Ethiopia: Stop Land Grabbing and Restore Indigenous Peoples' Lands/Action alert

(Forwarded from Cultural Survival)

Ethiopia:
Stop Land Grabbing and Restore Indigenous Peoples' Lands

Global Response Campaign Alert

Feb. 2012

You can make a difference!

Ethiopia receives more foreign aid than any other African nation --
upwards of $3 billion a year. These funds aim to relieve poverty and
hunger, but Ethiopia's policies are deliberately making some of its
citizens poorer and hungrier. The government is forcing the Indigenous
Peoples of the southwest off their ancestral lands and leasing these
lands to foreign companies. Bulldozers are destroying the forests,
farms, and grazing lands that have sustained Anuak, Mezenger, Nuer,
Opo, and Komo peoples for centuries.

While the foreign companies are planting food crops and agrofuels like
oil palm, mainly for export, soldiers are forcing thousands of
Indigenous people into state-created villages, simultaneously robbing
them of their livelihoods and their cultural identity. Their protests
are being met with intimidation, extra-judicial killings, rape,
incarceration, and torture.

Who can do something about this? The best hope lies with the donor
nations, especially the United States, the United Kingdom, and the
European Union. Let's urge them to use their influence to halt these
abuses now.

• More information on how you can help: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/take-action/ethiopia-stop-land-grabbing-and-restore-indigenous-peoples-lands/ethiopia-stop-la
nd

Thank you for participating in this campaign!

To support this and other Cultural Survival/Global Response campaigns,
please make a donation today. With each letter you write and each
dollar you give, you help us win campaigns that protect Indigenous
Peoples' lands and resources and defend their rights.

Thank you.

Paula Palmer, Director
Global Response Program

As always, we welcome your comments. Please send your feedback and
suggestions to agnes@cs.org.

Cultural Survival is a global leader in the fight to protect
Indigenous lands, languages, and cultures around the world. In
partnership with Indigenous Peoples, we advocate for Native
communities whose rights, cultures, and dignity are under threat. For
more information go to www.cs.org
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