Africa Review | Sunday, May 26 2013
This week the African Union celebrates its 50th anniversary. How far has the continent come in those fifty years?
For one thing, the land that Africans fought to
reclaim from foreign colonisers is being once again taken away from
them, this time not by force but through purchase — their leaders are
literally selling it from under their feet.
This is perhaps the most urgent continent-wide issue the African Union needs to address.
More than 60 per cent of the African population
lives in rural areas and depends on land for its survival. However,
reports show that in 2010, up to 123.5 million acres of African land —
double the size of Britain — had been grabbed from peasants with the
help of their governments.
According to Human Rights Watch, as many as 70,000
people in western Gambela region in Ethiopia have been relocated,
against their will, to new villages that “lack adequate food, farmland,
healthcare and educational facilities.”
To read more....
To read more....
No comments:
Post a Comment