Tag Archives : Ethiopia

New colonialism in a globalized world is a curious thing. Countries buying vast parcels of farmlands in poor countries poses new emerging problems. In such cases, only the countries’ respective heads of state know the full details. It gets complicated when provincial governors have auctioned off their land to the highest international bidders such [...]

According to Robert Van den Berg, a spokesman for Oxfam International in the Horn of Africa, “Somalis flee one of the world’s most brutal conflicts and a desperate drought, only to end up in unimaginable conditions in camps that are barely fit for humans.” Oxfam also asserts that ‘the international community has failed the refugees who [...]

According to the Minority Rights Group International (MRG) that trends annual indexes, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan have been topping annual lists for four straight years of countries where genocide, mass killings, or violent repression victimizes the minority population. The human rights group gives a more chilling conclusion: countries [...]

Through a subsidiary of the conglomerate Daewoo, South Korea concluded in 2008 with Madagascar an agreement to lease 1.3 million hectares for 99 years. Land leases in Africa are not only prevalent; they are dirt cheap. Land rights are very low in northern Sudan, for instance, where a hectare can be leased from 2 to 3 dollars per year. In Ethiopia, [...]

International investors continue to cast their sights on farmlands, especially the best ones, in the African continent. These arable lands constitute the livelihood of local people who are likely to lose access, but African governments pay little attention to them. This phenomenon was analyzed in detail for the first time by experts from the International [...]

During a speech in Zalengi in western Darfur, Sudan President and ICC-indicted Omar al-Bashir said that he welcomes the support of the Arab League and African Union. “We found a very strong position in regional organizations such as the Arab League and the AU,” he said, referring to the rejection of these organizations of his arrest warrant for [...]