Ethiopia

Land leasing in Ethiopia: a shameless land grab by the rich or an opportunity for the poor?
- BBC
- 25 February 2010
"What they are saying is that the local people are now suffering very badly as a direct result of these foreign companies taking over."
OSA: Open letter to the UN Sec-Gen on land grab and evictions in Oromia
- Gadaa.com
- 25 February 2010
"Today, the Oromo issue is not hidden from the world leaders and stakeholders. However, it is being ignored. The Meles regime is selling Oromo land on world market, although this government does not have the right to sell Oromo land."
Gulf Africa Strategy Forum 2009
- Khaleej Times
- 23 February 2010
The lack of systematic collection of data and categorising private and official investments from the Gulf has made it difficult to reach an accurate estimate of total investments, made so far.
Foreign agro firms scoop up Ethiopian farmland
- VOA
- 22 February 2010
"What Karuturi is doing is what Africa needs, wants and deserves," says Ram Karuturi. Yet 400 Ethiopians have signed a petition saying they received no compensation after being evicted from land taken over by Karuturi.
Saudi Star to swallow 100,000sqm of Bishoftu land
- Addis Fortune
- 21 February 2010
Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc, the newest food growing company formed by Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi, is to acquire 100,000sqm of land in Bishoftu (Debre Zeit) this week, its senior official disclosed.
Tear down the stonewall of secrecy
- Huffington Post
- 15 February 2010
Runaway farmland and borderland giveaway deals need to be publicly scrutinized to ensure transparency (detect corruption and criminality) and to make certain that private interests (sweetheart deals) have not overtaken the public interest, or secret deals are not made to harm the Ethiopian national interest.
Karuturi arm in PE deal talks to raise $100m
- VC Circle
- 09 February 2010
Standard Chartered Bank's Africa private equity arm and a unit of Reliance Capital are in talks to invest in Dubai-based Karuturi Overseas.
Ethiopia: Land grabbing and the emergence of ‘cereal republics’
- FoodFirst
- 04 February 2010
Ethiopia must harness its enormous agricultural potential, not by selling it off as a cheap commodity, but by supporting farmers in growing culturally appropriate crops for domestic markets, using agro-ecologically sustainable farming methods.
Ethiopia on the verge of colony of many
- Anyuak Media
- 31 January 2010
The main objective of this essay is to draw the attention of fellow Ethiopians to the issue. So that it stays front and center in our contemporary political agenda, until we manage to mobilize the necessary popular pressure and try our best to stop it from taking effect.
The new breadbasket of the world?
- Irish Times
- 30 January 2010
As swathes of their country’s land is leased, cleared and prepared for food production by foreign companies, Ethiopians are divided over whether this constitutes ‘agro-colonialism’ or much-needed development
Banks eye increasing value of land
- Daily News Egypt
- 27 January 2010
Heightened land values have caused several Egyptian banks, private companies and government bodies to purchase agricultural land in Africa, in addition to focusing greater attention on Egypt’s land resources.
The new way of bio-colonialism in Ethiopia
- Anyuak Media
- 26 January 2010
How could Meles know the legitimate owners of the land, namely the future generation of Ethiopians, may not need the land say 20 years from now?