Addis Ababa: The Government of Ethiopia will continue supporting drought affected areas and saving the lives of citizens at any cost, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.
Responding to questions by members of the House of People’s Representative today, the PM stated that drought has occurred in some parts of Tigray, Amhara, and Oromia, which is not a new trend for Ethiopia.
Using the drought as a political tool is not, however, appropriate since it is not the government that brought drought, he noted.
Calling for more cooperation to save lives in drought affected areas, the premier recalled that last year’s collaboration to support drought affected people living in Borena was exemplary.
For the premier, cooperation is crucial to avoid any death due to drought, but using the drought as a political tool is damaging.
During the past four months, for example, about 500,000 quintals of grain has been delivered to Tigray region, primarily by the government and some partners, the PM said.
The Interim Administration
of Tigray has to deliver the limited resources to the ones who needier, the PM added.
The government will continue to support the people with all its capability, the premier said, stressing that “we will do our best to help our people to pass such a difficult time.”
Dismissing the baseless accusation against his government for giving less attention to the matter, he revealed that the government allotted 15 billion Birr for drought victims.
Of this, partners contributed only about 4 billion Birr.
According to him, the government is primarily prioritizing saving lives and will continue to support people that have been affected by the drought.
The premier further noted that there has been no death due to drought so far.
PM Abiy also reaffirmed the commitment of his government to continue supporting drought affected areas and save the lives of citizens by giving special priority at any cost.
He emphasized the significance of increasing production and productivity to cope with the recurrent drought.
Accord
ingly, the nation has cultivated 300,000 million hectares of land during the past Ethiopian harvest season and 120,000 million quintals of wheat is expected.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency
Members Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ESCR-Net members, Endorois, and Ogiek communities held a peaceful procession to seek justice for their seized lands and torched houses from the Attorney General.
The two communities and the ESCR-Net members intended to deliver a call-to-action letter to the Attorney General’s office demanding the government to immediately implement the Commission and Court rulings to ensure justice and reparations for the communities. Hence, the communities have been protesting government neglect and forced evictions from their ancestral lands, demanding the fulfillment of promises made to them.
The Ogiek and Endorois community is awaiting plans from the Attorney General to address the ongoing protests due to recent house burnings and slow court proceedings.
Further, through its representative, the Ogiek community noted that the National Land Commission, in a visit to their land, promised to address the contentious issues but are currently disappointed to learn that the communit
y has been accused of living in and destroying the Mau forest, allegations they vehemently deny.
The communities also cited the issue of carbon grading which they suspect could be the underlying motivation for the forceful eviction and therefore, appealed to the government to sensitize everyone involved for better understanding through information, awareness, education, and training as it relates to carbon grading.
They added that their people lack basic facilities such as schools and hospitals where the former have been burnt down and the latter devoid of amenities and specialists needed to effectively take care of members of the communities. A representative from Sheria House assured the group that their issues would be promptly addressed.
Source: Kenya News Agency
