The weekly French magazine, Le Point published a lengthy article on the relations between Ethiopia and South Korea, that goes back to the end of the World War II, when Ethiopia fought side-by-side with South Korea against North Koreans and Chinese troops. The article written by the magazine’s special correspondent to Korea, Sénami Juraver chronicles the history of participation of Ethiopian Soldiers in the War and the story of Ethiopians currently living in South Korea. Excerpts.

” Blood brothers “! This is the expression that Korean and Ethiopian officials use when they talk about the relationship between their two countries. These words also aptly describe the bond that Ethiopian veterans of the Korean War share with their Korean brothers in arms. It must be said that since then, Ethiopians have been present in South Korea. One thousand Ethiopians live in the country known as the Land of Morning Calm.

Among them is Bethel, a grand-daughter of a veteran of the Korean War, who is studying there.

Two years ago, Bethel told her grandfather that she was also leaving for Korea to study. “He was even happier than I was,” recalls the 22-year-old. In Ethiopia, her grandfather is a national hero. Colonel Melesse Tessema, now 89 years old, participated in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. He is also the president of the Ethiopian Korean War Veterans Association.

When Bethel was a child, he brought her with him to the association’s headquarter every day. That is how he passed on to his granddaughter his story, and the history of their country. Bethel also grew up steeped in the Korean culture as the veteran community and their families gathered every Sunday for South Korean-related events (music, food, history, etc.). “In Ethiopia, the veterans feel they have contributed to Korea’s growth,” says Bethel. That is why the Colonel takes great pride in seeing his granddaughter study there: the efforts and sacrifices of the past “have not been in vain”.

Ethiopia- part of the fight for freedom

Ethiopia is one of twenty-one United Nations member countries to have responded to the National Security Council’s call for military assistance in response to North Korea’s invasion of South Korea. The decision of Emperor Haile Selassie was motivated by the desire to defend “international justice, world peace, and humanity,” said Bekuma Merdassa, Minister Counsellor at the Ethiopian Embassy in Seoul.

Ethiopia has always been able to fight external aggression to maintain its independence. In the aftermath of the First World War, the country became a member of the League of Nations (predecessor of the United Nations). In 1936, when Ethiopia had been occupied by Mussolini’s fascist Italy, Emperor Haile Selassie asked for the support of the League of Nations in the name of the principle of collective security. His speech made him a spokesman for the oppressed and a symbol of freedom. But the country lost the war because of the lack of collective defense, though it managed to chase the Italians five years later.

Stemming from the Emperor’s consciousness of collective security responsibilities, the country dispatched an infantry battalion, consisting of 6,037 soldiers to stop the North Korean offensive.

The Kagnew Battalion, a heroic conduct

During the clashes in Korea, the Ethiopian troops honoured the name given to them by Haile Selassie: “Kagnew is a very powerful word in Amharic. This is the Emperor’s mission order. Kagnew means Fight for peace, don’t surrender,” says Bekuma Merdassa. The Kagnew Battalion is mainly composed of members of the Imperial Guard. They fought mainly in the mountainous parts under the command of the American forces. They took part in 253 battles and were never defeated,” the minister-counsellor said. “Only 121 men died and nearly 500 were injured, but they never gave up.”

Last summer, Colonel Melesse Tessema returned to Korea where he shared precious moments with his granddaughter. “I had the chance to travel through part of Korea with him and see where he fought,” says Bethel. “It was incredible. I felt proud. But sad too. Because the story of these fighters was actually very difficult, just like the situation at that time.

After the ceasefire of July 27, 1953, Ethiopian troops remained in Korea for a few more years to help rebuild the country.

Ethiopia’s contribution to the Korean War is commemorated in a number of sites, including the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul. But South Korea has decided to go further in sharing this shared history. In 2007, it opened a memorial centre entirely dedicated to Ethiopians. The Memorial Hall for Ethiopian Veterans in the Korean War is located in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, east of Seoul. During the Korean War, the city saw many fierce battles for strategic mountaintop. The centre is built on two floors. On the ground floor, visitors can follow a video recalling the highlights of the Ethiopian fighters, then go to the showroom. The second floor is dedicated to Ethiopian culture.

South Korea and Ethiopia have had diplomatic relations for 66 years now. The relations have been particularly strengthened over the past 20 years. In terms of recognition of Ethiopia, many initiatives have been and are being implemented by Korea. Since 1996, the government and private agencies have, for example, have been providing financial support to the surviving Ethiopian veterans. Their descendants are also eligible for scholarships.

This is also the case for Bethel, who is taking her International Studies course at Hankuk University “thanks to my grandfather,” as she herself says. Currently, more than 400 young Ethiopians are studying in South Korea through various types of scholarships. Ambassador Shiferaw Shigutie Wolassa, who arrived in South Korea in January 2019, plans to expand the scholarship program to allow more young Ethiopians to come to Korea to pursue their studies.

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The death toll has risen to 34 following unrest and violent protests in the southern region of Sidama Zone, residents and the Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM) representative told Deutsche Welle’s Amharic service. A witness told DW 14 persons have been killed by the federal police in Hagere Selam town of Hula woreda on Friday 4:00 PM. The witness was quoted as saying that the protesters who headed to meet the federal police to present their complaints about the killing of a young man a day before were met instead by gunfire. “Most of the protesters were young people, around ten of them fell down immediately. Certain among them were heavily injured. Though they were taken to Hula Hospital immediately, 14 of them died there,” he said.

DW said efforts to reach officials of Hagere Selam were not successful but the secretary of SLM, Legese Lankamo said that 18 people confirmed died in Hula woreda. He also said from the information they gathered so far, the number of people died at three different towns has reached 34. “12 of them were killed in Melga. There are also many injured there, whose numbers we are not sure yet. Four had died in Hawassa itself, as it was confirmed by the region’s owned television station. We have not yet a concrete number of people who died in Yirga Alem, Leku and Aleta Wondo,” he was quoted as saying. BBC Amharic reported that three other persons were killed in Wondo Genet town on July 19, citing the mayor of the city, making the death toll even higher.

Ethnic-based attacks and lootings

Major towns and villages across Sidama Zone have experienced unrest and widespread violent protests in the past five days, in relation to the demand for the autonomous region for Sidama ethnic group. The electoral board issued a statement saying it will hold the referendum to decide on the Zon’s quest for statehood but that has not prevented the deadly violence as Sidama activists felt it came too late.

Non-Sidama ethnic communities were targeted, houses and government buildings burned, shops looted by an organized group, in the attacks that were mainly carried out on ethnic-lines. Three Orthodox churches were destroyed in Hagere Selam, a priest told the region’s broadcaster. Vehicles belonging to Yirga Alem town’s administration are burned. A flour factory is also burned because it belonged to a person who originally came from another region.

Aregash Lodge, a popular tourist destination located in the outskirts of Yirga Alem town, was also targeted. Two vehicles belonging the Lodge and another one to a client have been torched, a management staff told Ethiopia Observer. However, no rooms had been affected by fire but there have been lootings in almost of the tukuls, which they have reported to police, the staff said.

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The new president of the Amhara regional state, Temesgen Tiruneh, said he has no higher calling than restoring safety and peace in the region. “The regional government is ready to deal with the threat to peace existing in the region in a rapid manner. If the public participates to quell the threats, the much over-rated lawless elements would be restrained or we would fight to make sure that it would happen,” he said.

While speaking at a dinner party shortly after his inauguration, Temesgen said the region has learned hard lessons about the vigilance needed to stop lawlessness from taking root. By acting to address the peace and security of the region quickly, it is important to proceed to other pressing issues of development for the region, he said. “The challenges are formidable, we know the scale of it but we would rise to it,” he said.

“If we leaders learn to like each other, the people would also like each other. If we push each other away, people would also push each other away. If we see eye to eye at the higher leadership level, even when problems occur at a lower level, we could resolve it,” he said.

The new president said good-will and change of heart at higher level leadership is not enough but lower-level administers who fell under the yoke of radical ethnic nationalism, thereby putting the people into danger and pain, have to be removed, he said. That is the only way we could build the Ethiopia we want, he said.

Temesgen’s inauguration came a month after his predecessor was killed in an attempt to capture power by force. The shocking manner in which the former president and other officials were killed has heightened the region’s sense of grieving and has left a power vacuum. The party, the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) held a four-day congress on mid-July and what it called deep self-evaluation (gimgema) and discussions. On July 17, it had nominated Temesgen Tiruneh, who had previously served as the security adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, as the late president’s successor. Yohannes Buayalew has been elected deputy chairperson of the ADP.

While discussing a range of challenges brought with the change in the country in his inaugural address, Temesgen provided a metaphor related to an agrarian culture, saying “the reform has brought about the wheat grains and tares with it. We should take care of the wheat grain while getting rid of the tares. Especially, we should be careful not to uproot the wheat while removing the tares. There is no sacrifice we would not make to safeguard the interest of our people, overcoming with the determination the many challenges coming from our current adversaries and potential adversaries,” he said.

Temesgen also pledged to strengthen the education system, promote newer tourist destinations, improve road developments, build houses, and to empower women.

Saying that the region is endowed with natural resources, the administration would work to make it a destination for investors and to create employment for the population. In addition to that, the administration would work to resolve the border and identity questions in a legal manner, so that they would not be cause for conflicts, he said.

Political Ascent

Temesgen has served in several leadership roles at the regional land federal level. He has served in the army, taking part in the Ethio-Eritrean war of 1998-99 and earning the title of Shaleka (Major).

He rose steadily in the regional administration’s hierarchy, serving as head of the Amhara Rural Roads Authority and Eastern Gojam zone administrator. He has also served as the Amhara region Police Commissioner for a number of years. After the appointment of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, on April 2018 he was appointed as director-general of Information Network Security Agency (INSA), replacing Major General Tekleberhan Woldearegay. He also doubled the National Security advisor to the Prime Minister until his latest nomination.

Temesgen was raised in a small town in Bichena, Eastern Gojam, 265kms away from Addis Ababa and 65kms from Debre Markos. He went to primary and high school in his home town. He studied computer science at private college in Addis Ababa, Micro Link, and he completed an M.A degree at management by correspondence.

He is the sixth president to lead the region, after a new federal system that delegates power to nine regional governments was introduced in 1992. The first one was Adisu Legese who served from 1992-2000, while followed by Yosef Reta (2000-2005), Ayalew Gobeze (2005 -2013), Gedu Andargachew (2013-2019). Ambachew Mekonnen became the shortest-serving president when he was assassinated on June 22, only four months into his presidency.

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Global conglomerates of farm inputs, seeds, fertilizer, GMO crops providers, are coming to Ethiopia. Are they bringing a miraculous solution to the country’s food security problem, as they claim or delayed toxicity, as detractors argue?

Twenty-five large French companies and entities in the agricultural field will be making an exploratory visit to Ethiopia from 15 September to 19 September 2019, according to the Ethiopian Embassy in France.

Most of them are from an international agricultural co-operative called Limagrain Group, a group of radical rural campaigners claiming to be in favour of open-field [GM] experiments. Established as a cooperative, the French group is active in the field of vegetable seeds and field crops (corn, wheat, etc.) via the Vilmorin listed company, of which it controls 72.5% of the capital.

The company has been providing the corn and soybean seeds that it develops in similar climates in Latin America and Asia to West African countries such as Cameroon, Mali and Senegal. More than 330,000 tons of grain are processed each year in seven production plants across Europe, according to Limagrain.

In 2014, Limagrain has invested up to US$60 million for a 28% stake in SeedCo, one of Africa’s largest home-grown seed companies, despite opposition from certain corners. The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), a Pan African platform comprising networks and farmer organizations described Limagrain’s move as an attempt to devour the continent’s seed company through acquisition and neo-colonial occupation by the French to benefit from SeedCo’s involvement in input subsidy schemes in Africa.

GMO variety testing

The Ethiopian officials consider the arrival of multinational companies in the agricultural and other sectors as a welcome move in a bid to help the country become self-sufficient and potentially exporters of food. However, critics say some fundamental issues, such as the effects of the imported seeds, fertilizers and genetically modified crops, and the ecological, economic impacts of introducing new plants into the environment are being glossed over for the sake of presenting it all in a positive light. “Whoever controls the seed market controls the food supply and the people. Technology can be good if properly utilized, but the issue of power concentration in few hands is worrying”, says Teshome Hunduma, who is currently doing research on seed system development from Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

Farmers cannot save and reuse hybrid seeds as the yield decreases when recycled. They have to buy every year and this creates dependency.

Limagrain describes its products, not as GMO but rather seed selection and varietal cross-breeding to offer more productive varieties. Explaining the nature and virtue of those grain and seeds, Frédéric Savin, Limagrin’s Africa director says “It is a hybrid variety. It offers substantial progress. Compared with the local variety, the result is nearly double.” Teshome agrees with Mr. Savin on the high yield that farmers get from hybrid seeds. The problem is that “farmers cannot save and reuse hybrid seeds as the yield decreases when recycled. They have to buy every year and this creates dependency. Which means it is risky when the company fails to supply seeds due to various reasons and decide on the price of these seeds. Farmers prefer open-pollinated varieties for the purpose of saving and reuse,” explains Teshome.

Even in its own turf, the company has been facing resistance and opposition from a broad range of farm, consumer, environmental and health organizations. In January 2018, Limagrain’s two plots of wheat had been destroyed in Seine-et-Marne, France by mowers who accused of the company running “hidden GMOs.” The company lamented that its one year of field trials was lost, costing it around one million euros.

Limagrain is not completely new to Ethiopia. It has already been collaborating with an intermediary, an Israeli-based NGO (some say a lobbyist), Fair Planet to provide seeds to Ethiopian farmers for the past three years.

On its website, Fair Planet says it works to “increase food security and provide new economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in developing countries, through access to high-quality seed varieties.” To secure those seeds, Fair Planet partners with the global agribusiness conglomerates. Other than Limagrain, these include Switzerland’s Syngenta, Netherland’s Enza Zaden and East-West Seed, Germany’s Bayer-Monsanto. Whether big multinational companies selling seeds to small farmers are the solution remain a question among certain professionals.

Stating that the subsistence farming method in Ethiopia is inefficient and marked by significantly lower yields, Fair Planet claims that farmers working with it can increase productivity more than five times and increase income up to eight times.  However, AFSA objects to this characterization. “The vast bulk of food produced on the continent comes from homegrown farmers’ seeds (some studies put the figure at 80%). If these seeds are so “backward,” what moves farmers to keep preserving and planting them?” it asks in one of its newsletters.

BASF, another German chemical group and the world’s third-largest crop chemicals supplier, has also been active in the Ethiopian vegetable seed business since August 2018. Abnet Belachew, country manager to Ethiopia with BASF trade office said that the group works to complete the agricultural solutions concentrated around biological and chemical deliverables, soil fertility enhancement and pest and diseases protections. In addition to products that help deter infestations of fall armyworm in maize, BASF has been supplying diverse pesticides for crop protection, he told the Reporter.

Yet BASF’s genetically modified products have not been always welcomed in Europe. Three of the first genetically modified potatoes were forbidden from being sold in Europe in January 2013, forcing the company to withdraw its applications for marketing authorization in the European Union.

Ethiopia has long been resisting genetically modified organisms and food options that are often adulterated by pesticides, despite intensive lobbying, often by the purveyors of GMO seeds, multi-national giants. However, all indications are it is now succumbing to the promises of GMOs, gradually and discretely.

Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of the American brand DowDuPont, opened its office in Addis Ababa on mid-April, 2019. The company says it is focused on bringing farmers “best-in-class seeds and crop protection solutions”, to maximize the farmer’s yields and improve their profitability in these markets, as it was stated at the launching ceremony. However, what was not mentioned was how lawmakers in several states of the USA were trying to ban one of its products, a pesticide called chlorpyrifos that said to kill insects on contact by attacking their nervous systems. “Several studies have linked prenatal exposure of chlorpyrifos to lower birth weights, lower IQs, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other developmental issues in children,” Ana B. Ibarra wrote on Governing website.

The entrance of those companies in the Ethiopian agriculture sector would have major ramifications, specialists say. Teshome Hunduma told Ethiopia Observer the discussions related to GMOs have always been a sustainability question i.e. whether they are environmentally safe, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable or not.

He says there is also an issue of power balance between multinational companies that have control over the technology through intellectual property rights such as patents and weak governments in the Global South like Ethiopia and their subsistence farmers.

In Ethiopia, one person particularly was key in trying to keep genetically modified crops at bay through adamant and active opposition: Dr. Tewolde B. Gebre Egziabher. The man who served as Ethiopia’s General Manager for Environmental Protection Authority for more than two decades actively took part in international negotiations for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to safeguard biodiversity and defend traditional rights of farmers and communities to their crop diversity. The CBD was finalized in 1992. Tewolde led the African and Like-Minded Group in negotiations for what was called Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety finally agreed in Montreal, Canada in 2000. In Ethiopia, he initiated and worked to enact a biosafety proclamation in 2009 based on precautionary principles as a foundation for GMO regulation system to avoid potential social, economic and environmental risks.

The amemndement of the bio-safety law

However, in 2014, Ethiopia approved the commercial cultivation of genetically modified insect-resistant BT cotton and field research on GM maize. “The amendment of the law was not because Ethiopia was keen on biotechnology research or because it had the capacity to ensure the use of GMOs that may have adverse effects on biological diversity and subsistence farmers,” Teshome says. Rather the government has made the amendment to allow GM pest-resistant plant cotton variety, which produces an insecticide to kill bollworm namely BT cotton to meet the growing textile industry in Ethiopia, Teshome told Ethiopia Observer.

However, Teshome explained, the Ethiopian government has not used an independent study that examines the experience of other countries on the benefits and risks of BT cotton when it amended its biosafety law. “We know that BT cotton failed in Burkina Faso due to loss of its insect-resistant traits and yield potential over time,” he added.

In recent years, government officials began working to develop a legislative mechanism, while practising GMO variety testing. Whether the genetically modified plants should be treated like their conventional equivalents or should a precautionary approach should be taken has to be decided.

For Teshome, even the regulatory system is not up to the standard in Ethiopia and the institutional arrangement is inconvenient as mandates are shared between the Ministry of Agriculture, and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission (currently under the Prime Minister’s office).  Ethiopia needs to get its institutional arrangement right and address the public concern around the technology, he concluded.

Main Image: Farmers carrying bales of hay, photo by Philippe Compain.

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Author: Mulugeta Gudeta

Blood Rituals (Self-published) 2019 Addis Ababa 128 Pages

In his concluding remark on the study the Ethiopian student movement, The Quest for Socialist Ethiopia, the historian, Professor Bahru Zewde asks the following poignant questions, «Did the student radicals of the 1960s and 1970s have it all wrong? Do they owe the nation an apology for the warped political path the country has taken in the past four decades?……. Could Ethiopian history have taken a different path in the 1960s and could the country have thus avoided the tribulations that it has been made to endure since the mid-1970s?’’ (P.264).

He then goes on to examine the merits and otherwise of the movement and what it left in the way of legacy, as an event that has gone down in history as having decisively and irreversibly shaped and altered the political landscape of the country,  in an effort to sift the wheat from the chaff and delineate its enduring legacy.

After a dispassionate appraisal of the ideas and actions that shaped the movement, he sums up his musings by offering a chillingly realistic picture, albeit one tempered by sympathetic understanding, of what the tumult catalysed by the firebrands has brought forth. “Many sacrificed their careers and their lives in the quest for what eventually turned out to be a utopian dream…Dogmatic belief rather than seasoned debate and a spirit of compromise became the norm. …The country has come to grips with and move beyond [the most important problematic legacy of the framing of the national question and organizational culture] if is it to have any kind of redemption.’’ (P.280.)

Another scholar Professor Gebru Tareke, while not absolving the radicals from their many failings, finds it “hard to blame those young Ethiopian romantics and idealists who sincerely believed they were moving with the tide of progressive history.”

Impressed by their “uncommon, devotion, energy and dynamism,” he speaks glowingly of the extraordinary lengths they went to achieve their dreams and what they eventually were able to accomplish. “No other social group in the country fought so relentlessly and sacrificed so mightily for lofty ideas and ideals… United by a vision of a just society, a total rejection of the existing order, and an unfaltering commitment to changing it, they shaped political thought and action, ultimately giving birth to the Ethiopian political left.” (The Ethiopian Revolution P. 25-27.)

If this is what the historians say, what about fiction writers? How have the revolutionaries been portrayed in Ethiopian literature?  There are a number of Amharic novels dealing with this topic and a few in English. Mulugeta Gudeta’s recent novel, Blood Ritual is a fictional account that appears to have been written with Bahru Zewde’s question in mind, though his unflattering portrayal of the main movers and shakers of the movement seems to point in the direction of an answer, ‘’Yes, they certainly do owe the nation apology.”

The narrator of the novel, Gebre, a hunchback, born to an indigent potter mother, widowed by the 1961 coup d’état, describes himself as “the product of two pregnancies-one aborted and the other successful.” At the opening chapter, we encounter him, repelled by “the sight and sound of guns and bloodshed.”, and find it repugnant to be born in such dreadful times.

Anyone with a nodding acquaintance with the history of Amharic literature cannot fail to notice the unmistakable resemblance to Abe Gubegna’s novella I refuse to be born, an indebtedness of narrative device the author duly acknowledges.

After a stay of eleven years a foetus in the womb, Gebre finally decides to be born at a time of the murder of a famous student  activist Tilahun Gizaw (who appears in the novel by the name of Abel), who died on 28 December 1969, a year described  by various writers, as a milestone in the history of the Ethiopian student movement. Upon his birth, we find him uttering those words, ‘Can’t they get things done without spilling blood?’ As one chosen by fate to be a witness to bloodletting and the throes the nation would pass through, he would find multiple occasions to ask this question the rest of his stay on earth.

As if to make up for his physical deformity, Gebre was endowed with preternatural ability to look into the past and the future. We are told that he could, “swing back and forth like a pendulum, seesawing between past events and future ones with some clarity, while chronicling present events with astonishing precision.” (P. 11)

While once loitering around the main campus, he happens to stumble on “those fire-spitting university students.” (p.14), who took a liking to him and befriended him. Thus, begun the fateful bond that tied his lot with the radical students, who called him “the loveable hunchback.” He harbours a strong faith in what the student leaders said…”, pinning his hope of a better life on them. Now that he is a favourite, he “spent most nights travelling from dormitory to the other, listening to their passionate speeches and slogans.”

With unfettered access this friendship afforded him, he becomes privy to the going-ons in the circle of the handful of revolutionaries, who would later emerge as key actors who leave an indelible mark on the history of the nation. Through the eyes of the hunch bank, the reader is granted access to the not always edifying dealings of famous activities of the day.   

Gashaw is the first student mentioned by Gebre, a leader who he looks up to, and regards almost as a saint because as an advocate of peace, he stands out as a beacon of hope in an atmosphere pervaded by animosity, lust for power, and acrimony.

The other student Gebre finds appealing is Arsema who, we are introduced to in the chapter titled, The Romantic Dreamer. The beautiful Arsema, daughter of a well-to-do family, is the only female in the novel who threw in her lot with the radical students.  The revolutionary fervour that seized the campus was such that, “politics has so pervaded campus life that almost everyone was compelled to participate in order to avoid criticism and ostracism; even the children of the powerful and rich underwent ideological conversation.” (P. 25.)  Such appears to be what happened to Arsema who was briefly attached to the ringleader of the movement Amha. But she soon breaks with him, finding him ‘‘self-proclaimed and arrogant revolutionary.’ (P. 30) and begins to distance herself from the firebrand, “the brightest student in the science faculty,” who wanted to bring her into the fold of “the new breed of radical students,” with a notion to produce a’’ Rosa Luxembourg out of her.’’ The committed revolutionary, however, had no real love for her, despising her for coming from a middle-class family. After a brief stay of being “benefactor of a small circle of students around Amha” (P 14,) she takes leave of a movement she found to be unbearable for being enamoured of the cult of violence.

Out of deep distaste for bloodlust, she turns herself into a hippy figure longing for love, passion, and adventure and romance while not leaving the role of revolutionary altogether. Bidding farewell to the militants who swore by Marx, she declares, “Jesus may be my model revolutionary change…The Bible, not Marx. (P. 33). Alas, it was not long before she would be disillusioned and disclose to Gebre with a broken heart. “Jesus has no place in this crazy country,” when rosy dreams shattered.

Gebre, “the silent chronicler” observes, from the side-lines, the ways and conduct of the leaders. He finds the dealings of the militants as leaving much to be desired. He reserves his harshest criticism for Amha and Solomon, who are in a contest for president of the student council. He describes Amha (whom the reader suspects is modelled on Berhane Meskel Reda) as being “simply interested in getting rid of the monarchy and …..caught in the illusion that the revolution would solve every malaise (of the country)…and consumed with an “ambition to emerge as one of the most prominent personalities of the revolution.” (P.35)

Amha is locked in a bitter rivalry with Solomon, a voracious reader and son of a rich family, something his rival point to discredit his revolutionary credentials. For him, Solomon was a scion of wealthy exploiter s for whose ilk ‘’the revolution had no use.’’As one with more followers, Amha beats his opponent to the election and won. The exchange was not limited to verbal abuse, as Solomon was beaten up by followers of Amha, who led a successful campaign against him to make him lose the election. He would hold this as a grudge against him, biding his time to settle a score. While Arsema amuses herself by watching these “campus clowns vying for power,” Gebre decries Amha for being an insufferable person whose “response to a difference in outlook was always hatred, anger, and a sense of revenge. Deep down, he had patience only with those who shared his vision, power and privileges. (P. 42.)

By the time the Derg took power, Solomon readily lets himself be co-opted by the military government, becoming a famous agent and leader of the pollical school just opened, earning a reputation as ‘’the most fearsome of all the educated torturers the Derg regime could recruit,” (P.38). The opportune time for taking revenge on Amha comes now.

And he began a campaign to incriminate Amha by branding him as an undercover agent of the northern separatists. He had him thrown into jail, satisfying himself with, “a progressive physical and mental deterioration” of his enemy.

This enjoyment, however, was short-lived, as he himself would meet his comeuppance at the hands of the squad of the rival organisation.

Gashaw, the favourite revolutionary of the narrator, a “messenger of peace, tolerance and moderation”, was a pacifist whose plea for the tolerance was only to end up a cry in the wilderness, such was the charged and febrile atmosphere of the campus. True to his irenic orientation, he had espoused a stance called regimeguzo (strategy of long-term struggle), in contrast to the achirguzo (short-term strategy) adopted by Amha and his followers, a fateful schism described by the author as having, ‘’defined the course of the revolution and determined the life and death of so many students and youngsters after the revolution.”

Nonetheless, his embrace of compromise and toleration did not spare Gashaw from being consumed by the conflagration that followed the outbreak of the revolution. A Gandhi who chose to stick to the way of peace, who could not do anything but throw his hands in despair, watching helplessly as the two sworn rivals, Amha and Solomon leading the movement to its demise because of their implacable animosity for each other, was to join them to the grave. When Arsema broke the news to Gebre saying, “No one has been spared from the curse,” (p. 113), a great sadness overwhelms him. He just could not understand why a “soft-spoken and reasonable” person who ‘’preached reconciliation and unity” should be killed.

We also meet in the novel other influential personalities who left their mark on the student movement. Professor Kebede, who the narrator tells us was “the brain behind the radical students” (p. 44) is the only faculty member who, we are told, actively supported the cause of students. From a lengthy description of him, one can easily hazard a guess that he is none other than the late Dr. Eshetu Chole. Gebre is touched by his idealism and sincere devotion to the cause of the oppressed. Sensing he may not live long enough to see dream come true, he commiserates for him ‘’because he fought for the poor folks, like me, my mother and other miserable folks.” (p.44).

The professor is said to have edited Wuletaw’s (Walelign’s) famous article on the nationality question, an issue that much exercised the minds of the radicals. The salience of the issue is highlighted by the account are given in the novel of a student gathering an important event where a topic of considerable consequence was aired. This has gone down in the annals of history as one of the decisive moments in shaping the future course of the nation. It may be instructive here to hear what those who saw and heard it first-hand have to say about it. Bahru Zewde, for instance, recalls the effect it created on him when in attendance in the Christmas Hall of the main campus of the university. “The paper came like bolt from the blue, and as a fourth-year student at that time, this author distinctly recalls that his reading was followed by intense discussion.’ The narrator is, likewise, impressed with Walelign’s presentation and his bearing, and the authoritative way he went about pronouncing on the issue, ‘’the absolute control over his material and self-confidence [making him] sound more like a university professor than a third-year student.”

The other student who harangued the student body on the issue was Youssuf, a Sodo Guraghe who resented the ill-treatment his community suffered at the hands of other Christian Guraghe community. Yet he would end up deranged by his abuse of kaht, unlike the other militant by the name of Wada Dorosa, who championed of the cause Gamo people and ultimately sacrificed his life, “leading a peasant rebellion in his place of birth, during the nation-wide campaign.”

This was the end of the student radicals who paid dearly for mistakes, as the ‘’the silent chronicler ‘’ tells us, stemming from “youth, idealism and hardheartedness.” Yet, Gebre, the hunchback, though exasperated by the seemingly endless blood spilling he saw all around him, still nurses a hope, that the curse of bloodletting, as he calls it, “will end when the old generation that grew up with violence, fears and wars and hatred is replaced by a new generation that that is cured of the violence and hatred, it inherited from its forefathers. ‘’Let us hope it will.

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• Ethiopian prime minister says no turning back on democratic path

Facing deepening anxieties at home, Ethiopia’s leader, Abiy Ahmed, delivered an unabashed defence of the state of the country’s economy on Thursday, arguing that his recipe of reform agenda would not waver. The country has managed to secure more foreign currency than the previous year and that was how the administration managed to correct the macroeconomic balance, Abiy told a news conference.

Abiy said the government has allocated the forex to the private sector, unlike in the past when the allocation was restricted to state projects. “Most of the forex has gone to the domestic and foreign private sector. In comparison with the last year, it was better in terms of figure and allocation”. However, he said in light of the high demand for foreign currency, it remains a challenge to fulfil the supply. “The demand for foreign exchange exceeds by five or six times more than the current supply. Thus, we would still find it hard to meet,” he told journalists. “If we continue with the current trend, we would be able to steer our economy,” said Abiy.

Abiy’s presser came at a fraught moment in the country, when increased inflation, deterioration of the standard of living, and increase in crime is afflicting the country’s population. The administration earlier this month has announced its plan to increase spending by 1.6% to fund projects that will help boost the economic expansion.

During his press conference, Abiy promised greater openness to “widen the democratic space,” amidst criticisms that the administration is using the regional coup attempt to crack on dissidents. “It was the government that decided to relax restrictions against free speech. It was the government that held the position that critical voice shouldn’t be stifled. It was the same government that freed prisoners. It was the government that stopped the jamming of satellite signals from taking place. Thus, the government has no interest in restricting voices. Had that been the case, anyone with a telephone in Ethiopia would not have been a journalist,” Abiy said.

“The democratic path we have chosen, the task of widening democratic space is irreversible.”

“With regards to the protection of human rights, there has not been any change in our commitment. We have not changed our stance. There is still no dark chamber. Fingernails are not pulled out. Detainees are not whipped. Arrests are made in a legal procedure. They are freed in a legal manner. The democratic path we have chosen, the task of widening democratic space is irreversible. There is no turning back,” he said.

A total of 350 suspects had been arrested in connection with the June 22 failed coup attempt. Out of those, 120 were later released, Abiy said.

Prime Minister Abiy has been acclaimed for promoting human rights and the freeing of political prisoners but he has maintained some oppressive practices such as shutdowns of internet access amid the unrest. “We should not compare ourselves to developing countries. In developing countries, people do not go around disseminating messages that stoke tension and conflict between ethnic members. As long as it is deemed necessary to save lives and properties damages, the internet would be closed for good, let alone for a week,” Abiy said.

On his approval rating

The Prime Minister rejected claims of his approval rating has declined in recent months. “Those who say that I had higher approval rating before but I have now lost are not basing their claims on evidence. They have not conducted any public opinion poll. They have not done any surveying to measure my popularity from the very start. It is all questionable,” he said.

Main Image: Radio Fana

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A group of self-proclaimed “apostles,” and “prophets” are commanding some of the country’s largest spiritual audiences through pulpits and television cameras. They, among others, promise direct access to God through miracles and healing and give assurance of prosperity and abundance. Ministries like Tamrat Tarekegn, Eyu Chufa, Yontan Aklilu, Jeremiah Hussen, Tibebu Workeye, and Birtukan Tassew claim millions of followers and their brand of prosperity gospel is winning the public’s hearts and minds. In stark contrast to traditional Pentecostal churches such as Mekane Yesus, Meserete Krestos, Qale Heywet, and Mulu Wongel, the new breed of preachers use a multi-level marketing system to sell faith and optimism to connect directly with millions of customers, allowing them to reap millions in donations. Yet, the often aggressive strategy in compelling believers to show their faith through payments, which they say will be recompensed in the form of wealth makes many wary. Some accuse of them of being motivated by pure greed and exploiting the poor and miserable.

“We are welcoming the new Ethiopian year, 2012. This will be a year of prosperity. 12 is an abundant number. This is the year God would accomplish a miracle in this country. … hallelujah!” Apostle Tamrat Tarekegn screams.

Speaking to thousands of people who attended the Saturday morning service in his low-roofed church, Christ Jesus Life (CJ) Ministry located in Kotebe area of Yeka sub-city, Addis Ababa, the charismatic preacher said God loves and rewards his faithful servants with earthly goods. He talked about a lady who gave testimonials at the church a few weeks ago. “She went bankrupt and she came out the other side. Now she possesses ten factories. These days she goes to Dubai for hairdressing and to Italy for breakfast,” he says, talking with lots of vibrato, creaky voice.  

The atmosphere initially felt heavy and suffocating, but soon for about five hours, the congregation was kept rapt with a medley of upbeat messages of God’s goodness, intense and mesmerizing sermons, prayers, speaking in tongues, Holy Spirit fire and of gospel hits. The service was being recorded to be transmitted across the Christ Jesus International Church TV, a station that has been broadcasting for the past year the preaching of the pastor around the world, as well as the accounts of people who say the course of their lives were changed for the better because of the ministry. The testimonies include stories about financial prosperity, recoveries from illness and substance use addiction and exorcising of evil spirits.

On that particular Saturday, Tamrat was delivering the signature message he is reputed for. “God increases the riches of those who give.” He pauses about every five minutes for applause. “The victory is mine when the battle is the Lord’s. Say that to the person sitting next to you,” he ordered the audience members. “This is the year God would do miracles. God would manifest his glory. Rejoice because you are among those privileged to  witness a manifestation of  his Glory in your lives .”

He then approached a young man, started addressing him. “I know you are struggling financially. Your home town is Ambo? Isn’t it?” he said. The cameramen approached. The young man responded in the affirmative. Then the whole audience roared in applause. “But originally you are from Wollega,” he said. But the young man did not affirm this piece of a  word of knowledge, as it is known in the parlance of the subculture. The preacher kept on holding forth. “All you need is trust in the face of discouragement. God would pave the way for your foreign travel and you would be blessed with incredible wealth.”

On the stage, some dramatic things were happening as congregants rose to their feet to confess to spell of attack of witchcraft, disease. Some streamed through, running, hobbling or wheeling themselves in. Others blurted out insults, blasphemies. The ushers would quickly come and carry them to the pulpits, all the proceeding being watched on a TV set and listened on loudspeakers.

In between, the prayer service was interrupted and congregants were asked to pledge money to Back To School, a state-sponsored project to pay for student’s uniforms and exercise books for the new Ethiopian school year and gives alms to the church. A pay-per-call number–four-digit was also given to the congregants so that they could call immediately and receive verse and messages. A certain sum would be debited from their account, the announcer warned.

Towards the end of the service, a specific demand came from the evangelist Tamrat who called out those who wish to pledge ten thousand Ethiopian birrs. “Don’t delay,” he urges emphatically. He repeated the message that faith and donations to the “House of God” will boost the participant’s financial wellbeing and their spiritual health. Around 25 people came out, this writer counted. Then people were asked to pledge 5,000 birrs. Then those who stepped forward were in hundreds. Afterwards, those who would give 1,000 birrs were asked to come forward. This time so many people responded to the call that it became hard to count them all. Then the Pastor led a prayer to the pledgers so that they enjoy God’s blessings.

Apostle Tamrat is one of the dozen prosperity preachers who had become household names in the Ethiopian religious scene. His church has been in existence for the past seven years, gaining more followers in the past year with the opening of his TV station. People from different parts of the country and even abroad come to the church to seek healing and to witness prophecies and hear words of hope and victory.

Fast-growing Protestant movement

Ethiopia is already one of the most religious countires in the world and it has one of the fastest-growing evangelical churches. According to the World Christian Database, in 1970 the country had about 900,000 self-identifying evangelicals, about 3 percent of its total population. By 2015, that number swelled to almost 19 million, or 19 percent of Ethiopians.

The Pentecostal movement in Ethiopia is a relatively recent phenomenon. Tibebe Eshete author of the seminal book, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia, wrote that ever since its introduction by Western missionaries in the 1950s, the new Christian faith has provided an alternative model to the one that pre-existed it in the form of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Several autonomous Ethiopian Pentecostal and charismatic churches, such as Mekane Yesus, Meserete Kristos, Qale Heywet, and Mulu Wongel have made their presence felt during the feudal regime and military regime. With the 1995 constitutional provision of freedom, several neo-Pentecostal or Charismatic independent denominations have appeared. The new-breed of property gospel churches, who represent a narrow and often controversial segment of the faith, have proliferated in the past decade.

Joachim Persoon, a scholar of Ethiopian monasticism and professor at the Orthodox Theological College in Addis Ababa agrees the prosperity gospel is a growing movement, though he doesn’t know to what extent it is growing in relation to before but “certainly it is a tendency which is present here and which have manifested itself in certain circles, not as much as in other places like Nigeria,” he told Ethiopia Observer.

While there has always been a subdued stream of self-help gospel in the mainline Protestant denominations, the prosperity gospel teaching conspicuously stands apart from traditional Pentecostal teaching for its focus on earthly health, wealth and happiness and the practice of planting financial “seeds” through monetary contribution to pastors. Ruhama Gezahegn, an instructor at International Evangelical Church College in Addis Ababa says that the prosperity gospel is not just a movement within a church. “I don’t believe that the gospel could be the prosperous pool or whatever. I think it is the interpretation of the Scripture and how people see the Scripture. Dealing with the practice is one thing but dealing with the teaching is the most important thing,” she told Ethiopia Observer.

While there are numerous prosperity gospel churches in Addis Ababa and other large cities, the most prominent ones are the Gospel of Kingdom International Church led by Prophet Jeremiah Hussein, Christ Army International Church led by Eyu Chuffa, Addis Kidan church led by Yonatan Aklilu, Christ Jesus Life (CJ) Ministry led by Tamrat Tarekegn and two others churches led by Tibebu Workeye, and Birtukan Tassew. The latter became famous when her prediction about Abiy Ahmed, himself a devout Pentecostal, becoming prime minister some six years earlier was transformed into a reality. Yonatan has become darling with secular media with his initiative “Good Youth” that aims to prevent addictive behaviours among youth with the use of life-coaching and the personal empowerment techniques. Eyu Chuffa has become the talk of the town for a fight with a demon-possessed man during a deliverance session at his church, ostensibly using a karate punch.

The common features of those churches are their strong visibility and capacity for their words to travel far with their own 24-hour TV channels that reach a large audience far beyond their own congregations. “Prosperity gospel has been always related to televangelism. Televangelism is not something new. If you go the west one of the proponents of the prosperity gospel is the seed movement, which has become famous with TV channels,” Ruhama explains.

A global movement

The prosperity gospel largely connected to revivalist and charismatic churches is not a purely Ethiopian phenomenon. In other parts of Africa, Latin and North America, as well as in Asia, there are self-appointed prophets and apostles who trade salvation for cash. The movement gained a larger following through the use of radio and television, and became firmly entrenched with the rise of televangelism, Ruhama Gezahegn explains.

In contrast to the traditional Pentecostal churches, the new breed of prosperity gospel focus sermons of ‘victory’, ‘ ‘abundant,’ or ‘conquerors’ and their website prominently features the pastors who market themselves as weapons against poverty, disease, joblessness. “I think what see in our churches is born out of a lot of problems, disciple-making and the problem in understanding on how we deal with the Scripture. It is the problem of understanding the Scripture properly. It is the problem of understating who God is properly,” says Ruhama.

In many of the prosperity churches, there is a practice of selling “anointed” oil to congregants with the belief that the purchase and use of the product will cure diseases, attract God’s blessings, and protection. One of the pastors often associated with the practice, Prophet Eyu Chufa of Christ Army International Church defends the practice saying that “it is intended to be dispatched to reach people who are in places where I myself could not reach. It is going to Europe, America and Arab countries……  We can’t distribute it for free because the church has no oil factory.  The oil is imported. So is the bottle and sticker. We don’t have a factory to produce the sticker. So, there is a cost to buy the products, that is why we charge church members,” he was quoted as saying by BBC Amharic.

Several religious leaders and critics say that the preachers of the prosperity gospel are increasingly becoming powerful and are enhancing their influence. Many clerics refrain from criticising them, even though recurrent rumours of abuse in fiscal management, or outright fraudulent practices. “I think the evangelical churches need to start thinking about who they believe God is, what they believe about his power, how they consider Christ himself because prosperity gospel is not just one area, it an amalgamation of so many areas, that you would consider as departing from the word of God. Because they start considering they have very ill-thought-out anthropological ideas, Christological ideas. Almost their ideas are derailed from what believe to be evangelical, biblical,” says Ruhama.

A lack of financial control and oversight is a point of contention for many of the prosperity churches, be it how donations are handled, or the existence of outright fraudulent practices. Christian groups ought to be completely transparent for the sake of their donors, and they have a responsibility to ensure that money was being used for community purposes and not personal gratification, an editor of the spiritual monthly says.

One of the prominent prosperity preachers, Yonatan Aklilu, in May 2018 television interview was asked how was finance managed in his church, and his slashed his wrists. “I am basically the one who manages the money. Those who say the finance should be managed by a committee also acknowledge that the exorcism should also be carried out by the committee.”  

“If you have a church led by one person and if that person is the only one who is “benefitting” from incomes the church is going to get through, that is the problem. I don’t believe that is the practice everywhere but it is the practice you find in different places. Not only in prosperity gospel but also in other churches,” says Ruhama.

The ethics of filming exorcism scene

Another of the persistent concern is the use of the media and the question of privacy in evangelical Christian broadcasting. Many questions the appropriateness of filming and showing footages of attendants in thier most vulnerable spiritual hour while the pastor allegedly banishes demonic possession. Yehualashet Kassa, a former Christian media head at Hiyaw Tesfa Spiritual Ministry and currently communication consultant says that there is a lot of misuse in the local televangelism. “Most of the 24-hour channels, with their format copied from their foreign counterparts, don’t respect local lore and culture. For example, what do you say when the TV crew focus and film a man who is vomiting, screaming and writhing? Is it right to bring the microphone close to the person and amplify his suffering? This is an intrusion of his privacy,” he says.

Whatever detractors say about the phenomena, the prosperity gospel and the celebrity preachers are going there to stay. After all, their recurring themes of social and financial empowerment appeals to a large segment of the urban faith community.

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Andrew DeCort is an American scholar and researcher who lives and works in Ethiopia. He is the author of Bonhoeffer’s New Beginning: Ethics after Devastation and director of the Institute for Christianity and the Common Good (iccgood.org). He has served as lecturer in ethics and theology at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology. Andrew edited and wrote the Foreword to Professor Donald Levine’s Interpreting Ethiopia: Observations of Five Decades (Tsehai Press, 2014) and is the author of “Authority, Martyrdom, and the Question of Axiality in Ethiopian Political Theology.” He has travelled widely and is in contact with all levels of Ethiopian society. Ethiopia Observer has interviwed him about his life in Ethiopia and his work.

When did you move to Addis? 

I first visited Addis in the summer of 2004 as a university student. Little did I know, those two months would change my life. 

I served at the Mercy Center for children and youth, taught a course at a local college, traveled briefly in the countryside, and fell in love with the kindness, passion, and deep faith of my Ethiopian hosts. This intersection of service, academics, faith, and culture was and remains my passion. 

Since then, I’ve lived in Addis nearly seven years and got married here in 2010. After completing my Ph.D. in Ethics at the University of Chicago, my wife and I moved back to Addis in 2016. I’ve served as a professor of ethics at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology. I’m now working on encouraging young leaders to become ambassadors of neighbor-love for our shared flourishing across boundaries. This project is called the Neighbor-Love Movement and promotes a vision of seeing others as valuable and worthy of our care.  

I understand that the renowned Ethiopianist and social anthropologist, Professor Donald Levine, has been your mentor.  Was he your original link with Ethiopia?

I met Professor Levine unexpectedly three years into my relationship with Ethiopia. 

I had been offered a Presidential Fellowship at Harvard University when I applied for graduate school from Addis in 2005. But the University of Chicago was my dream school, and I declined Harvard to enroll there in 2006. That academic year, I googled “Ethiopia and UChicago” to see if there were any scholars working on Ethiopia, and Don’s name popped up. It was an incredible blessing: my dream school also happened to be home to one of the world’s leading scholars of Ethiopia. 

I emailed Professor Levine on April 18, 2007, and he replied with a warm invitation to come to his office. Don was an incredibly kind and welcoming man who deeply cared about people. His relationship with Ethiopia began when he started talking with a Ethiopian stranger on UChicago’s campus as a student in the 1950s. Isn’t it amazing how our lives can change through simple acts of kindness and communication? 

After that first office appointment, Don became a cherished mentor and friend – “Gash Liben.” He led me through three, one-on-one tutorials on Ethiopian studies, which laid the foundation for my teaching on Ethiopian religion, culture, and leadership at Wheaton College from 2014-2016. Don remained a formative presence in my life until we talked for the last time on his deathbed eight years later. 

What impressed me most about Don was not simply his vast knowledge of Ethiopian histories and cultures, as well as sociology, Aikido, classical music, and more. I was impressed by his love for Ethiopian people and his desire to see Ethiopia flourish as a multiethnic community. 

I have often wondered what Levine might say during this hopeful and unsettling time of transition in Ethiopia. I’ve tried to unpack my best guess in an article for the Ethiopian Herald entitled “Ethiopia: Ethics during Crisis – From Missed Chances to Neighbor-Love,” which discusses what I see as one of his most important essays for contemporary Ethiopia. I remain deeply grateful for the precious gift of his mentorship and friendship.    

How did you find the transition to living in a foreign country?

I agree with Mark Twain: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.” 

Humans are human everywhere. We all share the capacity for love and indifference, truth and deception, justice and violence, hope and despair. This recognition has expanded my commitment to empathy, humility, and hope. I’ve come to believe that what unites us is deeper than what divides us, and thus we should look at each other with more love, respect, and curiosity. 

In my experience, living in a foreign country exposes us to the wonder of endless learning, the humility of your own ignorance, and the miracle of becoming family with people who were previously strangers. Living in a foreign country has also forced me to wrestle with the big questions like, “Who am I? Where do I belong? What is home? Which values and practices are truly worthwhile? Which values and practices are the result of human ignorance and arrogance?” 

Each time I return home to Addis after a trip home to Chicago, I pray the same prayer I’ve prayed since 2004: “God, make me a learner, servant, and lover.” I think learning, service, and love should be the basic posture of anyone living in a foreign country.  

What do you enjoy most about living here?

I cherish deep and enduring relationships with Ethiopian people. 

For the last fifteen years, I’ve become friends and family with people who love others and are passionately working to promote human flourishing, whether it’s through baking injera, creating jobs, doing academic research, serving street children, promoting respect for women, or making music. I consider this an extraordinary privilege. 

I’ve led a study abroad program to Ethiopia from Wheaton College (2014-2016) and the University of Bonn (2018), and each year we have dozens of rich seminars with inspiring Ethiopian leaders. Most of these people –  spanning religion, social service, journalism, politics, business, music, medicine, and other fields – are my friends, and I have tremendous respect for them. I would love to find a way to make this program available for Ethiopian students, because our seminars are so diverse and rich. I think it could promote creative education and peacemaking in Ethiopia.

The kindness and courage of Ethiopian people is extraordinary, and I feel extremely grateful to share life with these people and the wider community. Of course, I also enjoy injera and the dazzling beauty of the Ethiopian countryside.  

What is the hardest thing about living here?

I grew up in a city called East Aurora outside Chicago. Aurora had many problems, including racism, drug dealing, and gang violence. Perhaps this context is why I care so much about ethics! Every city has unique strengths and challenges; no city is perfect. 

One of the challenges that I find hardest about living in Addis is the apparent cheapness of human life. We daily see so many impoverished children, women, and elders in our streets. People are routinely exploited and neglected. We easily become numb to others’ suffering. 

I believe that each one of these people is made by God and is of precious value. Some of the people who have most profoundly changed my life in Addis were suffering in the streets when I met them. Two of them are Wudenesh and Eyob (stories shared with permission). 

I believe the way we see others produces the society we see. If we see people as cheap, we will tolerate poverty. If we see people as worthless, we will tolerate violence. My passion is to promote a vision in which we see and treat every person as a beloved neighbor, and thus do what we can to promote human dignity and flourishing for the common good. 

My dream is to open a center that hosts public lectures, dialogues, short courses, and community service focused on the precious value of human life and our shared identity as neighbors, no matter who we are. In Addis, it’s easy to find restaurants, clubs, and sex. But it’s hard to find a platform that consistently offers rich, imaginative thinking and conversation about what it means to be human and how to flourish. As the capital of Ethiopia, the diplomatic capital of Africa, and home to four millions neighbors, Addis Ababa needs such a center. I’m hoping to meet more people who would be willing to help me chase this vision.

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Already grappling with political instability, foreign exchange shortages, Ethiopia now has to worry about the rising price of food

“Any sugar?” says the young woman, leaning into a shop in the town of Merawi, 34kms away from Bahir Dar. The shopkeeper shook his head. “Come and check next week.”

Behind him, the shelves are filled with products such as eggs, sweats, tea, hair products, milk powder, oats, vinegar, candles, matches, cigarettes, bottled water, spaghetti, toothpaste, but the shopkeeper, Zelalem Alebachew says sugar and cooking oil have been in short supply for a quite a while. He has some oil type like Niger seed oil but that is too expensive for many of his clients who came looking for vegetable oil, he added. Sugar and oil, two products that are provided to him by the state-organized union, disappear for days or weeks, he says. When it is available, the price of sugar is 22 birr per kg and he distributes to those registered and who have ID cards indicating they live in the area. But most residents of the town look for the underground market where they pay between 40 and 50 birr per kilo, he explained.

Merawi is not another town in another pervasive story of scarcity in Ethiopia. Located on the main highway between Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar and in the midst of rich farming territory, the town is reputed for exporting fuelwood, the alcoholic drink Areke, cattle, and milk to different parts of the country and even Sudan. However, these days it is going through a difficult economic situation, as it is the case for many urban centers and rural areas across the nation, attributed to low production and poor performance in sectors including sugar, large import bills of food, medicine, and fuel, accompanied by the security issues and massive displacement in different parts of the country.

Looking at recent trends in commodity prices, the prices of foods have been increasing in most parts of the country. The Central Statistical Agency (CSA) announced that headline inflation has reached a record high rate of 17.9pc in August. Shortages of certain key food items and retail price hikes have become a serious daily problem for millions of Ethiopians. “It has unfortunately become features of everyday life. Consumers are becoming incensed each passing day,” says a businessman in Bahir Dar.

Affordable food is a volatile issue in Ethiopia, where millions live in a precarious condition and economic discontent has triggered widespread anger and massive protests for about four years short before Abiy Ahmed became Prime Minister. The dangers are not lost on the Prime Minister who has promised to respond to stabilise increasing prices and to protect Ethiopians from the worst effects of double-digit inflation, which has been testing the country for the past decade. Momentarily, the government is working on securing supply of wheat and edible oil, which are in dire shortages, Abiy said in a recent press conference. The Prime Minister also said agriculture would experience a boost this year due to a good rainy season.

But for the time being, the cost of goods and services continue to rise, pushing more families deeper into poverty. Drastic increases in prices and low incomes have turned even onion into a priced item, its price going up to 30 birr a kg, which has provoked much grumbling. A joke that circulated on social media has it that these days onions cause tears when consumers pay to purchase them. Equally, the price of garlic surged by more than 50 percent in the past month, selling 150 birr a kilogram. Prices for lentils have also doubled, 80 birr a kg in the past few months. Teff, a prized cereal, rose to 3000 Br from 1500 Br. Chicken, beef and lamb prices have been creeping up, too.

The country has recorded an average annual average GDP growth of ten percent for the past decade. But state and private companies have been hit hard by the hard currency shortages. The shortage has also made it difficult for Ethiopia’s importers to buy medical drugs from abroad. A pharmacist in a drugstore of Debre Markos town says that there is a serious lack of basic medicines such as nasal puff, PTU tablet to treat an overactive thyroid gland, Ventolin to treat breathing problems. Occasional shortages have been the norm for the past decade, but this has been one of the worst in recent memory, the pharmacist told Ethiopia Observer. Consumers reportedly had to resort to the black market to secure much- needed medicines.

Dr. Beyene Tadesse, an economist and author of the book, The Impact of Policy Reform And Institutional Transformation on Agricultural Performance explains that there could be many reasons that can drive prices but the main one is communal violence and displacement in the country has disrupted farming activities and eliminated coping resources like livestock. He says the indications are further upward pressure on prices is expected over the next year. Even locally produced grains such as Teff have shown increase due to the surge in the cost of imported raw materials such as fertilizers, he says. The share of the population working in agriculture is also declining, more and more young people leaving the subsistence farming for other occupations in urban centers, which should be a concern for the country, the economist says. Dealing with the food shortages requires greater economic activity, finding ways to increase incomes, Beyene says. However importantly, the government has to improve security to reassure large farming enterprises that stopped production into resuming activities, he says.

The state-owned Amharic daily Addis Zemen has recently published an article saying that food supplies are plentiful but problems arose because some traders and merchants are hoarding food items in order to sell them later when market fluctuations would allow for a profit. The paper also points fingers on some unions that are given the responsibility by the government to distribute items for citizens for failing their mission. On September 9, Addis Zemen wrote that certain of the unions are engaged in fraudulent practices, such as selling the wheat flour procured by imports and provided by the state in another package at a different market instead of distributing to the people who were supposed to.

Strict control of such fraudulent activities might be necessary, but analysts say the government should not be complacent of considering clamping down on traders and merchants as the only solution, but rather it should work on increased domestic private sector, revising policy on imported goods, as well as promoting higher exports.

The post Food prices on the rise, pushing millions into deeper poverty appeared first on Ethiopia Observer.

Author: Worku Gebeyehu Lakew

Empire and Revolution in Ethiopia, a new perspective: 2018 Addis Ababa 344 pages, Price 142 Birr

Forty-five years after its outbreak, the Ethiopian Revolution has continued to fascinate historians and writers to this day. A handful of writers have come up with works, reminiscing of this momentous event which some of them witnessed, or actually participated. One latest addition to this growing list of material is “Empire and Revolution in Ethiopia, a new perspective,” authored by the London-based Ethiopian Worku Gebeyehu Lakew.

A product of the country’s Post-World II educational system, Worku became a civil servant, first working as a statistician at the Central Statistics Office and later at the Ministry of Natural Resources in the early 70’s and served the Imperial government which he found was unjust and exploitative of the mass. Since swept over by the maelstrom of revolutionary passion in his days at the General Wingate Secondary School and the Addis Ababa University, he eventually came to play a key role in the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP), a political group that operated in semi-legitimate fashion in the early stages the revolution.

“Empire and Revolution” offers a first-hand look at the seminal event in the history of the country and political and cultural upheavals in pre and post-revolutionary Ethiopia, as well as what went so tragically wrong. It delves into the author’s own experiences and memories to present a history that evokes some of the principal actors who have played a key role in shaping the revolutionary path, what they risked, the losses they suffered, and what they were able to achieve.

As the author rightly describes the book is “not a chronological history of the Ethiopian Revolution based on comprehensive research and documentation like other classics on the subject. Instead, it is a chronological witness statement and historical documentation of the Revolution through my own experience and moves in time and space with my own journey.”

The book’s detailed notes and table of contents make it easy to look up the author’s views on various subjects and events. The birth and development of the revolutionary student union of Addis Abeba University, the 1974 Revolution, the coming to power of the Derg, the ensuing quarrels between the civilian radicals and the military over the ownership of the revolution and the destiny of the country, the war of position and the contest of political space that was waged by the EPRP, the factions of Berhane Maskal and Getachew Maru, followed by the Red Terror, the revolutionary armed struggle of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Army (EPRA), and life in the liberated areas take a large part of the book.

As the author served as an intermediary between EPRP party leadership and the party cells inside the Derg working with key people such as Colonel Atnafu Abate, the first chair of the Derg before it seized power, he sheds some anecdotes about the cause for the disagreement and clash between the EPRP and Mengistu Haile Mariam’s supporters. Worku stated that at the outset the party treated the Derg “just as one section of the army and the state apparatus and undertook party work of mobilising support, recruitment and democratisation activities within the Derg, just as it did in other parts of the state apparatus.”Derg members were recruited as individual members into the party structures or other mass organisations such as the movement of soldiers.

The narrative brings into focus the vast array of characters, such as Captain Moges Woldemichael, a member of the party cell within the Derg and warmly portrayed as one of the most insightful leaders and unsung heroes of the revolution. A Harar Military Academy trained officer, Moges served as an artillery officer in the Gofa military depot in Addis Ababa for a number of years before becoming an influential member of the revolution and the de-facto leader of the 17 man executive of the central committee of the Dergue. The author admired his unique leadership qualities, personal integrity, and unyielding dedication for the betterment of the country. He was instrumental in organising the start of discussions and study sessions between the EPRP and the deputy chair of the Derg, Atnafu Abate. However, he was swiftly eliminated along with the other 17 generals by Mengistu Hailemarim.

With a rapid sense of escalation, the EPRP came to be denounced as “subversive and anti-revolutionary” organisation and its members targeted for killing and torture. But the dispute was also among the EPRP’s party leadership over its form and strategy, even though its exact nature remains opaque. There had been deliberate muddying of the waters on both factions. Some senior members reportedly argued for the need for the party to defend itself from the repression and executions perpetrated on it by engaging in urban warfare, a position firmly opposed by erstwhile members, Berhanemeskel Reda and Getachew Maru. The author of this book was sympathetic to the position of the former, as it is abundantly manifested in many of the passages. He still feels no qualms in stating his position that immediate action should have been taken on Mengistu Hailemariam to neutralise him before he did the same to others. This regrettably was another evidence of how most political parties have been justifying and legitimising political violence as a raison d’être for successful revolutionary transformation to socialism.

 To his credit, the author acknowledges the weakness and fatal mistakes of the EPRP leadership, particularly stating after the leading members were “sacrificed”, the capacity to replace “huge level of attrition of its top leadership was not paid enough attention.”However, less convincingly, he wrote that he had no idea who was leading the key committee that had a make or break role in the revolution. “But I am sure that people like Kiflu Tadesse will be able to enlighten us,” he goes on to say. But this seems to be a wishful thinking, to say the least. If Kiflu’s previous writings and selective narratives anything to go by, this is unlikely to happen.  The author is not unaware of the accusation against Kiflu Tadesse by some who implicates him in orchestrating the elimination of some EPRF leaders. But he chose to come to his defense by saying that “Kiflu Tadesse, probably more than anyone one else contributed to the build-up of EPRP and to its phenomenal growth in its first seven years.  It is dirty tricks to suggest otherwise and to tarnish his image.”

In what is probably not unrelated to the first reason, the author goes in great length to attack Berhanemeskel and Getachew for their various personality and character fallings. The vitriolic attack especially against Getachew who himself fell prey to the EPRP’s killing machination is disconcerting, to say the least. Worku did not say a word about the circumstance of Getachew’s death in EPRP’s incarceration except saying “he missed Ethiopia’s date with destiny and spent nine months of the February Revolution vegetating in jail due to the sloppy organisational work and poor disciplinary method……” This is where the book fails to rise beyond the level of partisan tract on one of the faction’s behalf. The book did not either address the assertion by Hiwot Tefera, Getachew’s girlfriend who wrote in Tower in the Sky that her boyfriend was beaten to death by the EPRP’s squad members, based on witness statements. Worku described Hiwot Teffera as “the ideal fighter that the revolution has produced,” in one passage but he said her outlook that the “Derg was not fascist and the pragmatic majority in the CC were a clique is sad but wrong.” Here again, anyone who has read Hiwot’s book would recall that this characterisation is not entirely accurate. The Derg’s brutal and fascist acts were front and centre in her book but voiced her frustration at the direction the EPRP’s faction was taking towards violent fighting that might have led the military towards a more vicious reaction. Many other observers agreed that even though much of the violence was wangled by the Derg, it was also a tangled process in which opposition forces had actively engaged in and contributed for.

Another senior EPRP man Zeru Kihshen’s courage, leadership qualities, and personal magnetism are duly praised, but also described as “one of the leaders that rallied the party in the decision to kill Mengistu.”

Worku Gebeyehu’s book has interesting bits of information and anecdotes on the genesis and distinctive features of the political violence in the country’s history. Unfortunately, it has failed in providing a balanced treatment of the main issues.

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Once upon a time, one of Ethiopia’s beautiful and famous Lakes, Lake Haramaya, was a source of life for human beings and animals and a home of beautiful birds in the eastern part of the country. Recreational events, marriage ceremonies and public Holidays were held around the Lake. 

Now, it is a dried Land. Kids are playing football, animals grazing grass, agricultural practices clearly seen over the dried Lake’s Land. 

Lake Haramaya in its heydays; picture taken in 1987

Lake Haramaya located in the eastern highlands of Ethiopia, which is administratively situated with Haramaya Wereda of Eastern Harerghe Zone, in Oromia regional state. The watershed is situated at a distance of 505 km from Addis Abeba and 14 km NorthWest of Harer town. The watershed covers almost 50km. In its heydays, the Lake boasted 14m depth and seven km length, according to Tena Alamirew’s research in 2011.

The lake was the only source of drinking water for residents of Haramaya and nearby towns mainly, Aweday and Harer. It served for agricultural and industrial purposes. For more than 35 years, the lake served the three town’s residents until it dried in 2005. 

Research confirmed that Lake Haramaya dried up due to over pumping of the lake and groundwater, environmental degradation and climate changes. 

Kedir Abdurehman, 37, born and raised in Haramaya. He used to swim in Lake Haramaya. Now standing on the dried Lake’s land, remembered how the lake was totally lost. 

‘’This place was very wide and beautiful. The lake was full of water. We used to swim in the lake. Animals can drink water from the lake. Gradually, the volume of the Lake’s water decreased. Finally, disappeared fully in 2005’’ he said.

Kedir, who used to swim in the lake Haramaya, standing over the dried land with empathy    

He remembered how people, even those who lived far from the lake, were pumped an unlimited amount of water from the lake

Kedir Abdurehman, local resident, witnesses how Lake Haramaya was beautiful and dried due to human interference.

The disappearance of Lake Haramaya heavily affected the residents of Haramaya Woreda and other neighboring towns. Nowadays, for local residents, it is very hard to get water. 

Abdi Mume, 52, resided near the dried Lake Haramaya, explained in the local language, Afan Oromo, through translator, how they are struggling to get water.

‘’Since Lake Haramaya has disappeared, we can’t get water easily. Now, we have to dig deeply around 20m to get water. Life becomes very hard’’ he said. 

Abdi understand that Haramaya University is doing something to bring back the Lake, but didn’t know what will happen. He said, ‘’If the university’s effort can bring the Lake, I am always cooperative in anyways’’. 

One of Ethiopia’s oldest government higher education institutions, Haramaya University, is located near Lake Haramaya. The university still uses Lake Haramaya as a teaching learning demonstration.

The university has been blamed for the loss of Lake Haramaya for doing nothing as it is located near to the Lake and home of many agriculture researchers. 

In 2012, the University came up with a project which aimed mainly to restore Lake Haramaya. For many, it was unbelievable. Some doubted and some other questioned it. 

Prof. Kebede Woldetsadik, Vice President for Community Engagement and Enterprise Development of Haramaya University, explained about the project.

‘’Seven years back, after various researches have been done, we came up with a project which mainly aimed to restore Lake Haramaya. We believed that if active environmental conservation and restoration works can be done, it is possible to bring back Lake Haramaya’’. 

The project needed more than 200m Eth. Br (more than 7 million USD), according to Prof. Kebede. But it wasn’t easy to get the money from national institutions and foreign sponsors. ‘’The stakeholders also can’t contribute any amount of money. Thus, we decide to run the project with our own limited budget’’ he said.

The project, entitled ‘’Lake Haramaya Watershed Rehabilitation Project‘, which mainly aimed to restore Lake Haramaya, engaged all stakeholders including the local communities, Oromia region, Harer and Aweday towns. But, the idleness of stakeholders led the project as one of Haramaya University’s tasks, and opened a new office, ‘An Integrated Lake Haramaya Watershed Development Office’. Eba Muluneh is a technical coordinator at the office and researcher. He said the project contained seven main components. 

‘’Due to financial problems, the University forced to focus only on three of the seven components, namely, Soil and water conservation, Crop production and productivities and Enhancing product and productivity’’ Eba explained.

In 2014, after two years since the project started, the unexpected result achieved. The dead Lake Haramaya breathes again!  Water comes to the dried Lake Haramaya!

The recovered amount of water was 20 %, according to Prof. Kebede Weldetsadik. He said ‘’our university measured that, out of the lake’s 600hec total size, 50hec can be covered by water’’.

The result was encouraging for Haramaya University. For the local people, it was like a miracle. The resurrection of Lake Haramaya celebrated highly by the local people.

The celebration for the resurrection of Lake Haramaya didn’t stay long.  Within less than a year, the lake is dried again.

Prof. Kebed said, ‘’the lake’s water can recovered because there was no human interference around it. People left the area because it was dried. But, when water is back in the Lake’s land, they also come back and surrounded the area, grabbed lands and took the recovered water for irrigation’’.

The number of hand and motor pumps used by local people was nearly 200 and 300, as Prof. Kebede mentioned. ‘’After the lake’s water recover, the number of water pumps increased ten times than earlier. Everyone discharged an unlimited amount of water to grow Khat, a dominant crop, which consume high amounts of water. Surprisingly, the recovered water didn’t stay for a year. The lake dried again’’ he explained.

There is still hope to bring back Lake Haramaya, according to Eba Muluneh. But he asked the local people’s cooperation. He clearly said that it is impossible to do the watershed works properly while people are settled and doing agricultural activities over and around the lake’s area. 

 ‘’Illegal settlers need to leave the lake’s land, and the area should be demarcated. This is the local administrator’s responsibility’’, he indicated. 

Oromia region, East Harerghe’s Water Resource and Energy office’s head, Abinet Tessema, explained what his office, as a stakeholder, has done. 

‘’We have staged many discussions with the local community members to create awareness. Many of them are pleased to cooperate. But some farmers, who surrounded the lake’s land, claim other agricultural land if they are going to leave the area. This is our challenge that we need to solve’’ he said. 

Moreover, the officer also revealed that his office is planned to train farmers on other income generating practices within small land.

He also recommends Haramaya University, to remove trees which discharge high amounts of water around Lake Haramaya and plant other native trees which can charge a better amount water.

Researcher Eba Muluneh, explained what his office is doing currently related to Lake Haramaya watershed rehabilitation. ‘‘Currently, we focused on soil and water conservation works, mainly, in the upper parts of the watershed. According to their survival rate, we select and planting endemic trees on hillsides, and achieved encouraging results’’.

Referring to his own research, which was a part of Lake Haramaya Watershed Rehabilitation project, entitled ‘’ Growth and survival rate of the native tree species of Ethiopia; Olea Africana and Hagenia abysinicca in the degraded lake of Haramaya watershed, Ethiopia‘’, Eba said that endemic trees Olea Africana and Hagenia abyisinicca were preferable because of their survival rate. 

Haramaya University planted native trees on the upper side of the watersheds

The study indicated that Olea Africana performs well at Damota watershed, accounting for 38% of survival rate followed by Tinike sub watershed having a survival rate of 37%. Only 29% of the total planted Olea Africana survived at Bachake sub watershed. Furthermore, about 55.6 % of Hagenia abysinicca was survived at Damota sub-watershed.

Eba Muluneh’s research showed total number of seedlings planted, number of saplings dead, mortality and survival rate of Olea africana and Hagenia abysinicca at Bachake, Damota and Tinike during 2015/16

Haramarchya University, via Lake Haramaya Watershed project has given deep attention to these endemic trees and grows the seedlings to use them as the main rehabilitation trees of the degraded lands of Lake Haramaya sub watersheds, explained Eba Muluneh. 

But human activities over the dried lake’s land is one of the challenges to the watershed rehabilitation works.  The groundwater is decreasing at an alarming rate because of local farmers continue over pumping groundwater. 

If such kind of improper water usage continues, the groundwater may disappear in 2035, according to Eba Muluneh.

Lake Haramaya has been providing drinking water for Harer town, with a population of nearly 150,000, for the past 35 years. The loss of Lake Haramaya highly affected the people of the town. But the region has been blamed for not being supportive as a concerned stakeholder in the project which aimed to restore Lake Haramaya. 

Munib Yonis, urban unit head, at Harer’s region water supply and sewerage authority, argues that there were no clear directives given to his region or office.

But he confirmed that his office and the region are very pleased to cooperate for the success of the Project. 

 ‘’We are very pleased to play our part if clearly putted what is needed from us. We didn’t know specifically what our role is. We are not informed about the progress of Lake Haramaya watershed rehabilitation process as a stakeholder’’ he said.

In 2015, Dr. Mulatu Teshome, President of Ethiopia then, visited the project area and discussed with the stakeholders, including the local community representatives and researchers at Haramaya University. In his remark, he recommended the immediate need of law related to watershed development. 

But, there were no immediate action.

When we were in Haramaya University for this report, discussion was held between the local community members, researchers and law professionals on a draft law of watershed. 

Prof. Kebede Weldetsadik confirmed that the draft law will soon be effective after having discussions with concerned parties. He wants local administrators’ commitment to apply the law, once it is approved. 

He also said to overcome the financial problem; the university is going to see other income generating alternatives.  

Many researches, done by Haramaya University, indicated that it is possible to bring back Lake Haramaya. But, recommended the need of watershed law to control improper conducts of local residents. 

Featured Image: The recovered Lake Haramaya in 2015. Image; from Ethiopian journalist Demoz Yacob

This work was produced as a result of a grant provided by IHE Delft Global Partnership for Water and Development through Water Journalists Africa network.

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Ermias Yirgalem is a student at Sichuan University, a national university located in Chengdu, the administrative centre of Sichuan Province in Southwest China. He shares his experience of living and studying there.

It is now almost a year and a half since I was admitted to Sichuan University. I am studying Medical Sciences there. The university is located in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province and a large central city within the Sichuan province not far from the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayan Mountains. The area has wonderful scenery and a relatively tranquil way of life compared to other rapidly developing parts of China. But compared to Ethiopia it is way too much advanced in terms of economy and infrastructure. There are three flights per week from Addis Ababa to Chengdu.

Understanding and embracing the Chinese culture was a totally new experience for me but I am taking the challenges enthusiastically. I feel that I am becoming more and more culturally aware and open every day.

In Addis Ababa, I studied at the British International School. After finishing high school, I wanted to go somewhere that I would have a different culture and study experience. I had been looking at different European and American universities but I was offered a scholarship to China, which I accepted happily. I did not speak a word of Chinese when I went there. The first few days at the university were overwhelming, exciting and hectic, and included meeting dozens of people in a short space of time.

I soon discovered that people are open, friendly and welcoming. I love the academic environment and the amazing academic facilities, standards of education and research. The school is reputed for clinical medicine.

I first took intensive Mandarin classes for about two months; it was supposed to be a one year study. But I decided not to continue, being sure that I would manage to improve my proficiency outside of the classroom. We were also given books with CDs. So I embarked upon the study of medical studies right away, as the study would take me eight years and the lesson is given in English. Of course, the Chinese teacher’s way of speaking is not always comprehensible but you got to understand them using the textbook.

 My classmates come from different parts of the world. Some from different parts of Africa and others from Europe, which gives an opportunity to mix and exchange with a wide range of people.

In my everyday life, on some occasions I get stares and people will come up and ask me to take a picture with them. When some ask me where I am from and when I tell them that I am from Ethiopia, I get different reactions. Some say they know it is in Africa but can’t say more than that. Others happen to be to situate the country and eagerly share what they know about the country’s potential and challenges.

There are not many Ethiopians living there, in fact on my campus, I am the only one. To find an Ethiopian restaurant, I should go to Guangzhou, a city known for commercial trade and culture and which is also a hub for Ethiopians and Africans abroad. But to be there, I have to make nine hours of travel on train and pay about 750 Yuan which represents around 4000 birr. So I rarely go there.

My overall experience in China so far is good. I have loved every minute of my studies, the teachers and students are full of hospitality, cooperative, with a welcoming nature.

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Author: Yordanos Almaz Seifu

Mengedegna (The Traveller) Addis Ababa Pages 359 price 100 birr

The series of xenophobic attacks targeting Ethiopians and other African national immigrants in South Africa have been in the news recently. Incidents of shootings, vehicle torching, and shop lootings in the country’s commercial capital, Johannesburg, have been widely reported. However, there is little in the way of a general survey of the situation of Ethiopian immigrants and refugees in South Africa. A new book written by a long-time observer strives to fill that void.
The book, entitled Mengedegna (The Traveller), effectively accomplishes the task, examining the experience of being an Ethiopian immigrant and refugee in South Africa, through memoirs, interviews and a sampling of historical and, sociological perspectives. Yordanos has managed to evoke the stories of Ethiopians who risked everything or made impossible journeys to reach South Africa, a place perceived as “the new promised land of possibilities.”

The author, alumni of a European Master’s in Migration and Intercultural Relations, travelled from Ethiopia to South Africa to conduct his ethnographic research and stayed there for about two years. He also conducted his research in Ethiopia by talking to potential migrants, returned migrants, brokers and smugglers, experts, and politicians. The result is a book that provides detailed background and varied experiences and perspectives of Ethiopian immigrants and refugees in South Africa, the smuggling routes across different countries, the everyday struggle to establish their own identity and finding a place in their new country. Rarely has an Ethiopian author attempted such a comprehensive study in the Ethiopian immigrants’ community in South Africa.

The book has four grand chapters. The first chapter recounts the author’s trip to South Africa for the research, and his impression of the country. Here he also provides the political and economic context of South Africa, particularly that of Gauteng Province, the most populous province in South
Africa, which encompasses Pretoria, Soweto and Johannesburg. The author relates how the province has come to become a magnet for immigrants from Ethiopia and across Africa. Chapter two focuses on the life and trajectory of a certain Ethiopian political immigrant, in a way that shows the journey for many other Ethiopian immigrants following different routes and transit countries such as Kenya, Mozambique or Swaziland and their arrival in South Africa. The encounters with border police, immigration officers and public officials in transit countries and the litany of abuses they endure are also depicted. A more detailed treatment of the disparity between the newly arrived and pioneer migrants, the multitude of risks and daunting challenges they encounter in the settlement processes, and adjustment to new culture follows in chapters three and four.

Yordanos reviews the background of migrant movement in Ethiopia and the first wave of Ethiopian immigrants who began to trickle into South Africa. Ex-military members who started to arrive a few years after the end of apartheid in South Africa and the end of the military regime in Ethiopia were among the first wave. As South Africa introduced a more open approach to immigration in the context of the country’s skills and investment needs in 2000, many more followed down in the pathway. Those who found employment opportunities and achieved relative financial success started sending remittances back home. “Their apparent success has motivated other youths, thus creating a feedback loop among former migrants, return migrants, and potential migrants as is stipulated in the social networks theory of migration,” the author writes.

Nowadays most of the Ethiopian immigrants in South Africa originate from the southern part of Ethiopia, particularly from the towns and rural areas of Hosanna and Durame. “Though young people from this area joined the wave of immigration relatively late, they take the lion’s share today,” the author explained. Following a period of political instability in Ethiopia after the 2005 national election, more and more young people from the stated areas made their way to South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa with the prospect of work in its booming economy has also attracted others, the book states.
Many of the young Ethiopians who set off to Johannesburg in these waves of migration find themselves in the neighbourhood in the north-eastern of Johannesburg called “Jeppe,” (the ‘Ethiopian Quarter). It is a neighbourhood with dense business activities and a number of specialist shops that sell retail products, ranging from fresh and processed foods to textiles, clothing, cosmetics, and cheap Chinese merchandise. The chronicle on how Ethiopian immigrants themselves have primarily created and expanded the area over a 20-year period is particularly fascinating. That story goes back to the time when black South Africans started entering this part of the city without a pass after the end of apartheid and the white residents who previously monopolised the commerce started fleeing. It was during this period the newly arrived Ethiopian immigrants started transforming what were “unused and underutilized office buildings into a plethora of small shops and stalls.”
More than a place of trade, today the area has become an Ethiopian enclave where many social institutions take place and where “Ethiopians bring to these spaces a strong sense of tradition as well as centuries-old institutions that are recreated in the host society.” They gather there to find home products, to exchange the latest political news, to drink coffee prepared in the traditional ceremony and to be able to talk in their own tongue.

Recurring conflict with black South Africans and fear for their safety takes up a significant bit of the narrative. As the author explained, many migrants from Hosanna started up substantial tuck shop operations (small food retailers) after the 2010 World Cup. Most of these tuck-shops are found in the townships, and the South African shop-owners accuse Ethiopian immigrants of breaking competition law. The accusation, it seems, is legitimate as respondents who responded to the survey acknowledge that the products they sell in their shops are cheaper than the prices in their local counterparts. The author cites this as one of the reasons that magnifies the frictions between the Ethiopians and South Africans.

One strength of the book is its focus on the stories of individual migrants, the challenges that come with being a stranger to the new community and language. Most of the immigrants speak limited English, making it difficult for them to get basic services, mainly law enforcement, health care, and education. Stories of the immigrants’ feelings of displacement from their homeland, relatives, and friends while they strive to recreate a sense of home in an unfamiliar place are told in an evocative way. While some follow siblings, friends or relatives, most come without ties and are left stranded. The longing for home and loved ones that are associated with celebrations are often traumatising.
Yordanos also explores other complexities such as the pressure for the immigrants to appear more successful than they are and send remittances to their families even when they are not in a position to do so. The power of gossip and speculation back home means one’s reputation and status could be ruined if one failed to send remittances. Such sentiments are also manifested in the habit of sending wedding videos and photographs that are intended to prove the financial and material improvements of the migrants. The effect is to paint a rosy picture about life in South Africa; something that unfortunately gives a deceptive picture for those who stay back in the country. Those materials are exploited by profit-seeking criminals to recruit potential migrants. The smuggling business is a complex network that often operates in underground, involving a wide network.
The smugglers are a key factor in expediting migration into South Africa and driving the migrants into making dangerous journeys. We come to learn from the book about a harrowing incident when the migrants took a boat along the Indian Ocean rim in order to avoid being caught in difficult transit countries, such as Kenya and Tanzania. “We were a group of about 120 migrants travelling on the Indian Ocean rim. The boat we were travelling on suddenly started to wobble and a furious shark emerged from under the boat and nearly overturned it. As if he is throwing a stone, the captain throws away my friend to the shark. The boat immediately calmed down. I was terrorized! … When we approached the coast, the captain said ‘you Ethiopians are lucky; we usually sacrifice around ten people to survive the sharks.” Unfortunately, this definitely is not an isolated incident. Whether on land, in the water, many perish in transit countries, before reaching South Africa. “Even for many of those who made it, it is only the beginnings of their sufferings,” the author writes.

What are the effective responses to address the situation? The author does not pretend to have all of the answers. The absence of legislation to address the smuggling of migrants means that smugglers can continue committing the crime with little fear of being brought to justice. Giving priority to investigating higher-level smugglers could have a strong deterrent effect on organized criminal groups, Yordanos agrees. However, he says, smugglers are only one part of the transnational social networks and they don’t function as independent entities. There are always accidental brokers or opportunists who are ready to respond to market forces, eventually joining in existing criminal networks or forming a different one. The associated system of corruption that became an integral part of the social network means that even “immediate friends or close relatives who finance and/or host newly arriving immigrants, at times, involve in the smuggling network,” the author writes. The network could also at times involve fortunetellers, spiritual leaders, and pastors at the sending end in southern Ethiopia who put pressure on migrants and their families to immigrate to South Africa, the country dubbed as the “Promised Land.”

Effective responses will require holistic, and long-term approaches that would consider those issues and address aspects of the underlying social, economic and political pressures that fuel the crime, as the author reminds us. For anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the subject, this is a timely, well-crafted contribution. The presentation of facts and arguments is clear, unadorned by needless and pointless rhetoric.

The book is translated into English by Hiwot Tadesse as “Wayfares: Travel Journal.”

Main photo: Johannesburg’s inner city photo Yordanos Almaz

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Ethiopian police arrested about 55 people in Addis Ababa on Friday during the Meskel celebration, one of the Ethiopian Orthodox (Tewahido) Church’s colourful festivals.

BBC Amharic cites the church’s Addis Ababa Diocese’s public relations head, Melake Hiwot Aba Woldeyesus as saying that 33 of them were arrested for wearing t-shirts with messages denouncing the attacks on the church. The public relations head was quoted as saying that four persons were arrested for not wearing their name badges and 12 others for allegedly carrying knives and edged weapons.

On Thursday, authorities issued a statement warning the display of flags that they say are unconstitutional and carry provocative messages, including the green, yellow and red- striped flag, without the star insignia on it.

Tens of thousands of Orthodox followers crammed Meskel square in Addis Ababa on Friday to celebrate Meskel, a celebration that commemorates the “Finding of the True Cross”, the cross upon which Jesus is believed to have been crucified.

Recently, there have been angry demonstrations in different parts of the country condemning the surge in violence against the Orthodox Church members and the burning of churches. Thirty churches, mostly Ethiopian Orthodox, have been attacked, 18 have been burned to the ground, and almost 100 worshippers have been killed since July 2018, activists say.

A little while back, a competing faction from the Oromo ethnic group demanded an independent synod, a move that has angered the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox leader. “The church condemns the divisive and destructive activities carried out by these people who by deliberately propagate falsehood by making it sound as if the Oromo, honourable people who have done much for the church, were wrongfully treated by the church,” the Patriarch’s office said in a statement.

Main Image: Radio Fana

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Getachew Reda, a senior official of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on Wednesday reinforced his support for the cause of Kimant people for self-administration after rejecting claims by the Amhara region officials that TPLF orchestrated violence this week. “The Kimant identity issue should be given a political solution, the regional and the federal government should act to solve it as such, Getachew told VOA Amharic. “The question was long raised by the Kimant people. It has been said over and over again that the issue needs a response. Any sane person should consider this,” he said. TPLF has a moral obligation to support the cause of Kimant people for self-administration, Getachew added.

The Amhara region Police Commissioner Abera Adamu pointed fingers at TPLF for arming militias that have attacked villages in North Gondar this week. Dozens of people including policemen have been killed and several others wounded in an attack in Chilga town by groups armed with heavy artilleries and snipers and claiming to represent the Kimant identity question, the Police Commissioner said. Among the victims were six bus passengers from the Amhara ethnic group who were killed after singled out from the rest of the passengers, it was said.

“Any claim that TPLF had anything to do with the violence is inaccurate,” Getachew said. “Even the police commissioner knows that,” he added. “But when the Amhara security forces are pushed back after attempting to attack women and children, they always come up with such an excuse,” Getachew declared.

The US Embassy in Ethiopia on Wednesday warned American citizens to avoid the city of Gondar and its surrounding areas in the Amhara Region, citing reports of gunfire, roadblocks and the destruction of property.

The Kimant are a small ethnic group, roughly around 200,000, who most of them speak Amharic language. They live along an axis stretching from Ayikel in Chilga woreda to Kirkar north to Lake Tana in the woredas of Lay Armachohi, Qwara, Dembiya, Metemma, and Wogera. Though they complain of discrimination on the grounds of religious practices in the past, they have similar cultural and linguistic affinity with the Amhara.

The TPLF that has dominated the Ethiopian political scene for the past 27 years is often accused of using the fluid identity questions of Kimant and Agew against the Amhara region as aninstrument for proxy war.

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One of the strengths of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the party that has held the rein of power in Ethiopia for the past twenty seven years and a coalition of four ethnicity-based parties, is its culture of secrecy, keeping discussions and meetings to itself, if this could be considered strength at all. Its central committee meetings, often held in closed sessions, were shrouded in mystery and matters discussed and agreed rarely disclosed to the public. A book written by Berhane Tsegab, former Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and EPRDF member entitled “Ye Hiadig Kuklkulet Guzo” (EPRDF’s downhill journeys) aims to lay bare in-camera dealings and showdowns of the party that took place away from the prying eyes of journalists and the public. It includes reports of the crucial meetings held from 2012-2017, mostly to review solutions to the political problems dogging the country, as public grievances and protests mounted. Considering the current status of the ruling EPRDF and all the radical changes it has gone through, the events described and the issues discussed in those meetings are already old hat, speaking news -wise. Nonetheless, they remain important records to understand the working of the party and its apparatus, speeches, utterances and diverse points of view delivered in the series of meetings that party held with its venture of “deep renewal.”

A note on the author

Before his recent expulsion from the TPLF’s central committee, Berhane Tsegab was regarded as one of the youngest and remarkable intellectual members of the TPLF and the EPRDF leaderships, albeit a discreet one who kept a low profile. His activism and commitment to the TPLF party began at the age of 16 when he took up arms in the fight against the Derg regime in the early 90’s. But it was only after the death of Meles Zenawi in 2012 that he was made to join as the central committee member of TPLF, when the party saw the need to infuse itself with the new blood, replacing some of the old guards. Since then, Berhane was given top jobs in the Tigray regional government, including in the finance and revenue bureaus. After TPLF lost most federal cabinet positions and control of business conglomerates two years ago, Berhane was removed from the central committee membership, mostly owing to his outspokenness.

Infighting, division within the leadership

In his book, the author documents the story of the post-Meles years of the EPRDF through detailed narrative and reports of the meetings, by highlighting the debate on the party’s shape, future direction, correctives suggested to address poor governance. He explains how infighting, division within the leadership and the inability to adjust to changing reality has undermined its capacity to govern and eventually accelerated its appalling decline.  

The book has twelve chapters and is dedicated to “the fighters who died heroically, fighting for a popular cause into the path of democracy and prosperity.” It begins by tracing how the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi after more than 20 years in power has left the party in power vacuum and ferocious battle for control among the top brass leadership. As it was stipulated in the constitution, Hailemariam Desalegn was first in the line of succession to assume the post until the next election, despite the overall agreement that he did not possess the same standing and commanding power of his predecessor who was considered a hard act to follow by many. Hailemariam, all the same, came to take the helm, mostly because the old guards and combatants of the TPLF were confident that they could control him. The author maintains that despite the appearance of smooth transition and spirited efforts to douse the flames of infighting, evidence points out that the gradual journey to collapse started around then. 

 Azeb Mesfin’s hidden ambitions?

One revelation of this book is how Azeb Mesfin, Meles Zenawi’s widow resisted the nomination of Hailemariam Desalegn as Prime Minister and tried to remove him from the ticket.

Azeb during the meeting argued that Hailemariam lacked the capacity to navigate difficult situations and she instead nominated Sufian Ahmed, the long-serving minister of finance, whom he she described as head and shoulders above the former and possessed better leadership capacities. However, other TPLF old-timers were already on board with Hailemariam who was picked up by Meles as his preferred successor. They were rather sceptical of Azeb’s motive, suspecting of her harbouring the thought of taking over the helm herself, by placing someone loyal to her, the author tells us. At another meeting few years later, Seyoum Mesfin, one of the TPLF’s original founders, complained about how Hailemariam was put under pressure as he was unable to live and work in the palace for two months when Azeb had refused to leave the palace. He also said she bullied the Prime Minister, by telling him to step down from Meles’ chair.

Resistance to succession plans

The succession plans intended to see lead party figures leave key government positions to retire or become diplomats abroad have been inconsistently implemented, we learn from the book. In the 11th TPLF Congress held after the death of Meles to facilitate leadership succession, several senior leaders resisted on the grounds that their experience would be required to fill the void left by the deceased prime Minister. Seyoum Mesfin in April 2018 would lament that the fact that he and other of his colleagues were made to step down from the central committee of TPLF without their consent left them embittered and resentful. The various internal attempts within the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), the Oromo People Democratic Organisation (OPDO) and Southern Nations Region (SNNPR) to effect a succession plan through the Central Committees did not go well in accordance with the plan, either. This not only showed how superficial the party’s commitment was to the pledge but exposed the leadership rivalry that aggravated disunity within the party, with ethnic loyalties, business rivalries, and patronage leading to a debilitating stalemate, the author indicates.

The battled for control of the party

As Berhane explains, the battle to dominate the party and then the country’s politics would come to be the defining feature of the five years. The four-party members of EPRDF ruled through separate alliances that constantly feuded over who should have been promoted to core positions. The curious decision to nominate three deputy prime ministers, representing three parties in the coalition was intended to forge a modicum of unity. The four-day congress of the EPRDF held at a regional town Bahir Dar on March 2013 paved the way for newcomers to come forward  the party’s election of the executive and central committees but did not resolve the divisions and tensions among the members, Berhan writes.

Further back-channel squabbles or conspiracy escalated after another meeting in Addis Ababa’s national palace eight months later, following the arrest of top officials of the revenue and customs authority, including Minister Melaku Fanta and his deputy, Gebrewahid Woldegiorgis. The overall public perception that that corruption campaign was used for political purposes was also echoed by certain members of the party.  The misdirected energies will make it difficult for the party to reunite, refocus and embark on effective programmes and mobilisation.

Looking at the debating topics chronicled in the book once could understand that EPRDF bigwigs were very good at detecting and analysing problems that could prove life-threatening for the party. Bereket Simon, who had been the public face of the government for almost two decades as the information minister and a close ally of Meles Zenawi, was known to have warned about the danger of state capture by some influential businessmen.  But the startling comment was from Sebaht Nega, a founding member of the TPLF, who was quoted to have said in one meeting, “TPLF was a progressive organization, which assessed situations and strengthened itself without committing the error of underestimating its enemies. But now it is being plagued by infighting, forming clicks, deception, and even physical abuse. I have never seen a party that is riddled within intense infighting like TPLF. The cutthroat is absolutely incredible.” Sebhat’s admission was an unsurpassed confession of the condition of the party but, we came to learn that, it was said with the intention of attacking the then head of the Tigray region, Abay Woldu who was immediately removed from his post and executive member position, accused of gross inefficiency and incompetence.  Sebaht then concluded that the party was back on track, thanks to the “renewal”.

Selecting a new leader

Abiy had just been elected to head his party, replacing Lemma Megersa, in what was widely believed an operation to enhance his chances of becoming prime minister.  The author tells us that Abiy had not always been an active participant in central committee meetings, save for giving terse and unassuming comments from time to time. But he was increasingly becoming more assertive and started making lengthy speeches. At one meeting, he even rebuked veteran party members for pretending to know everything while denigrating the younger members as ignorant, a remark the author found interesting and daring.

Some of the more interesting episodes involve the meetings and events in early 2018 that saw Abiy Ahmed, the leader of the OPDO, elected chairman of the party and consequently Prime Minister of the country. This was six weeks after Hailemariam Desalegn announced his resignation, citing obstacles and pressure from certain corners that undermined his leadership, as he told the party meeting, even though that was not how he characterized in a televised address before. A TPLF member pushed the outgoing Prime Minister to clarify what these obstacles were and why he decided to throw in the towel, and Hailemariam sharply turned the question back on him, “Haven’t you attended the TPLF central committee meeting?” The message was not lost on the examiner and other participants, because the pressure on Hailemariam emanating from the TPLF circle was discussed and assessed in that meeting, the author says.

From the narration, we could understand that TPLF brass leaders were not keen on Abiy Ahmed from the very start. The person that they had in mind was, maintains the author, Shiferaw Shigute of the Southern People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM), whom they probably saw as an easy figure to manoeuvre. But for their party, they had decided not to put their hat in the ring, for fear that election of TPLF member as prime minster would likely to deepen divisions within the coalition. Rather, the plan was to manage to wangle their way out of dividing Amhara and Oromo and backing the South. That was why the TPLF’s Alem Gebrewold forwarded the name of Shiferaw as the first nominee for the preliminary election of the three candidates the party agreed to name, which made TPLF’s intentions clear, Berhane says. “But the group dubbed “Team Lemma” and others, including Hailemariam Desalegn had already sorted out this and came armed with the plan, something which was not known by the TPLF,” the author writes. Lemma Megersa presented Abiy’s name as the second nominee. “But then objections were heard against Abiy’s nomination, five from TPLF, two from ANDM, and one from SEPDM bitterly opposed the nomination. Abiy himself and the other seven OPDO members reacted to the opposition and made their cases why he could make a good candidate. Finally, by securing the substantial votes of OPDO, ANDM, and more than half of the southern party, Abiy’s nomination was accepted. This has visibly got Shiferaw and TPLF leaders anxious. But the principal question was who would be the third candidate, Demeke or Debretesion. Whose votes should be divided?  Subsequently, an ANDM member proposed Debretsion, something that was fiercely opposed by him and other TPLF participants. OPDO, ANDM, and SEPDM partially supported the candidacy of Debretsion. But he again objected to his nomination. Vote was cast for the second time and the party members remained adamant, and Debretsion was kept as a candidate. The calculation from “Team Lemma” seemed to be transformed into a reality,” Berhane chronicles. 

Abiy won 108 votes out of 180, while Shiferwa Shigute collected 59, meaning Abiy would take over as the new prime minister. Debretsion got just two votes. “In his victory speech, Abiy promised to fulfil the responsibilities bestowed upon him. Then another EPRDF, another story, another book,” the book concludes.

Considering the information that formed the basis for this book is mined from his own notebook, one cannot but admire the author’s note-taking skills and excellent memory.  That is even more remarkable when we learn that there is still more information that he has not made available because of its sensitivity to national security. Unless it was recorded and transcribed, or minutes consulted, I still find it hard to comprehend how he could manage to do it. The book does offer a real insider’s glimpse.

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The former eastern Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) commander Hundee Deressa, known as Diinaraas who was wounded during an attack at Bishoftu town on September 24 has died, the Oromia region’s security bureau announced. Hundee has been integrated into the Oromia regional security forces in line with a January 2019 “reconciliation pact,” signed by the regional state government under the Oromo Democratic Party and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). After taking what the government called reintegration courses, he has started working with the government as a security officer in Bishoftu town. Colonel Abebe Geresu, the Oromia region’s security bureau deputy head told VOA that Hundee was found injured and lying on the ground after attacked by unidentified persons on September 24 and was taken to a hospital in Addis Ababa where he died two weeks later of massive injuries. His body was taken to his hometown in Kelem Wollega Zone in western Oromia for burial. The deputy head said the motive for the attack remains unknown.

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The fate of the Ethiopian ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has been a subject of discussion. Established by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in the late ’80s, the party, comprising of four ethnicity-based affiliates, has controlled the country for almost two decades. After the removal of the principal and founding members of the party from the scene and the reconstruction of the government, the future direction and strategy of the fragile ‘patchwork’ coalition were put into question. In fact, two of the coalition members, the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) and the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) have already changed their names and content of their discourse.

As the internal blocs battle for control and core positions of power continue, questions are being asked how the tensions would be ultimately resolved and what kind of party system will eventually emerge. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s answer to the question seems to be fusing and merging EPRDF into one single party. He has been for months using discreet intraparty meetings to push his position and he is reportedly considering changing the party’s name. According to Addis Maleda, a weekly Amharic newspaper, the party would be rebranded as “Ethiopian Prosperity Party”, even if this is not yet confirmed by any official source.

Long time coming

Transforming the EPRDF’s ethnically formed parties into a unitary party is not an entirely new initiative; it has been in the pipeline for the past decade since initiated by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. “I don’t know why they found it so difficult to make it happen,” says Aregawi Berhe, head of the Tigray Democratic Coalition Party (TAND).  “They have been saying that for many years. It should have been realised in two or three years. But if the time is ripe for it now, why not, it is a welcome move, as it could give strength to the party, he adds.

Each of the four parties has not been equal in the coalition, a fact that still seems to pose a problem for the merger. The individual, group and interest representation in the EPRDF has always been a continuous issue.  The selection of a particular individual for membership has been dominated by two parties, TPLF and the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) at the early stage. It was, for example, only three years later that the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) joined the EPRDF. After a sixteen-year guerrilla war against the military regime and seizing control of the country in 1991, the EPRDF over the years gave certain regional political parties affiliated status in order to gain legitimacy and authority.

The election of the upstart Abiy Ahmed, a member of OPDO, as a party leader and as Prime Minister in April 2018 has marked a historic leadership turnover and the end of TPLF dominance and rubber-stamp political theatre that have decided the leadership in the past.  At the 11^th EPRDF congress held in Hawassa few months later, Abiy was re-elected as the coalition’s chairman, when the decision to form a single party was passed, on the grounds that “the merger will allow all states of the country to have proportional representation in the affairs of the federal government while ensuring self-administration at the state level,” according to the Ethiopian Herald.

What exactly the merger signifies for the present and future of the party is not yet clear as the ins and outs of the proposal are not out yet. Yet analysts suggest that, among others, the shape of the new political entity would not be determined by the number of seats each party holds but by the respective strength of their ideas, and the individual, group and interest representation would not based on ethnic quotas, as it has been the case in the party’s history. “It will definitely play the role of toning down ethnic politics and pulling down the nation to the center. I strongly believe this is what Abiy is doing. This is a strong possibility,” says Ephrem Madebo, the former head of Ginbot 7’s political affairs.

Ezekiel Gebissa, a history professor at Kettering University, who started by saying this should be a party’s internal affairs but with the stakes high for both the party and the nation. “In order for the merger to happen, the party has to change its current programmes, which I understand would be based on Medemer (Amharic term for synergic unity) philosophy. The party has to come up with its own policy, founding principles, which is tantamount to creating a new party,” he says.

Private party meetings

For the moment, a series of private intraparty meetings are being held in the individual party’s headquarters in Bahir Dar, Adama, Hawassa and Mekele. Though the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) reportedly approved of the merger, the Oromo Democratic Party, the party that has emerged considerable political force, is still engaged in negotiations and there are divisions among party members about the issue, according to reports. The talk of the town has it that the issue even has become a source of simmering tension for the two former allies, Abiy Ahmed and Lemma Megersa.  But the most vocal protest of the merger has come from the northern member of the coalition, TPLF, even though it was the first initiator of the idea. In its official statement issued a few days ago, the party stated there will be no mergers “as far as TPLF is concerned.” The Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State (SNNPR) has not yet reacted, probably occupied with preparation of the Sidama referendum.

For Ezekiel, whether the merger could be realised in light of the current situation is questionable, unless the medemer philosophy makes some kind of miracle. “What the merger represents, in reality, is not even clear. If indeed it happened, does that mean that someone other than ADP would be allowed to administrator the Amhara region? Does that mean someone from TPLF is going come to administrator in Aweday?” he asks.  Ezekiel adds that it doesn’t make sense for the parties to seek unification before the scheduled election.

For Aregawi Berhe, the reasoning behind TPLF’s position is not based on ideological consideration but rather to stick with attacks on the Abiy administration. “It is as if they are saying we are not in charge now and it should not take place under the leadership of someone that is not us.”

But commentators say whether the project would succeed or not depends on what comes out of the OPDO camp. “Anything could happen in between depending on how OPDO and other state and non-state actors see the merger,” says Ephrem.

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• Federal Police describes the activist’s claim as wrong
• Chaos in several towns as police disperse protesters
• Clashes reported between opponents and supporters of Jawar

Angry protests have broken out in Addis Ababa and several Oromia towns after influential journalist and activist Jawar Mohammed announced on his Facebook page that an attempt was made to remove his guards on Tuesday night.

Huge marches converged on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, bringing parts of the streets to a standstill and a crowd also gathered in front of the activist’s residence located around the Embassy of Japan in Bole.

A large number of security forces have been seen deploying around the capital city, eyewitness said.

The Federal Police Commissioner Endeshaw Tasew told state media that the messages posted on social media by Jawar Mohammed to his followers and supporters, alleging he was about to be arrested and attacked was wrong. “The claim that actions were taken by police against him is wrong. Neither the government nor the police have taken actions,” the commissioner said.

Jawar wrote on his Facebook page saying at around midnight on Tuesday, two vehicles pulled up and told his security personnel to pack their stuff and leave the compound quietly, without alerting him. “The security asked them why they’re asked to leave. They were told it’s for training purposes,” he added.

But his security personnel refused, even after they received a telephone call from “commander of VIP protection services who warned them to leave immediately and quietly or face consequences,” Jawar wrote. Jawar posted the purported phone conversation between one of his security details and a commander. “As pressure mounted, the security came to my room woke me up and told me what was happening. I called the commander asking for an explanation. Initially, he said he was just doing the routine change and they will be replaced. I pushed him why he was doing at midnight not day time,” for which the person in question said he was just following orders.

The Federal Police Commissioner admitted the government decided to drop providing security protection for exiled political figures who returned to the country, including Jawar Mohammed.

The incident has sparked rallies in several Oromia towns and clashes between police and protesters have broken out in Ambo, Adama, and Shashemene. At least three people were taken to hospital in Ambo town, according to preliminary information the BBC Amharic has received.  The radio also reported on the clashes in Adama between opponents and supporters of Jawar.

Earlier on Tuesday Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, speaking in parliament had warned unnamed media owners against fomenting unrest. “Those media owners who don’t have Ethiopian passport are playing both ways. When there is peace you are playing here and when we are in trouble you not here,” Abiy was quoted as saying by Reuters. “We tried to be patient. But if this is going to undermine the peace and existence of Ethiopia, whether you speak Amharic or Oromiffa, we will take measures. You can’t play both ways.”

Image: DW Amharic

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Every town and village in Ethiopia has its own adbar, which Wolf Leslau’s ‘Concise Amharic Dictionary’, defines as ‘tree or trees consecrated to spirits (people make scarifies to them’). A warka tree, an indigenous tree resembling the sycamore and distinct for its massive and magnificent size is said to embody a spirit and often used as a gathering place. For instance, the Wodajja (ritual sacrifice) of Muslim communities in Wollo is held under warka tree, which is considered sacred by Islamic cultures. The word warka connotes, according to an Amharic dictionary, a place of ritual prayer.

The deep shade produced by the tree makes it a favoured site for meetings and centre of social activity—from markets to traditional court sessions. It could also serve as points of orientation.

The French traveller Arnauld d’Abbadie who arrived in Gondar in 1838 spoke of the tree, describing it ‘the most beautiful tree of Ethiopia’. He explained it doesn’t grow in Dega (cold) parts, rather in lowest Kolla (hot) ‘where it reaches colossal dimensions.’ “Wherever it appears, it seems to attract the troops of travellers and the caravans, which it covers with a thick and spacious shade,’ he wrote.

There are Warka trees reputedly between five hundred and thousands of years old, which are known for supporting a high level of biodiversity, and birds, bees and other animals depend on it for survival. Leaves of the tree can be used for feeding cattle in the dry season, Dawit Simoen, an elderly farmer in Merawi town, 25kms south of Bahir Dar says.  

This one was photographed in Gheralta region of Tigray.

However, like many other indigenous trees of Ethiopia, Warka is at risk of disappearing. It is being threatened by several man-made phenomena, including warming climates, deforestation. The endemic tree is also threatened with extinction as urban development takes a growing toll on the landscape. Asmamaw Getnet, the Amhara region’s Northern Mecha Woreda Agricultural Bureau deputy head told Ethiopia Observer that a number of trees belonging to the species in the forest area are aging. At the same time, few young trees are growing to replace them, building the risk of disappearance, he said. Dawit Simoen, the farmer from Merawi says that villagers are chopping down the tree to get wood to make charcoal. New ones are not being planted because people prefer fast-growing exotic trees such as eucalyptus, he says. (Watch video for an interview in Amharic.)

Even for the highly touted biggest mass tree-planting campaign held in July, the seedlings of indigenous trees such as warka and Kosso (Hagenia abyssinica) a tree with redwood were not on offer. Rather, gravila and other three species were planted in his area, Dawit explains. According to Dawit, even if eucalyptus and gravila are popular with farmers, they tend to dry the area because of their higher water consumption and inefficiency for holding the soil and Warka was much better for this purpose.

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