile calls for regime change describing the current Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, led government in Addis Ababa as “undemocratic” and “oppressive”.

The newly formed opposition group known as the People’s Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD) urged all liberation fronts and opposition parties to unite in ending the current regime and create a new system which it said would respect the rights of all peoples in Ethiopia.

The group condemned the killing of protesters by security forces in Oromia region.

“We call all nations and peoples in Ethiopia to rise up and support this illegal displacement of Oromo people from their ancestral lands as is happening in all other parts” it said in a statement.

It called on the international community to denounce the Addis Ababa expansion plan which Oromo nationals say would eventually lead to land grabbing and large scale evictions to tens of thousands of people from their ancestral lands.

The group said the government must abide with international laws in respecting citizens’ rights, dignity and safety.

PAFD is an opposition alliance formed by the Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement, the Gambella People’s Liberation Movement, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Front and the Sidama National Liberation Front.

The group says it is united to bring a change of government.

(ST)