A new palace for Ethiopia’s prime minister brings evictions and dissent in a country beset by hunger and war

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In a country where hunger and war persist, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is facing criticism for a multibillion-dollar construction project that would reportedly include a national palace and luxury villas for him and his top officials.

Ethiopian journalists and other sources have reported that the project could cost US$10-billion to US$15-billion, at a time when Ethiopia is seeking billions of dollars in foreign loans to rebuild its war-shattered economy.

Known as the Chaka (forest) Project, it will reportedly include three artificial lakes, a luxury hotel, conference halls, a waterfall, a zoo, a cable car and imported palm trees, along with the palace and villas.

To build the palace project, government workers are bulldozing land, chopping down trees, destroying older homes and evicting hundreds of residents to make room for new roads.

Bezunesh Taddesse, a 67-year-old widow and retired math teacher, found out about her eviction when her name appeared in an official notice on a church wall last year.

Despite the government’s promise of private funding, it is using public money for building roads and clearing land for the palace, Mr. Biru said in a commentary on the Addis Insight website.

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