The
Oromo student protests in Ethiopia, which began last month in
opposition to Addis Ababa’s controversial expansion, continued this
week.
Tens
of people have been killed while hundreds were wounded or jailed since
the protests started in April. On May 14, locals said at least three
people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Nekemte town, western
Oromia where federal Special Forces have besieged the regional Wallaga
University. Protests have spread to neighboring Najjo and other parts of
Oromia on Thursday.
Why
is the Ethiopian regime obsessed with Finfinne and its surroundings? Is
to alleviate infrastructural and other societal challenges the city
faces? Who is the real mastermind behind this entire project? Who are
the key players in this game? Is the project environmentally and
socially viable? Does the latest plan fulfill the legal and technical
requirements of transboundary city master plans? Do the international
experts or consultants behind the master plan comprehend the local
political and socio-economic contexts? Why did the Addis Ababa city
administration fail to focus on optimizing its land use based on sound
research and fair distribution of wealth instead of resorting to a
politically driven land grab? These are the questions that Oromo
students and Oromo people are raising in and outside of the country.
Addis Ababa’s expansion
Over
the last few decades, the Ethiopian capital have seen a very rapid
lateral expansion, mainly characterized by randomly scattered legal and
illegal housing developments and business dwellings. This unplanned,
spontaneous expansion resulted in massive spatial changes especially in
the past 50 years, according to Fantahun Tesfaye. Studies show that Addis Ababa's landmass tripled from
80 square kilometers in 1960s to 250 in 1985 and doubled to 540 square
kilometers in 2010. The new plan will stretch the city's area to more
than a million square kilometers. The swift spatial enlargement is
compounded by rapid urbanization, complicating the city’s chronic
inability to meet growing demands. Addis is urbanizing at a rate of 4.2
percent every year with 40 percent annual rural-urban migration,
according to a study by the UN-Habitat.
The
city's most acute problems are its inefficient utilization of land and
rapid growth of population as opposed to the shortage of land that the
authorities often claim. Addis Ababa's sprawl is characterized by
inefficient use of land with a replica of detached single-story family
houses surrounded by a compound. This typology raises environmental
concerns "unless the trend is intercepted and backed up by proper land
use planning and densification schemes that promote vertical
extensions," according to Fantahun.
In
addition, several studies indicate the need for comprehensive long-term
planning and densification schemes and taking control of fast paced
urbanization. Failure to implement efficient, equitable and strategic
land use and public infrastructure plans led to the continuous invasion
of green fields at the expense of prime farmlands. Wealthy and corrupt
businessmen, who are either part of the ruling party or their foreign
allies, have bought up large swaths of land both in and around the city
outskirts.
Urban development master plans
Even
though it's subject to changes based on the availability of resources
and local context, urban master plans typically contain ten basic
elements. These include: goals and policy statements, land use plan,
natural and cultural resources preservation, water resource protection,
housing, economic development, open space and recreation, service and
facilities, transportation and implementation program. In what is known
among planners as ''slow but steady" approach, the planner may choose to
focus only on some of the basic elements or prepare a customized plan
through the "mosaic" approach. No matter how one chooses to prepare the
scheme, urban planners are required to consider these elements in their
overall planning process. Transparent public consultation and
participation on each component is one of the decisive factors both
during preparation and implementation phases.
Addis
Ababa’s master plans rarely applied these basic tenets of urban
planning. The city’s key problems pertain to zoning and poor land
utilization. Old squatter settlements had irregular plot subdivision.
Massive manufacturing and government establishments occupy large urban
land.
I
conducted a graduate-level research on the freight transport behavior
in Addis Ababa and its challenges. Through interviews with city planners
and review of documents related to the land use and transportation, I
found that Addis Ababa's future policy direction was focused mainly on
decentralizing the city to the surrounding suburbs. Besides, the policy
gives little or no consideration to the welfare and well being of poor
Oromo farmers who are already squeezed from all directions.
Previous
master plan implementation was also rife with shortcomings. The city
faces massive corruption, illegal land occupation and poor waste
disposal practices and a severe lack of organizational and
administrative capacity, logistics and skilled planning personnel.
Political
or administrative planning takes the lion’s share of the city’s
problems. The city administration is monopolized by political appointees
and lacks technical researchers who can remedy its urbanization
challenges. The deeply ingrained corruption drives these politicians
motives to always look for more land that they could offer to highest
bidders on the city's peripheries.
Addis Ababa's geopolitics
Addis
Ababa, which Oromos call Finfinne, is the focal point of Oromia's
geographic orientation. That's why Oromos refer to the city as
''Handhura Oromiyaa." Oromia's boundaries to the north and south of
Finfinne is a short stretch, approximately about 100km, as opposed to
its East-West borders. In other words, the extension of Addis Ababa’s
metropolitan area within 100km radius could mean the partition of
Oromia. It would potentially detach Macha and parts of Tulama Oromo
from their kins in eastern Oromia.
Despite
its history as Oromo land, Finfinne does not reflect the cultural and
socio-economic values of the Oromo people. The settlers have monopolized
the city both culturally and economically, excluding or displacing
native dwellers.
Furthermore,
despite a symbolic Mayoral post occupied by an Oromo, the city is
administered by powerful Tigrean deputies. For Oromia, the loss of
several administrative woredas to Addis Ababa means lack of
representation in the house of peoples representatives, which ultimately
contributes to the extinction of an already weakened Oromo voice.
The
biggest losers under this project are obviously Oromo farmers who have
to give up their land. In Ethiopia, the state owns all land. This leaves
the disfranchised farmers without any constitutional grounds to defend
their property rights.
This
is the grim and little known face of Finfinne and its environs since
the city's creation some 127 years ago. In addition to the disruption of
livelihood at the household level, under the proposed plan, the state
of Oromia will also lose a huge chunk of tax money and other revenues
generated from surrounding cities.
The
social crises brought about by Addis Ababa's expansion over the last
century are irreversible, to the extent that the identity of many of the
Tulama Oromo clans who once lived in the area was exterminated through
exile and assimilation. Unless this trend is stopped, in the long run,
the fate of the entire Tulama Oromo will not be different. It's culture,
language and other social values will slowly vanish as did the cultural
fabric of Finfinne's original inhabitants.
Time
and again, Oromo students have challenged efforts to change the city's
constitutionally guaranteed status. Other Oromo cities such as Jimma,
Dirre Dhawa and Bishoftu face similar encroachment. The ongoing Oromo
student protests require every Oromo's active support and participation.
Oromo engineers and urban planners must continually assess technical
and jurisdictional issues and inform the public. Oromo journalists,
politicians, legal professionals and social scientists should continue
to deconstruct the state's development schemes. The diaspora should
continue to ramp up its diplomatic and advocacy work raising awareness
about human rights abuses against our people in Ethiopia.
Non-Oromo Finfinne residents
Non-Oromo
citizens of the city should know that the goals of the ongoing protests
is neither to harm them nor to declare the absolute supremacy of the
Oromo people over the city. It is simply an attempt to prevent another
round of the displacement of Oromo farmers and preserve Oromo's cultural
heritage. Forced displacement poor farmers should alarm all freedom
loving individuals and Addis Ababa dwellers must stand in solidarity
with the #OromoProtests.
The
Addis Ababa city administration should immediately halt its provocative
project which could hamper the country's peace and security. The
fervent opposition should give municipal authorities a renewed impetus
to consider alternative, optimum and efficient land utilization within
its existing boundary. It is time to build affordable housing projects
which can accommodative its growing population. The city should look for
better ways to promote advanced infrastructural facilities which don't
take up a lot of land and most importantly stem out corruption to ensure
good governance and equitable wealth distribution.
--
*The
writer, Abel D. Ayele, is a former lecturer of Civil Engineering at
Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology and currently
Engineer In Training in Pennsylvania. Figure: Expansion trend of Addis Ababa, (source, ORAAMP, 2002)
No comments:
Post a Comment