During his first press conference since the G20 photo-op trip to London, Mr. Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, has admitted to exporting grains from a country that has close to 12,000,000 of its population surviving under severe need of humanitarian food aid (according to OCHA-Ethiopia – mid-February 2009 report). The report also indicates that 4,900,000 people require emergency food assistance.

As declared by Mandela and his Elders group in 2008, the right to food is “fundamental.” Scheming (through exports, debts and land leases) to deprive 12,000,000 people of the right to food is a crime against humanity, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) should do its job and bring Zenawi and his collaborators to justice.

The most disturbing part of the above story is that the International and local media present at the press conference conveniently ignored reporting it. Ethiopia continues to be one of the most food-unsecured countries in the world largely because of the misguided food policy of Zenawi’s government. Ever since it came to power 18 years ago, Zenawi’s regime has been vowing to feed Ethiopian people 3 meals per day in a three-year time — 6 three-year periods later, that never happened; it was a TPLF-orchestrated hoax. Worse yet, Ethiopia is less food secured in 2009 compared to 1990, during the military dictatorship of Mengistu Haile-Mariam. In 1990, at the height of the repressive Derg regime, nearly 4.4 million people (~9% of the population) were in chronic need of food aid in Ethiopia (The New York Times – April 22, 1990.) This number has tripled to more than 12 million (~15% of the population) in 2009 (OCHA-Ethiopia.) Despite the ever-deteriorating food security situation of the country, Zenawi’s regime exports grains snatched from the hands of starving mothers and their helpless children. How could this go unnoticed and unchallenged by the media?

In addition to those 12-million in need of humanitarian food aid, the rest of the farmers – millions of them – surviving on less than 3-meals a day, are in huge debts due to the high-cost of fertilizers, which are “forcefully” sold to them by companies affiliated with the regime (the so-called EFFORT consortium of exploitation) under the disguise of “green revolution.” In December 2008, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop assessment travel report documented that the crop “yields in the Arsi/Bale region of eastern Oromiya could be reduced by 10-20 percent compared to last year because most Arsi/Bale farmers applied less fertilizers compared to last year due to exorbitant fertilizer costs.” (USDA 2008 Crop Assessment Travel Report – Dec 2008). The regime and its business companies force farmers to either buy fertilizers now or purchase the fertilizers on their future yields (i.e. the government will be paid in grains if the fertilizers are purchased with credit.) These grains, in turn, are exported by the regime to acquire millions of dollars, that will ultimately fill the pockets of its corrupted officials. Be reminded also that Mr. Zenawi received an award in 2005 from a fertilizer manufacturer for allegedly selling thousands of bags of fertilizers to poor farmers that could not afford to purchase them (Yara Prize). Four years after Zenawi had received an award for “increasing food production and reducing poverty,” Ethiopia is more dependent on foreign food aid than ever – with 12,000,000 people in dire need of food assistance.

What is more disturbing is the fact that the government manages to export these grains effortlessly while food aids coming to feed its citizens from elsewhere are frequently reported to have been stuck in Djibouti port. In March 2009, the World Food Program (WFP) reported that food supplies heading to the land-locked Ethiopia were stuck in Djibouti port. We do not hear any inconveniences the regime faces while it exports grains snatched from the hands of starving mothers and their helpless children.

One last point: exporting grains while 15% of its citizens are in dire need of food aid is not the only misguided policy of Zenawi’s regime. Millions of hectares of land, taken from farmers who depend on subsistence farming, are being leased to Asian and Mid-Eastern countries so that these countries can grow grains and export (ALL OF IT) to feed their own citizens. The complete reports about the Ethiopian regime’s land thefts and leasing activities can be found here: the Food Crisis and the Global Land Grab. Again, the regime continues to cash in millions of dollars for its corrupted officials while Ethiopia remains food insecure (and, ironically, the Asian and Mid-Eastern countries become food-secured from grains farmed in Ethiopia.)

In conclusion, Zenawi’s food policy is inhumane and despicable. In every front, the prime objective of the government is to cash in as much as it can: exporting grains snatched from the hands of starving mothers and their helpless children, forcefully selling fertilizers through its EFFORT consortium of exploitation and leaving farmers in huge debts, and leasing millions of hectares of farming lands to foreign governments while Ethiopia remains food-insecure and these foreign countries become food-secured. As declared by Mandela and his Elders group in 2008, the right to food is “fundamental.” Scheming (through exports, debts and land leases) to deprive 12,000,000 people of the right to food is a crime against humanity, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) should do its job and bring Zenawi and his collaborators to justice.

– Watch the press conference here (WaltaInfo)

Related Story: 1,500 farmers committed suicide in India because of failing crop yields and fraudulent lending practices (will Zenawi’s policy lead to similar sad story in Ethiopia?)