Gov't hits back at critics of resettlement schemes

The government has hit back at critics of its controversial resettlement scheme, saying that inasmuch as resettled farmers have been producing surplus harvests, the programme will be intensified. It declared in a statement that the first year of the resettlement scheme had been a "success" and would continue. The massive resettlement scheme – under which 2.2 million people will be moved over a three-year period – has drawn criticism from the international community. But the government says the US $220-million programme, which is a central plank of its effort to slash dependency on foreign aid, has already achieved success. "From the millions of our farmers who suffer from food shortages and are dependent on food aid, some inhabit arid and unproductive areas," said the government statement, which was released by the information ministry on Saturday. "On the contrary, there are vast uninhabited virgin lands in most parts of the regional states." It went on to point out that "voluntarily resettled farmers in various parts of the country have produced a surplus of food crops within just a year". The government also stressed that infrastructure in resettled areas had been built, and roads, health-care facilities and water supplies were being implemented. "This has had an extremely positive impact on the living conditions of both the resettlers and the host communities," it said. However, the UN's Emergency Unit for Ethiopia (EUE) has commented that whereas resettlement can bring benefits it must be properly managed. It warned at a recent conference on resettlement that the project could lead to "colossal deforestation" and other environmental damage if not properly administered. Meanwhile, a study by the EUE on resettlement in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State has also warned of dangers of malaria in the camps. Medicins Sans Frontieres - Holland (MSF-H) has also raised concerns. It criticised one resettlement programme in the south where 15,000 people were moved with "inadequate planning and implementation". It also expressed alarm over the numbers of deaths at a resettlement camp in the Amhara region in the north, where a nutritional survey it carried out in late October had shown that at least 69 people had died there over the last six months. "Thirty-two were children under the age of five. This equates to a child-mortality rate of 5.5 per 10,000 per day - a major catastrophe against any benchmark indicator," said MSF-H. In November, the government took a group of ambassadors and representatives of international donors on a three-day helicopter tour of some resettlement sites in three of the country's regions. According to government-controlled media, the members of the group subsequently described the resettlement programme as "encouraging". The reports noted that the government had gained "valuable experience" in the course of implementing it, and went on to stress that "the voluntary resettlement programme is implemented by the mutual consent of both the resettlers and the host communities, as both are aware of the benefits to be derived from the programme". According to the federal government’s poverty reduction strategy paper, resettlement must be well planned and voluntary. "If settlement is to be a positive force for rural development, it should be conducted according to a well-conceived plan and well-coordinated government support," it says.