Tuesday May 26, 2020
Takele Uma with farming communities from the region. Photo : Addis Ababa City Social Media
Takele Uma, acting mayor of Addis Ababa City, said on Monday that his administration has recovered a land which he described as “illegally appropriated.”
The Mayor claims 460 thousand square meters of the land was illegally misappropriated from the farming community in Nifas Silk – Lafto sub-city area of the city.
It was held by an individual, according to the acting Mayor. However, the identity of the person is undisclosed. “The land he got by cheating the farmers is given back to the farmers,” he said.He also said that National Information and Security Services and Addis Ababa City police were involved in the investigation of the case.
The recovered land “will be used by the farmers to practice urban farming,” he added.
However, critics say that Takele Uma, whom they consider as one of the radical ethnic Oromo nationalists with exclusive ownership claims of Addis Ababa City, is pursuing his agenda of altering the ethnic composition of Ethiopia’s capital in a way to make ethnic Oromos numerically dominant.
There has been reported demolition of houses in the capital Addis Ababa during the months of Ramadan.