A 1985 PhD Thesis on the 'Political Economy of the Afar' by Maknun Gemaledin Ashami
The major shift from the Derg to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) led to the establishment of the federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, founded on nine ethnic-based states in 1994. The Afar National Regional State was established. Indeed, since then, this new development has improved the life of a small segment of the Afar population, but not the life of the semi-nomadic pastoralists who constitute the majority of people living in the Awash Valley. The change of the political situation was shaped by the federal government’s ‘growth and Transformation Strategy’ which involved the promotion of large scale projects in the peripheries of the Ethiopian State without the consent of the local populations. in the awash Valley a twin strategy was adopted allocating more than 70,000 ha of land to the development of sugar plantations, and the continuation of villagization programs that had been started under the Derg. as a result of the sugar project thousands of pastoralists have been displaced and removed from their traditional grazing and watering areas close to the awash river and its tributaries. as the government intends to implement a policy of forced sedentarisation, it has not provided pastures in these new settlements. Other promises such as schools and clinics have neither materialized. one observer noted that the sugar development project is perceived negatively by the local Afar, who see it as an initiative that confiscates their land and leads to impoverishment of the local inhabitants, rather than as an agent of positive change (Firehiwot and Yonas 2015: 28).
Now we have a newly formed Ethiopian government, with fresh promises to tackle corruption and inequality. However, there is no talk of moving away from the federal government’s ‘ Growth and Transformation Strategy’. how will the afar fare in this newly emerging power structure?
The thesis can be downloaded from the link below:
https://www.eth.mpg.de/5242605/FN_Vol22_PoliticalEconomyAfarRegion_web.pdf
