Feature - Pitfalls of resettlement

Sheltering from the pouring rain, Aliye Ahmed and his wife Safiya gather what little possessions they still own around them, hoping to stop them getting wet. Dependent on food aid, the couple and their six children are drinking rainwater to survive. They have given up their old land and have no farm tools or seeds to plant. This is voluntary resettlement - Ethiopia style. They are among 15,000 people brought by the government to Bale zone, in southern Oromiya region a month ago amid promises of land, seeds, water and new homes. All were in search of a better life. “We are still waiting for our land,” said farmer Aliye, 54, who travelled from drought-stricken East Haraghe. “We cannot eat unless we plant seeds but we do not have any." “The land here is for cattle and we are not sure that we can grow crops,” he adds, as rains pours through the sides of his hastily constructed shelter. The road to Bidre resettlement camp in Oromiya region is virtually impassable, hampering any deliveries of desperately needed food and water. At least five trucks remain stuck in mud. Families stand in the rain and mud along the dirt track anxiously waiting for the arrival of supplies shipped in to meet their needs. DISQUIET Although some humanitarian organisations recognise the need to move families from drought-stricken areas, many are now expressing disquiet at the current drive. Two of Ethiopia’s largest donors, the US and the European Union, have both travelled to Oromiya region to witness the hardship. The UN has also expressed unease over the “precarious” nature of some communities who have been shifted to new, unfamiliar lands. “Resettlement should be a process, starting as a pilot and replicated at a wider scale if proved successful," says the UN's Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE). "It must be realised that effective social service delivery induces people to voluntarily move to resettlement villages.” “State sponsored, organised resettlement programmes can be successful if they are executed in a very careful and gradual manner by taking into account a wide range of socio-economic, cultural, institutional and political issues,” it added. Concern has also been raised about similar schemes in other parts of the country. In Tigray in northern Ethiopia, families have been moved to areas which lack both water and health facilities and told to build their own houses. East Wollega in western Ethiopia is also witnessing a massive resettlement drive, but many families found they were worse off after the move and in malarial areas. Even in Amhara region where the resettlement programme was cautiously welcomed, organisations argue that the area lacks adequate social services. REVERSING DEPENDENCY Yet resettlement to solve the country’s ills is not new in impoverished Ethiopia. Former Marxist ruler, Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, was a keen advocate – but much of it was forced, sparking clashes between ethnic groups and causing widespread resentment. Now a revised resettlement policy has resurfaced as a central plank of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) development policy. It is hailed as one of its most important food security strategies aimed at reversing years of dependency and reducing the millions each year who are reliant on handouts. Under a five-year plan, tens of thousands of people are to be “voluntarily resettled” from barren drought-stricken areas to supposedly more fertile parts of the country. The scheme was rubber-stamped by international donors under the country’s much-heralded Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). ADDITIONAL BURDEN But despite laudable aims, more often than not families say that when they arrive, they find nothing. Bidre itself has virtually nothing. In the last five years, rainfall levels have been below the crucial annual 500 mm whereby farmers can grow crops. Bale Zone has been receiving food aid for some eight years. It also lacks clean drinking water and shelter. There is no electricity and the nearest hospital is around 100 km away. There is neither sanitation nor equipment to build homes. The handful of schools, according to teachers in the area, are already overcrowded and inadequately equipped. The mostly pastoralist local community has been sympathetic to the needs of the newcomers. But they are growing increasingly wary that there is insufficient fertile land to meet the demands of 15,000 more people, reducing land used by their cattle. The regional government points out that the resettlement programme is aimed at alleviating the food crisis. Tadesse Genna, who heads of the Oromiya president's office, insists that basic services are in place. “The time is so short that you could not build good roads, dig wells before they get there, but there are basic things, basic readiness,” he told IRIN. "We can work together and things will improve.” He added that regional president, Juneidin Sado, had now taken control of the resettlement crisis. “The land is not bad," he said. "There are people who live there and have developed the land. The problem is there is always a preference from the farmers to settle themselves in the highlands." “Wells are being dug, it is going on and help is being given to them by trucks. The president has given serious instructions to facilitate the availability of water,” he said. For the farmers, their first harvest - if they are lucky - is likely to be at the end of the year. Until then they, like millions of others around the country, will be dependent on food aid.