Press Release

 

The TPLF Government Continue to Rob Food Aid

 

It is a public secret that more than 10 million people are starving in Ethiopia. This is mainly the result of TPLF’s failed economic policies and lack of personal freedom. On the other hand, the government is using starvation as a weapon to silence the poor people and making them to focus on their daily bread than on the larger problem that the country is facing. Western governments and NGOs are responding to the incidence of starvation by providing food aid. Although this is the generosity by donors, our people are not making use of this support. It is the government is using the aid as a political tool.

 

The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has repeatedly recounted that the government of Ethiopia is diverting the aid to feed its own army or sell the food items provided as aid. We have also informed the international community that the government is using food aid to gain political support. They have been distributing food aid only to those who accepted their political program and denying those who question any of their failed policy.  This is contrary to what the aid program has been meant for.

 

What is currently going on at food aid stations in Shashemenne, Wolayita and Finfinne (Addis Ababa) run by Oxfam and Alula Care is a good example. The aid was ear marked for the starved people in the southern Oromia and Somali region. However, with a direct order from the federal government office the aid are being loaded and sold somewhere else. Even though this is not a new phenomenon, the government is claiming that the owners and drivers of the trucks carrying the aid are stealing the aid food. Actually the government agents have been organizing and misdirecting the food aid by paying the drivers a lump sum of money corresponding to the volume of food they are transporting.

 

The following table summarizes the drama.

 

No.	Plate No. of the truck	Driver name	Owner of truck	Amount loaded /quintal/	Dispatch No.	Exit no.	Date of dispatch	Money paid to driver
1	3-04879	Sisaay Yilmaa	Riyad Ahmad	100	23884		08/06/2006	5,000.00
2	3-21792/05501	Indashow Fallaqaa	Birhaanee W/ Sillasee	250	23879		12/06/2006	13,000.00
3	3-12947 or 3-29471	Nasir Aman	Jamal Shikur	120	23900	32377	13/06/2006	6,000.00
4	3-11256	Kamal Umar	Tariku Ijiguu	120	23934	32424	17/06/2006	6,600.00
5	3-27594/07740	Samu’el katamaa	Tasfaye dastaa	380	23935	32413	19/06/2006	11,800.00
6	3-13303	Kifle Boggale	Dani’el G/Tatiwos	182.59	24262	35035	06/07/2006	10,000.00
7	3-13393	Damise Wariye	Li’ul Marqos	300	23936	32408	19/06/2006	16,000.00
8	3-22190 or 3-08912	Yared Tasfaye	Balay Balachow	250	24305	32475	19/06/2006	11,500.00
9	3-16019	Alam Ara’ayaa	Firew Girma	150	24307	32462	19/06/2006	7,000.00
10	3-02601 or 3-07175	Sintayohu Axnafu	Shifaa Sharif	286.36	24347		26/06/2006	10,000.00
11	3-11757	Alabachow Kabbade	Dani’el G/tatiwos	257.93	24319	32494	27/06/2006	10,000.00
12	3-27699	Indale Idiris	Dawit Nigus	182.53	24325	35021	27/06/2006	6,000.00
13	3-19456	Addis Habte	Lamma  Habte	125	24351		17/06/2006	6,000.00
14	3-15299	Shamsu Samman	Ahmad Indiris	100	24371	32439	21/06/2006	11,600.00
15	3-02940 or 3-06414	Nardos Gizow	KidaneG/mariyam	250	24376	32447	21/06/2006	10,000.00
16	3-21161	FasilTasfaye	Nuradin Ahmad	200	24386	32476	24/06/2006	6,200.00

 

The above table shows that more than 3250 quintals of aid have been stolen by the government during the month of June alone. With the current market value of Birr 250 per quintal, the total amount of money stolen from the food aid depot sums up to more than Birr 815, 000 (more than USD 100,000).

 

We, therefore, request all donors to transport the food aid they provide and devise a mechanism that ensures their food aid reaches the needy people. We also ask the international community, US government, EU and AU to put necessary pressure on Ethiopian government to allow aid agencies to deliver food aid to the victims. It is our conviction that unless the government’s sinister activity is curbed soon the already debilitating conditions of the population in Ethiopia will continue to worsen. 

 

Information Division

OLF Foreign Relation

Sept 6, 2006