Ethiopia: End Mass Forced Evictions In Ethiopia

The forced evictions in Addis Ababa started after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched the “Corridor Development Project” in December 2022, which includes a grand palace. The project's first phase that started on 29 December 2022 led to the destruction of heritage sites. The project's second phase, covering an area of 2,000 hectares in Addis Ababa, was announced in October 2024, triggering large scale forced evictions. It has been reported that 58 cities and urban centres in Ethiopia are also implementing their own corridor development projects, but the number is most likely to be higher. While, these projects are promoted as urban modernization efforts, they come at a significant socio-economic and human rights cost, which authorities have systematically silenced.

Amnesty International has not been able to fully determine the total number of people evicted in Bole and Lemi Kura sub-cities as part of the forced evictions that occurred in November 2024, but it is likely that the number of forcibly evicted individuals is much is higher than our findings.