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Ethiopia The Politics of Resettlement
The Derg's policies appear to have been driven more by
political imperatives than by perceived economic objectives.
A case in point was the controversial policy of resettling
the victims of the drought and famine outside their home
areas. At the height of the drought and famine in 1984, the
regime set in motion a resettlement policy that was
initially designed to relocate 1.5 million people from areas
in the north most severely affected by drought to areas in
the west and south that had experienced adequate rainfall.
By 1988, despite the resettlement program's obvious failure,
President Mengistu repeatedly asserted that the program
would continue. He estimated that eventually 7 million of
Ethiopia's approximately 48 million people would be
resettled. The government claimed that it was carrying out
the program for humanitarian reasons, contending that it
would remove the people from exhausted and unproductive land
and place them in settlements with rich agricultural
potential. In addition, the government argued that the new
settlements would greatly facilitate its efforts to provide
social services.
Initially, settlers were chosen from feeding centers in
Welo, Tigray, and northern Shewa and transported by trucks,
buses, and cargo aircraft to resettlement sites in Kefa,
Gojam, Gonder, Welega, and Ilubabor. The government was
poorly prepared for the operation, and the first settlers
experienced tremendous hardships in alien, underdeveloped,
and disease-infested areas. Some peasants moved voluntarily,
but many more were forced to move. Many of those forcibly
resettled were able to escape. Some fled into Sudan or
Somalia, and others took shelter in refugee camps or walked
thousands of miles to reenter their native regions. Still
others joined opposition groups dedicated to overthrowing
the regime. Those who remained in resettled areas were often
resented by the local residents, many of whom had been
impressed into building community infrastructure and
donating materials.
Some critics rejected the government's argument that
resettlement was driven by humanitarian considerations.
Instead, they contended that the government's motives were
political. The policy led to a depopulation of areas that
harbored groups that militarily opposed the regime, such as
the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), the Tigray
People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the Oromo Liberation
Front (OLF).
Critics within the international community charged that the
Ethiopian government's resettlement program served as an
obstacle to dealing more effectively with the problems of
drought and famine relief. Moving victims to settlements far
from their home areas merely made them inordinately
dependent on the government. In addition, they claimed that
fundamental human rights were sacrificed in the name of
political expediency.
Regardless of the real motive for the resettlement policy,
its net effect was to increase government control over large
segments of society. In each resettlement site, WPE cadres
carried out political education and attempted to stimulate
the population to be more productive. The government
insisted that it was not trying to enforce collectivized
agricultural production but rather was trying to encourage
more efficient activities. However, in actual practice,
cadres pressured peasants to form collectives. The main
value of this policy for the regime seems to have been the
political control it promised.
Data as of 1991
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