Ethiopia: A New Day In An Old Country

ETHIOPIA

A New Day in an Old Country

Ethiopia’s economic growth has been miraculous, according to Quartz.

In 2000, the nation’s per capita gross domestic product was only $650 and it had one of the highest poverty rates in the world. Today, it has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and poverty has been reduced by one-third, according to the World Bank.

But as many other booming countries have experienced, prosperity often exposes long-simmering social and cultural tensions that poverty helped suppress.

In February, protests erupted over plans to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa, the fast-growing capital. That angered local farmers in the Oromo region who feared the government would confiscate their land, Al Jazeera wrote.

But the protests expanded to include calls for more rights for the Oromo, an ethnic group who make up more than a third of Ethiopia’s population but feel shut out from the country’s ruling class. Those and other protests over the past year have resulted in hundreds of deaths, human-rights groups said.

Eventually, in February, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced that he would step down. But at the same time, the government declared a state of emergency, limiting press freedomsand other civil rights.

Now it’s up to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was sworn in April 2, to clean up the mess.

“This is the season in which we learn from our mistakes and compensate our country,” said Ahmed in his first speech in office, Foreign Policy reported. “I ask forgiveness from those activists and politicians who paid the sacrifice and youths who wanted change but lost their lives.”

He’s off to a good start. Ahmed is Oromo, the Washington Post explained. With one deft move, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front addressed one of the protesters’ primary concerns. And this week, he was met by thousands of cheering locals Wednesday when he visited Ambo, a town at the heart of protests and clashes with security forces since 2015, Reuters reported.

Apart from being Oromo, there are other ways Ahmed reflects his country. His father was Muslim. His mother was Christian. He’s also a former military man who rose up in the ranks – in part because he learned Tigrinya, the language of the ethnic group that comprises the Ethiopian elite. He’s also 41, making him the youngest leader in Africa, a continent where aging strongmen often cling to power long after they’ve worn out their welcome.

Opposition leader Merara Gudina sounded a note of hope as Ahmed assumed power.

“It goes without saying that a change in personalities within the leadership may bring changes in terms of bringing better ideas that may ultimately lead to national reconciliation,” Gudina told the Associated Press.

The word “ultimately” is key here. Between Ethiopia’s economic growth and the goodwill he’s generated so far, however, Ahmed is in a rare position to transform his country for the better.

Many hope that day will come. If not, they will hit the streets.

“We are free,” Salem Gebre, 30, a street hawker who has led protests in the capital, told the Washington Times.  “We are demanding our rights…(and) we will continue to demonstrate until the government listens to us…. We are not going to be intimidated.”