focus magazine

Focus Magazine January - February 2009 1

Focus Magazine January - February 20092


The UN Should Follow

AU’s Example On January 12, 2009, the United States circu-

lated a draft Security Council resolution for a plan to deploy a UN peacekeeping force in Somalia to replace the existing African Union force. African countries have long been call-

ing for such a plan. Unfortunately, UN officials and some Security Council members have objected claiming the situation is too dangerous. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on his part said that the situation is not ripe and that conditions are not favorable for such a de-ployment. France’s UN Ambassador was quoted as saying that the deployment plan was neither feasible nor desirable.

It is regrettable that after 18 years of suffering, Somalia could not benefit from the compassion and concerted action of the international community. Somalia was also unlucky in the past too as Africa was dragged into so many fresh political and economic conflicts that have effectively rel-egated Somalia to the backburner. Somalia is also becoming the “mother of all conflicts” in Africa for the savagery with which it has been claiming its victims and for its refusal to respond to any solution be it domestic conti-nental or international.

So many actors and factors have gone into the making of the Somali trag-edy that one is sometimes baffled why no solution has so far proved effective in getting that unfortu-nate country out of its predicament. The Americans tried to pacify it in the early 1990s and miserably failed bringing back home the horrifying TV images of the bodies of dead American soldiers being dragged on the streets of Mogad-ishu. This was the single most powerful and dreadful image that ended the American intervention amidst public uproar in the United States. The UN also tried to come up with a semblance of solution without proving its mantle as an inter-national peace broker.

Then there was a long period of disengagement when all the actors were so horrified by the daily carnage going on there that they chose to stay away and let the Somalia tragedy exhaust itself and stop when it would ran out of fuel for continuing the senseless clan savagery. Yet, the killings did not abet and the Somali clans and warlords

proved inventive in finding new pretexts to drag their coun-try into the abyss. Daily scenes of death, destruction, fam-ine and exile become the lot of millions of Somalis whose life continued to be trapped in this endless vicious circle that lead to renewed fighting and more victims.

Nevertheless international diplomatic efforts contin-ued to be made to end the tragedy albeit in a detached and non-committed manner as the entire major outside players actors were haunted by the demons failed interventionism in the past. And when the AU recently tried to take the initia-

MESSAGE OF FOCUS


tive and make renewed efforts to let Somalia emerge from its near-forgotten chaos and destruction, the world seemed to be set for new surprises and positive denouements. Alas, the optimism proved unrealistic if not short lived after two years of intervention by Ethiopian, Ugandan and Rwandan forces with the blessing of the AU which is also involved in the equally unsolved Darfur crisis in addition to that in Dem-ocratic Republic of Congo.

Ethiopia, which took the initiative to help resolve the Somali crisis, whether on the ground of self-interest or in the spirit of AU and IGAD, has withdrawn its troops from Soma-lia.

Somalia has so far proved that it is not manageable to any solution or proposal and that it is well on its way to national suicide unless a new and more creative strategy is put in place to save it. It is facing once again another pe-riod of possible marginalization and oblivion. This is in fact dangerous not only for Somalia itself but also for the peace and stability of the Horn region and all of Africa if not the world. The ongoing piracy off the coasts of Somalia in which more than a dozen cargo ships are still being held captive is another proof that the Somali problematic is also assuming an international and more dangerous dimension. Metaphori-cally speaking, the Somali tragedy is now spreading from the land to the sea after burning everything in its wake.

Things are not going to improve after the with-drawal of Ethiopian troops. What would follow in the next few months is anybody’s guess. Forces of destabilization might find a field day in another stateless Somalia. As the conflict is spinning out of control and as society more than nature abhors vacuum, all the dreaded forces of terrorism and destabilization are finding a free ride in the new environ-ment of unprecedented lawlessness and spiraling violence. Somalia also continues to threaten the Horn nations serving as a terrain for proxy wars, a terrorist save heaven and the most gruesome place on earth.

It is however encouraging to see that some African countries have decided to stay in Somalia and work hard for peace. Nigeria has promised to send new contingents while other countries are expected to follow suit.

On the other hand it is depressing to realize that the UN has lacked the courage and determination to come to the rescue of Somalia on the basis of the AU initiative. What-ever happens to Somalia, the UN cannot absolve itself of the responsibility for failing to do something about that hapless country when it could. This should not in fact be time for pas-sive contemplation or wait-and-see attitude. There is nothing more to be seen in Somalia as all the horrors and agonies have acted out themselves. Somalia has always been a dangerous and the UN has intervened in many dangerous places.

The UN should rather keep Somalia in the front burner, try new and more creative and more energetic ap-proaches until a breakthrough materializes. On the contrary the UN’s reluctance or lack of initiative in Somalia at this critical juncture would be a serious blow to its prestige and its capacity to broker or enforce peace in the continent.

The recent successful elections in Ghana have once again demonstrated that the democratic process in Africa is not as dark as some foreign observers would like to portray it. True, there are still pockets of authoritarianism, conflicts and instability across the

continent. There are also bright spots that show after all that Africa is not a lost case. The Ghanaian elections have given African some hope in the promise of democracy. Africa is a land of political extremes. On the one hand we have exemplary political process like the recent democratic elections in Ghana. On the other hand we have a caricature of democracy in countries like Zimbabwe where tyranny has made it difficult for the democratic process to lead to a stable situation. Worse still, in some countries like The DRC and Somalia, car-nage and hopelessness are the daily diets of millions of fellow Africans. Ghana is a success story both in the economic and political terms. The Ghanaian economy is one of the few suc-cess stories across the continent showing a steady growth scenario and a promising future. Even though West Africa has been rocked by a series of civil conflicts, Ghana has remained a beacon of stability and prosperity in a region where conflict is the norm rather than the exception. Ghana relies on a strong political legacy and a progressive political culture dating back to the days of Kwame Nkrumah, one of the founding fathers of Africa’s decolonization and continental unity. In the last fifty years since the independence decade of the 1960s, Ghana has witnessed many political ups and downs. However, it did not lose sight of its identity or its democratic tra-jectory. There were indeed difficult moments in its recent history but these did not deter the country from seeking a modern and democratic alternative predicated on its rich political heritage and culture. As witnessed and confirmed by international observ-ers, the recent elections in which the incumbents and opposi-tion parties run neck to neck was a clear demonstration of the honesty and fairness of the entire process that led to a narrow margin win for the opposition. The process was free from vio-lence and intimidation while the post-election scenario is equally stable. This is a rare achievement in the continent where even the most commendable democratic experiments often lead to post-election violence and bloodshed. It is equally heartening to see the former president leaving the scene with dignity and respect while parliament is openly discussing the amount of retirement benefits the former president John Kuffor should enjoy. This is also without prec-edence in a continent where incumbents often leave office with fat bank accounts in foreign currency. All this shows the vibran-cy, honesty and promise of Ghanaian democracy that should also serve as a benchmark for similar processes elsewhere in Africa. Ghana is certainly showing the path to genuine political renewal and democratization across the African the continent. It is up to the rest of us to learn this important lesson.

Elias Aweke Editor-In-Chief

Ghana Shows the Democratic

Path


Dr. Elham Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim is currently the Com-missioner for Infrastructure and Energy in the African Union Commission. Dr. El-

ham gave an interview to Focus magazine in connection with the decision by the Gen-eral Assembly of the Heads of State Summit that took place last July 2008 to make infra-structure development to be the theme of this year’s summit of African heads of state and government that will take place in Addis from

February 1-3, 2009. Following are excerpts of the interview.

Thank you very much for giving us this in-terview. Who is going to decide the theme of this year’s agenda for the heads of state and government summit?As usual the theme of any summit is decided by the heads of states or by the executive council. It can also be proposed by any of the member states of the AU. Then it will be dis-cussed and approved.

Why is the issue of infrastructure and energy selected for discussion this year? As you know last year it was decided to sup-port Africa to achieve the Millennium De-velopment Goals. If you raise the issue of economic development you can see that infra-structure is the main component. Any devel-opment endeavor is based on infrastructure.

How do you define the problem and solution of infrastructure and energy in Africa?For infrastructure, we can recognize three

We just want to have the same spirit and vision for the growth of Africa

Dr. Elham Mahmoud Ahmed Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy

in the African Union Commission

FOCUS GUEST


levels. We can talk about the national level, the regional level and the continental level. What the African Union is worried about is the continental infrastructure. We are looking for Africa with an integrated system of reli-able, efficient, safe and affordable transport and energy infrastructure & services capable of promoting continental development and integration, where people, goods and services can be easily communicated within the conti-nent and with others. So, this is the main is-sue but unfortunately, this is not the case and we are suffering from that, especially at the continental level. We can see works going on at the regional level and also at the national level, and most of them are doing well, but the question is how to connect the national programs to be part of the regional and con-tinental programs. So, this is our interest and our concern.

As you know the expansion of infrastructure and energy need a huge amount of investment. Do you think it is viable to implement?

As far as investment is concerned, at the na-tional level there is no doubt that each coun-try has its program for infrastructure devel-opment, and all the countries are taking care about allocating funds and resources for the implementation of their national programs. At the regional level, the regional economic communities (REC’s) are also working on that. So, at the continental level, it is not dif-ficult to fund the dream projects, such as a trans-African highway extending from Cai-ro in the north to Cape Town in the south. The funds needed for the construction of the missed links in this highway will not be too much relative to the other works already done. Now, all our development partners are supporting Africa infrastructure and they are ready to help and facilitate financing these projects.

How do you explain the policy of infrastruc-ture and energy development of the African Union Commission to the general public?

We can summarize by saying that we want to achieve a reliable, affordable and sustainable infrastructure for everybody in Africa. How to achieve this? It is a matter of setting har-monized continental strategies, policies, reg-ulations and rules, standards and specifica-tions which would help building the suitable environment encouraging for investment. The investment can be public, public-private part-nership or it can be any kind of investment.

Africa is the poorest continent having the most backward infrastructure and energy develop-ment. What kind of long and short term strat-egy do you have to address this problem?

I do not agree with you when you say that Africa is a poor continent. Africa is very rich. It has many diversified resources. Unfortu-nately, not all of them are exploited or used.

What we need is to use our resources as much as possible in the most efficient and effective way. For example, there may be a region or a place which has the opportunity to start a process of very promising industrial, agricul-tural or mining development. Any of these activities needs infrastructure. I can borrow the idea of ‘development corridors’ from a presentation made at the conference of Af-rican ministers of mines last October. These development corridors can serve all these ac-tivities and they require infrastructure which can include water, energy, roads, railways and also telecommunication. If we can implement our projects in an integrated way and deal with all these kinds of infrastructure develop-ment, it will become mutually supporting and it will also serve many other purposes. If we integrate all these plans and projects together, they will be more economical, more efficient and easier for implementation.

Do you think that it is viable to discuss these issues at this particular time of global finan-cial crisis?

Yes, I think we can talk about these issues at this time. Because we cannot solve this economic or financial crisis without thinking about these projects. The investment needed for these projects can come from intraregion-al trade and investment. Also we can reduce the cost of doing business by improving the investment climate and strengthening local and regional financial markets. Africa should allocate some of its resources for projects which are productive, which can generate more income and give better opportunities for investment and employment.

Do you have annual budgets for infrastruc-ture and energy?

Yes, we have our budget but I also have to mention that the African Union Commission (AUC) is not going to implement very high investment projects. But we can help and support in preparing the feasibility studies, the preliminary studies to have some policy harmonization, strategic plans, capacity building and any other kind of soft projects. The AUC can help and support regional eco-nomic communities in securing suitable and adequate funds from financing institutions or development partners. As I mentioned earlier, all of our partners are willing to support and finance infrastructure projects and the role of the AUC is to coordinate the initiatives and efforts of all stakeholders for the develop-ment of infrastructure in Africa.

What are the resolutions expected to be passed by the summit of AU heads of states?

As you know we have many stakeholders such as the regional economic communities, the African Development Bank, NEPAD and UNECA. All these institutions have their pro-grams for infrastructure. But unfortunately

each of them was working alone and this was really a problem. Now the AUC, in collabora-tion with its partners (ADB, NEPAD Secre-tariat and UNECA), are currently in the pro-cess of formulating a single comprehensive continental infrastructure programme known as the Programme for Infrastructure Develop-ment in Africa (PIDA). This programme will include a policy, a strategic framework, and a prioritized & phased infrastructure program for the development of transport, energy, telecommunications/ICT and water sectors. It will be a point of reference for all stakehold-ers including international partners who wish to support Africa’s endeavours in the devel-opment of infrastructure.

So this is one of the most important issues we want to get support for. We are also look-ing for the national programs to be within the continental and regional programs and to al-locate some of the public budgets for these projects.

War is the worst enemy that destroys billion dollars of investment in infrastructure and in the economy. Some people argue that with-out good governance of peace and stability it is really naive to think of implementing this grand vision. Do you share this argument?

I have the opposite opinion. Peace and se-curity cannot be achieved in a sustainable manar without economic stability, without infrastructure, without work for everybody, without water and acceptable life for every-body. This is my opinion. Good governance is very important at any situation but what I want to say is that peace and infrastructure development are supporting each other and you should promote both, side by side.

In your opinion which region of Africa has bad infrastructure and energy?

Even the least developed ones are going to promote infrastructure and energy develop-ment. Nobody wants to be left in a poor situ-ation and we should support each other to do that.

Finally, feel free to comment on anything you want to say about infrastructure and energy in connection with the heads of state summit that will take place in February.

What I want to say is that all of us as Africans should look at this continent as our birthright, our home, our future and our responsibility. We should think about how we can make our houses and bring up our children in a better way. I think if we all think about that or in this way, our continent will be the best. We have the resources, we have the people and we can do that. We just want to have the same spirit and vision for the growth of Africa.


“The Careful Movers” on the Move

A Model of Trust and Efficiency!

Packtra is a pioneering packing, moving and forwarding company that was first founded in 1991 by a group of five entrepreneurial in-dividuals who created it as a pri-

vate limited company with a combined capi-tal of 300 thousand birr. Each had a share of fifty thousand birr. It all began with packing only, says Managing Director of Packtra, Ato Girma Sime rewinding back in his memory about the foundation of his company. It be-gan with packing but it was soon realized that a single activity by itself could not guaran-tee the sustenance of the firm, and the need arose to engage also in other interrelated and interdependent activities such as forwarding the material that has been packed, transporta-tion of the material and then storage. Packtra therefore had to naturally expand, the man-ager goes on, to all these interrelated activi-ties so that it could guarantee its own devel-opment and sustenance. However, packing also involves lifting and moving the material from one place to the other, and this would necessitate certain instruments and gadgets like forklifts, trucks and lots of laborers to engage. Gradually, what Packtra is engaged in has developed into being not only packing and storing but also forwarding and transiting from one place to another, with care and effi-ciency. To avoid inefficiency and delays what Packtra has done is embrace all these activi-ties under one umbrella, in an integrated man-ner and some time in the future, will found a new holding company containing all these activities in one premise. In a discussion with Focus Magazine, Ato Girma, the Managing Director, and Ato Tse-gaye the Operations Manager, have spoken at length about their organisation’s current situ-ation and its prospects within the national as well as international context, and this feature article is a result of this discussion. Packtra’s reliable and exceptional pioneering service was testified by the receipt of honor-ary awards and recognitions at international arena and this constitutes further incentive for the company to go on in its good work. Pack-tra’s awards did not come casually but are a result of perseverance, hard work and relent-less efforts to meet the high expectations of its clients across the globe. This has become a motive of pride and honor for its founders and

staff, according to the managers of the com-pany. It is the conviction of the managers that the awards were conferred up on Packtra be-cause it has shown excellence and efficiency in its delivery of services at all levels and that such international accreditation will only help go on with even faster pace in its expansion endeavours. The evaluators considered not only the achievements of the company but also the activities carried out and the qual-ity of service relating to the category. Such acknowledgement fills the staff and manage-ment of the company with pride because it is a result of hard work and commitment and getting such recognition has meant a lot of morale to all. Packtra’s contribution to our economy is remarkable because it gives em-ployment opportunity to about two hundred employees and each employee availing of their families, the number of beneficiaries is bound to rise. What is more, the foreign cur-rency it manages to earn to our economy is also remarkable. Its capital has now reached the tens of millions of birr while it had begun with barely three hundred thousand. Making utmost use of the modern technology Packtra now avails of a website and has a system of follow up with what destiny its packed mate-rial is going through every moment with actu-al tracking of the whereabouts of the material transported, transited and delivered. Packtra has also developed a management software system. It keeps with international standards adapting itself to the changing international market while training its staff and employees continuously both with the language as well as the rules and regulations that regulate the sector is among the priorities of the company. Packtra is also a member to several interna-tional organisations such as Free Association of America, FIAT, TPF, and CPN. Developing the trust and confidence of clients cannot be attained casually but needs meticu-lous programming and executing of the same. This inevitably contributes to the growth of the company, to the expansion of its horizon and the enrichment and gratification of the families that work with it. Among the additional features Packtra is planning to introduce and incorporate are pas-senger travel services as well as the issuance of airway bills of different airlines. With the implementation of these services, the mission

is to make Packtra Plc a one stop shop ca-tering or passenger travel needs and provide well rewarded services. In its bid to expand relentlessly, Packtra is exploring sources of external funding. Poten-tial lenders however tend to give priority to industrial investment rather than to the serv-ice industry. Unlike what happens abroad for instance the fact that there are many African freight forwarding companies that are inviting European and American companies to come in with a lot of finance to promote the indus-try, this is not the case in Ethiopia; however, in the long run, globalization is definitely go-ing to change the situation. Packtra believes that foreign competition is bound to come with globalization and it is time to prepare oneself for the coming chal-lenge, not only at individual company level but also at the official government level. Government should hence be able to back foreign forwarding companies so that they withstand the competition. The sector will have to benefit from incentives such as the imports of investment goods duty free. The business of freight forwarding is relatively ignored and cannot grow to the ideal level only through individual efforts although the sector makes significant contribution to the economy by generating considerable amount of foreign exchange earnings. For instance, Packtra generates almost 2 million dollars in foreign currency earnings every year and an income tax worth 700,000- 800,000 birr to the government in addition to VAT with sales figure growing steadily. On the other hand, it is good to know that the government is help-ing the company by providing it with foreign exchange account. However, it needs to do more to assist Packtra’s expansion since this is a sector that is vital to the growth of the na-tional economy. Overall, the outlook is very promising while partnership between Pack-tra and other freight forwarding companies on the one hand, and the government on the other remains a vital condition for sustainable growth of the sector in the future. According to the managers, Packtra’s rela-tions with the banks is yet to develop further because making the most out of financial in-stitutions is key in development and expan-sion of any company, anywhere. To date, Packtra has not engaged a lot with banks lim-

COMPANY PROFILE


“Most people attain development and progress without losing their identity but we want to be modern by forgetting who we are”

ART & CULTURE

Prof. Haile Gerima

Who is Haile Gerima ?A father, a film maker a story teller and a film teacher.

How do you describe the influence Gerima Tafere has on you?Well, my father was a dramatist a playwright, a traditional playwright. He was initially edu-cated by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He

was a priest himself. He was very well edu-cated in Ge’ez and Amharic and he wrote a big play. So my father was a dramatist. I used to be in his place. After every play he did in Gonder, he used to take us on a tour all the way to Asmera, Mekelle and Adwa. He

Professor Haile Gerima is the foremost film writer, director and producer. He divides his time between film making and film teaching in the U.S. The award winning writer and director speaks of his childhood in Gonder, his imitation into the world of literature and film making. He shares his reflections on many issues of artistic and ethical importance with Focus readers. Following is an abridged version of the extensive discussion he recently had with Focus Magazine.


was showing places from Gonder all the way around the northern part of Ethiopia. He tried to bring a play here in Addis once but I don’t think he succeeded. And his influence basi-cally is from the point view of history tell-ing. He was a great story teller not only by writing plays. Even in the town of Gonder he was known to be what I would call the wax and gold. He was very deep in the Amharic language and spoke in metaphors and sym-bolism about the political time and the com-munity and the culture.So I grew up under his overpowering cul-tural standing in Gondar. But I have to say as a story teller I also thank my grandmother who is a Gondere and a Wolloye and was my childhood story teller around the fire. So I was surrounded by custodians of the story of my culture. I started writing plays in Gondar and also in Jimma and when I came to Addis Kinetibeb at Hailsellasie University. I wrote plays for the radio and also for the Shiemeles Habte high school and the Miyazia 27 school in Jimma. I was a prominent peer author for my classmates. So basically I was influenced by my father to persue the telling of stories through the dramatic stage.If I am not mistaken you great grandfather was the chronicle writer of Emperor Tewodros is that right?Merigeta Tafere was also a well known high priest in Gondar. He was a young secretary in the government of Tewodros. Therefore my father wrote a popular history, not footnoting European history, of Tewodros and also of his own father. Actually Merigeta Tafer was his grandfather but he raised him as a son and we consider him to be is father but he is actually his grandfather. But he was a young secretary in the royal government who chronicled sto-ries of Teodros to my father.If I am right, there is nothing so far about Tewodros in your movies. Why is that? Money! Money! Money! To do a Tewodros movie in Ethiopia, you need at least 4-6 mil-lion dollars; even as a low budget film. You can’t stage it in any other way. Now if Hol-lywood does Tewodros you will need again about 40-50 million dollars. In any European country, this is the kind of budget they call when you look at the magnitude and dramatic requirement of the type of stories Tewodros possesses. You need a big budget to stage the war because he was a warrior from childhood all the way to his kingdom. He was the one who unified Ethiopia. Unifying Ethiopian is not a small budget. It’s a very expensive endeavor. You have those horsemen. You have to go to every province he conquered to unite the country during the conflicts of “zemen mesafint” or the Era of the Princes as it is known in history. So it is not a simple project. Now there are Ethiopians who have a lot of money but they are not cultured. Their attitude towards money is feudal. If any rich Ethiopian approaches me and says, here you have 6-10 million dollars let’s do Tewodros, I would do it. But in Ethiopian rich people do not understand culture. They don’t invest on

culture. If you look at capitalists in America, they believe in culture and also understand the economic implication of culture. I don’t think that in my lifetime any rich Ethiopian can come and say, here you are, make me a film of the kind of cinematic endeavor Tewodros requires.Do you mean that a rich feudal does not have the culture of turning our historical treasury into money? I was saying that rich Ethiopians’ relation to money is feudal. I am talking about the mind set. Their understanding of capitalism is feu-dal which means it is backward, not progres-sive. On the contrary, European capitalists or American capitalists are progressive because they believe in financing culture. They also transform their wealth. Their money grows; their culture grows they are in hurry to fi-nance cultural projects because it increases their capital power.Who is responsible for this situation, intellec-tuals, rich people or the government? Ethiopians are not greedy about their cul-ture the way Europeans, Germans, French or Americans are. Americans are so greedy that they even fabricate culture and history. Ethio-pians sell their culture. We sell it out of the country. There is no taboo. We sell the tab-ernacles. Ethiopians sell tabernacles. They sold David’s “mequwamiya”, his conducting stick. Only Ethiopians do that. Why? I don’t know. We are not greedy about our culture. We are desperately trying to be something else. I don’t know what that something is and in this kind of chaotic situation Ethiopians are the first people to destroy their own culture.Members of the 1950s or 1960s generation like you, Tsegaye G/Medhin, G/Kirstos Desta and Afework Tekle were the trend setters to revolutionalize this feudal thinking. How suc-cessful were you, especially in your case?Well, first of all I was a student when these gi-ants of culture dominated the cultural scene. I was at Kinetibeb.I think you were involved in one of Tsegaye G/Medhin’s plays. Yes, but I was not in the league of Eskindre Begosian, G/Kirstos Desta and Tesfaye Gess-ese. These were all big people when I came to Addis Ababa. They were large monuments of the period in culture. I don’t know how suc-cessful they were. As far as I am concerned, I think that after the Italian occupation the British, who are very deeply colonial people, monopolized the Ethiopian cultural and edu-cational infrastructure. The Ethiopian educa-tional system was structured by the British, by Indians from India and they made it a very Eurocentric educational infrastructure. Ethio-pians did not attempt to integrate traditional schools into the new education system the way the Japanese integrated. As a result of that our national modernization is demented. Our notion of progress is demented. Most people attain development and progress with-out losing their identity but we want to be modern by losing who we are. So we need psychologists to midwife our problem but

we do have a deep-seated problem of want-ing to be modern by losing everything good about our past. Most societies do not do this of course. So, the disorientation began when the British colonialists designed the educa-tional system whereby young people were contaminated by the false notion of Euro-peanizing ourselves. Then in the 1960s, the Kennedy program, the American Peace Corps came to Ethiopia and they continued the co-lonial experience of Ethiopians. This was not physical colonization. It was educational and cultural colonization. For example Nigerians know the colonist. He was physically there. The Ghanaians know he was physically there. The Mozambicans knew it. In Ethiopia, it was invisible cultural colonialism teaching the children of Ethiopia to hate the past, to hate everything Ethiopian, to die and integrate in the whole demented idea of modernization. I think this was how the crisis came even in the case of the left wing Ethiopians who came in 1974 when young Ethiopians throughout the world were entertaining the idea of Marxism and Leninism and Maoism as an alternative. In those days no one was able to depart from their background into this notion of left wing culture. We wanted Ethiopians of the past to disappear as if no Ethiopian existed before us. We were praising Ho Chi Minh, Mao, and Marx as if we don’t have Dejach Balcha. In the case of Haile Sellassie, Ethiopian history became only Ras Mekonnen. Even Minilik’s history was lost when I was growing up. Taytu didn’t exist when I grew up. Zewditu, Iyassu never existed. Balcha? Forget it. Ev-erybody who disagreed with the formation of the new dynasty of the Hailesellassie did not exist. The educational system in fact was teaching us more about Napoleon Bonaparte. The American Peace Corps were teaching us about the American Revolution. We were studying Kentucky and Chicago rather than Gojjam or Jimma. And so the elites came up breathing the air with somebody else’s lung, not with their own lung. So the disaster we are facing up to now and the current Ethio-pian situation are the results of the displace-ment of traditional Ethiopian good culture. We destroyed everything as feudal culture.As an artist, playwrite, and dramatist and as a cinematographer what are the efforts that you have made just to re-create this age old tradition of respect of Ethiopian culture?Well I will tell you that I am not Meles you know. I am not the president of the country. I am basically a very independent person, a hu-man being. All I know is that I was denied my history. What did I do? I made my Adwa.What do you mean when you say my Adwa?My Adwa means my therapy, my medicine. I made a medicine out of Adwa so that it helps me regain myself; the things I lost. I taped a lot my father to tell me things I missed. When the Dergue came, it destroyed generational trans-actional relationship with our parents. So my father was here while I was in America. I had to snatch him, bring him there. I had to tape him a lot to understand what I lost or for not


having organic relationship with my father; organic transaction of my father in culture. I was luckier than most of my friends because I was in his plays. I heard the plays. I sold his books. So I am better than many people. What I am saying is that I am not going to tell other Ethiopians about their culture. I don’t have medicine for other Ethiopians. They should find their own medicine. I am making my own medicine. “Teza”, “Adwa”, “Sankofa”. I am healed through the films I have made. I am collectively saying thank you but I don’t tell Ethiopians that I am their medicine. I make films to improve myself because I was a victim of all these things I am telling you about. So in case you want to identify with my movie and say thank you to me that is the best I could get. But I will not be presumptu-ous enough to say that I have medicine for you. As Ethiopians we can collectively find our identity, our collective identity.Well, some people say that Haile Gerima is a bit eccentric and conservative because he was growing up in the most conservative culture, and because the Gonderes was left out of Ethiopian history especially in Haile Sellassie’s time. Is that right?I don’t know. I have never heard of this but it’s nice. I would like to think about it and know. At this time I would say to you, no I am not eccentric. All my friends know me. I am a very fun loving person. I like jokes like my father. I like humor. I don’t spend my time in stupid parties or big weddings. I sit down with four, five Ethiopians and talk and have fun. I like jokes. I laugh more than I work. I spend more time laughing and I spend time cooking for my children. Is that eccentric? No.Okay, you can be a conservative and eccen-tric father. Do you think that can be justi-fied?No, I am not conservative. In fact most Ethio-pians cannot handle my freedom, my free thinking soul. I am a free person, a free bird. I don’t speak for any government. I don’t care about Bush. I don’t care about Meles. I am a free soul. If that is conservative I think there is a problem in the meaning of conservatism. I am always growing. I never have a set of dogmatic position on nothing, on relation-ships, on children, on family on movies, on literature. For the past 35 or 40 years you were in Unit-ed States. You were educated and trained there. To a certain extent you could not es-cape the domination of the Americans in you studies and in your works you are try-ing to find your identity like in the films you have done. How much were you liberated to show all these things in your films without an identity crisis? I told you that I am a free person. I make films to exercise the colonization process in me. I told you I take myself as a colonized person. I don’t say she is colonized while I am not. I am a colonized person. My up bringing was interrupted by colonial experiences. So every movie I make is to exercise the domination of Eurocentric culture that abducted me from my

culture and that is the first part of my answer to you. And the other thing is that I am a human being. It is up to other people to judge. Am I Americanized? I think when I was young I tried to be. Now I think I am trying to find my own culture without denying my experience in America for having lived 40 years there. I am trying to level a position or an identity that is mine given all the experiences that I have in Ethiopia as a 20 something years old man in America up until I reach 60. birthday. I would say that I do not want to deny any of what I am now. I cannot tell you I am this. But I think I leave it to people to judge my work, my taught process, my spelling in cinema, the literature I write in my scripts. I leave it to so-ciety. I am not the one who is going to tell you I am this and that, because I don’t think that takes me anywhere. That will only become a very egoistical thing to do.Categorically speaking what kind of philo-sophical outlook do you have or what kind of ...ism are you following in your cinema?I would say decolonizing the mind which is Franz Fanon. When I was in the student movement I read the francephanone Aime Cesaire of Martinique. I read a lot of Che Guevara. Even if I read about Lenin or Marx I preferred the literature part of Lenin; what he taught about books, what he taught about Gorky for example. I was never interested in the political economy of any politics but in the cultural implications of them.How many films have you so far produced?I think it’s about 10 or 11 at most.Would you tell me which one is your favorite film? I have no favourite film like I have no favorite children because every film is speaks to me. I make films that I feel I want to make. It could be out of rage, love, or hate. Every film for me is a staircase I use to go where I am going. So I don’t have a favourite film.So far we have not seen a good film about Red Terror and no good book written about the time. Well it is quite unfortunate but you didn’t have a primary source to write about Teza. What were your sources, just simple interviews?Well, not interviews. Members of my imme-diate family were here at that time.Have you lost any member of your immedi-ate family?No. I don’t even know what the Red Ter-ror was all about. I only knew my family’s pains and how they were hiding some of the relatives, the displacement it brought in their lives, the sons they lost to the war up to now, the Eritrean- Ethiopia war. They tell me every time I go to see them because they look at me as an older brother who might rescue them, who might find their sons. Even in Teza, my uncle’s daughter comes and says I don’t need money and nothing from you I want you to bring my son from the war. This was when EPRDF was fighting with the Dergue. I was here and she asked me what I can’t deliver. And Teza is about a helpless man who can-not deliver what his present families needed.

Of course you have to see the film and then we can talk. did I get closer to express these pains that came to me via people or not does it work or not this is most important but for me I am not an authority.As you know Americans are making films on the Vietnam War. Why weren’t you so far engaged in doing a Red Terror movie? Is it because there is no material to do that?First, I don’t know the Red Terror. Number two, when I make my films, I go and pre sell scripts to Europe, not even to America. My money comes most of the time through my own films that I rent and also from European financial institutions like television stations. But why I haven’t done it, it is not my experi-ence. This is what you have to know. I think the film makers who lived it should be em-powered to make the film. So my advice is that Ethiopians who have the experience and the passion should go for it. Now I will tell you I respect the loss of life and I respect the pain of people. I will do my share in terms of how it affects me. I will like to do films about our past history. I would like to do films about Lij Eyasu, I would like to do films about Zerai Deres. If you ask me what I would you like to do I like to do about Adwa drama not docu-mentary. I will like to do Minilik and Taytu love story; love for each other and love for Ethiopia. You don’t have spiritual analysis for that period?I am telling you that we need to make films about our past because the past is like “tebel” (holy water). For us our past culture is our “tebel”. When you kill your brother when you like the blood feud when you are like vampire going around killing people it is because you are a demon; you are ashamed person; you are not a human person. The story of killers is the most powerful part of human story.Do you hate politics?Oh ya because politics is an art of deception; all politicians are only liars.What are the major achievements you have scored or the reward that you got from all your nine films?When you see my film and say thank you to me I like that. In America when I brought Sankofa black people cried. They were hun-gry as me. That is I need simple things. I don’t need you to buy me a machine. I don’t need you to give me Al-Amoudin’s tower. Just if you see my movie, I am fine. If you say to me “Thank you Haile next time please when you make a movie avoid the short comings.” Or if you say, “I felt your story did injustice to the painful experience of people. I know you are a film maker. I don’t agree with you but I still think I wish you good luck.” These are the words I like.Are you financially awarded by the movies you made?No. If I was awarded money I would be here in Ethiopia and I would open bureaus, restau-rants pornographic houses and I would make pornographic movies if I want to be rich. And I know Ethiopians will line up to see a very


violent pornographic movie. I could make pornographic movies in America. I was edu-cated on those kinds of movies. So I choose movies to find myself. I want to find out who the hell I am. And if other black people say, “I want to see his film or it helps me to know why I am so confused, why I looked down upon my own culture etc.” That is fine.How do you evaluate Ethiopian movie, if you call it movie?Well, the ones I have seen are good. When you start film, you can’t just be perfect. First you have to crawl and then you have to try to get up and walk. So, Ethiopian film is still crawling all over the place. Most of it is com-mercial minded. I hear some people say that you will not like my film because my film is like Hollywood. This is a joke because Hol-lywood is not a simple industry. Hollywood colonized the whole world by being good, good film makers. So Ethiopians are just jok-ing when they say they make films like Hol-lywood. They don’t know what Hollywood cinema is. Hollywood cinema is a very pow-erful spectacle that takes the air out of you. So I think Ethiopians who learn film mak-ing should understand that it take years to be good film makers. It is good to jump in it. I admire those who have jumped in it but they have to know after you have jumped in you have to also know how to learn, how to do better and learn from your mistakes, improve from film to film, and learn from your friends rather than look dawn upon your friends. Basically, what I don’t like about Ethiopian cinema scene is the fact that those who have studied officially or formally do not respect those who impulsively want to make films from passion. Those who are passionate film makers, beginning film makers dislike those who learned film making. Film making is learning. You can learn from a bad film, learn what not to do or what to do even by accident. There is no movie you cannot learn from. Ethiopian film makers sometimes steal music from other movies or they may not know it is from another movie but they use it and it dis-credits their films. If they send their films to international audience, people will say, “Oh! This music is from this movie!”This will be bad for them. Some of them I have seen have their stories influenced by television. Televi-sion is not a good film source. You learn from films in film aesthetics. Sound is very im-portant to learn, editing is very important to learn, photography is very important to lean. It took Hollywood 100 years. African cinema is like about 50 years old. Ethiopians started just yesterday. Are you married?Yes, and I have six kids.You mean six biological kids?Yes one of my daughters is my brother’s daughter.Quite very unfamiliar for a person like you highly educated by all standard of American just to have six children well I don’t know how do you feel that?Are you trying to say that I have too many

kids?YesNo, I come from Gonder where everybody has children who are our hope. We say, “li-joch tesfa nachew”. They are our hope; they are amazing. Even more than my films, my children are the best part of my life. They are my teachers, they are my philosophy, they are my critics, they are my jokers. They make me laugh; they are very funny. But they are also serious. More than my work, my best plea-sure are my children.Are you a well-paid academician or a well paid intellectual in America just to afford to raise six kids?No, my wife works. My kids also work to go to school. I have very little but I tell you I teach in a historic and well-known African-Ameri-can University and you are not paid well. I can go any white school and gain a better sal-ary. I am not at Haward for the money. I went there because I can teach black kids cinema. I am very greedy about my race. I would want to teach black kids because I don’t think I will make a film every year. So I said I should go to a place where I can teach black kids inti-mately how to make movies. So I have met Eritrean students, I met Ethiopians students. I met Kenyan students. I met Iranian students. I met students from Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad. I met African-American students from California. I have taught a lot of young kids. They are also my best friends. So I am not teaching for the money. My friends who teach in white schools get more money than I. But I never went for money. I went straight from graduation to the black school. Can we say that you are intoxicated with color or do everything from the black angle? Don’t you think it’s a slanted one? Why should I then think as a white person which is the reverse of that question?Why don’t you just think as a just human be-ing and not on the basis of color? No! No! The world is not like that. Only in-nocent people grow out saying they are color blind. Color is real and is very important. But you don’t have to go around killing people on the bases of color. But you have to say we are proud people and we can make history. And black kids, Ethiopian kids should know that black people make history. Otherwise they will end up like many Ethiopians who wor-ship white people because they think history makers are only white people.Do you think that the human sprit is highly categorized like what you have said?That is not the point. I will tell you that I am respected by all progressive people. Why? Because they know I am a humanist but I am black too. I am not going to be humanbeing by denying my blackness. It is there; I am a package. So people are accepting what I am. For example you go to a restaurant in Ethi-opia, or you line up in the airport. In many places white people are privileged to move ahead. Some customs would let whites go straight they will snatch an Ethiopian looking guy if he has a computer but a white man will

go through. Even in Addis Ababa, if you are white the service is different. I was even in an incident where an Ethiopian waitress asked us to get up to give our seats to white people. So if you go to the swimming pools, to the Sauna and to restaurants in Addis Ababa, whites are privileged. Why do Ethiopians under the equator worship Santa Claus? Who the hell is Santa to Ethiopians? Under the equator you should melt down. He is for people who are in the northern snow, who cannot get out the house who fantasized the idea of Santa but Ethiopians are so flipped up side down that they are walking around Christmas trees with the idea of Santa Claus.I think that you have intertwined so many complicated ideas into one line. Don’t you think that the nation whose culture you ap-preciate gives hospitality to foreigners be-cause we are not xenophobic?Well, this is not true. Giving respect to culture is a different matter. I will tell you a story. There is a book written early in Ethiopia by a British man and he was in this town village and he stayed at the house that belonged to a noble man. According to our customs and culture when strangers come to your house you washed their feet. The Ethiopian guy was practicing his culture but the white guy wrote by saying that wherever he went even Ethio-pian whom he thought were little better than other Africans were also primitive and servant to white culture. This was how he translated our culture. We live in a world where whites are privileged by just being white. I am going to a restaurant in Kenya with 3 PhD Africans and 4 African women with masters’ degrees and we were waiting to be sited. The waiter took a white kid with a knapsack to sit him before us. I am telling you the colonialism in our mentality is what we are talking about. To me it has nothing to do with the white person if you understand me. I fight white suprem-acy. I don’t fight white people. I am against white supremacy. I think now most people would be like me if they notice what is going on. I cry against white supremacy in Ameri-ca or here or in South Africa. I have been in South Africa 17 times. When you stand your ground against white supremacy you frighten many people, because you are touching a lot of nerves in this false arrangement based on race superiority. Why you call it “Negodguwad”?In the Orthodox Church where my father be-longed there were two well known spiritual criers or narrators. These were anti-material speakers like gypsies but they were deacons. They were not like Amina or Lalibela. So what they did was “mebreq”and “negodeguwad” took turns to shout out to re awaken people against materialism but to be much spiritual etc. so it is about aesthetics, it is about their voice, about the personality of their voice and their spiritual message.


iting itself to a few million birr of loans used to buy certain trucks and cranes Doubtless, as a pioneering company in the sector, not always has the road to success been a bed of roses. There were rough twists and turns. Things not always proceeded smoothly but the challenges were set-tled and tackled as experience and knowledge developed. Among the challenges met was the one that referred to the customs system that would restrain the clearing of the packed material thus resulting in an undesirable delay. The company’s expansion needs land and Packtra is optimistic that a proactive engagement of the government could pave the way for further successes. In its tremendous progress since its foundation, Packtra has construct-ed its own warehouse, its own offices and is developing a crane facility and even giving that service to those who ask for it. As to its relations with other companies, particularly in the transport sector, Packtra’s relations are closer to Ethiopian Airlines than with other carriers; but this does not mean that it does not work with others. Packtra works with most of the twelve airlines operating here but its major client has been EAL. Several awards and recognitions have been handed to Packtra for its reliable and commendable service, the managers reiter-ate, and this despite the harsh competition that involves more than 250 companies in the sector. Packtra’s solid reputation has made it a leader in the sector, others follow. The road is still long and tortuous however before Packtra can feel it has achieved what is has originally intended. According to the manag-ers, there is still plenty of room for further expansion and growth pro-vided the government gives certain positive and proactive responses to its requests. There is a plan to work harder in the port of Djibouti, as our major outlet to the sea, even if the engagement for the moment is without opening a branch there. Shipping lines as well are good clients of companies such as Packtra due to activities that relate to it. For a company such as Packtra, there is a need of a staff that is fully equipped with the knowledge, quality and sense of purpose and ethics that the profession needs. With this in mind, Packtra is continuously updated with new developments in the sector and a lot of the staff is well educated and informed while remunerative incentives and pack-ages are also made to it periodically depending on the performance evaluation carried out on a regular basis. There is a strong code of ethics and conduct because the work Packtra does needs to show such strong integrity, honesty and commitment. Clients must be guaranteed that their property is well stored, packed, treated, forwarded and trans-ported to destination without damage or loss, without running risks of mishandling. In the international movement of goods, such service involves lots of economic sectors in the service delivery and receipt of the same such as foreigners, tourists, diplomats, hotels and tour and travel agencies and the like. Hence its economic importance or impact is worth under-lining. Packtra works in close cooperation with all these multiple and varied but interrelated sectors, and the efficiency and reputation of one contributes in the expansion of activities related to others. The future of Packtra is in good hands because it has its own well devised strategy and plan of action. It intends to integrate itself with other similar companies and work in harmony and efficiency. Con-tinuing with the current pace and principles, there is no doubt the fu-ture of Packtra is very bright and promising with plenty of space for growth. There is a lot of appetite for more in the sector. Globalization implies that the market is as open as ever. Clients are increasing in number because the world is integrating itself into one huge village and movements of people involve movement of goods and services as well. Such phenomenon means that it is now the norm and not the exception. And such movement inevitably keeps busy companies such as Packtra. Packtra has now become a renowned trademark in the sec-tor as ‘the careful movers’ engaged in packing, shipping, transport, warehousing, moving, transiting, and heavy lifting. When one thinks of packing and transiting here in Ethiopia, the first name that comes to one’s mind is Packtra. And this is a result of constant and persistent hard work for years.Packtra Pvt. Ltd. Co. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www. packtra.com

at the Addis Ababa meeting of the commission that took place in November 2008. The need for vocational training for young Africans has been re-emphasized as the venue for better job op-portunities and capacity building.Unfortunately, an increasing number of university educated young Africans are leaving the continent in search of better job opportunities elsewhere. The need to stem the current brain was brought into the spotlight and recommendations were made to retain educated manpower within Africa through the creation of better job opportunities, better pays and better working condi-tions. The need for creating regional centers of excellence was also given due consideration.Energy and climate change were also considered important fac-tors that might mitigate the continent’s economic capacity in general and its job creation prospects in particular. Africans are likely to be hit by climate change although they contribute least to the problem. Africa has very few resources to invest in adap-tation and sustainable sources of energy and other technologies. Limited access to energy therefore remains an obstacle for de-velopment in many African countries. In the are a of international development assistance to Africa, the commission feels the need to curb trade distorting subsidies and promote venture capital industries which is not a charity but a business venture. To this end, international development assistance programs should be structured in a way that would strengthen African economic performance and achieve the great-est possible employment effect. There are actually various forums for international cooperation with Africa such as the Japan-Africa, Finish-Africa, China-Africa, India-Africa and Turkish Africa forums among others. By the same token the Danish government is committed to pro-moting cooperation with Africa and has earmarked 35 million USD as part of its cooperation commitment in the framework of emergency assistance as well as in light of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are expected to be met by 2015.In the case of Africa, peace and development and the attainment of the goals and objectives of the African commission largely de-pend on the prevalence of good governance, business and invest-ment. Much more focus should therefore be on the new genera-tion of African leaders that would live up to these challenges. As to the fulfillment of the objectives of the African Commission, time will certainly prove whether they are realistic or achiev-able or whether they will turn out to be mere illusions. There is however no questioning the high level of commitment so far displayed by the leading lights behind the commission’s so far commendable activities.


Historical documents testify to the fact that Ethiopia is the origin of man, which is en-dowed with flora and fauna unique to the country and the

home to an original civilization and cultural relics that have earned it the admiration of people all over the world. These cultural relics contribute a great deal to the growth of the smokeless industry which is tourism; by attracting foreign visitors, by serving as foreign currency sources and by reflecting a positive image of the country to the outside world.

An archeological studies indicate that there are still unknown heritages besides those that are already discovered. The following observation which is intended for tourists, readers and researchers is based on the use-ful information from Master News released on August 5, 2007, regarding some of the caves that are found around Diredawa. So that researchers could give it the attention they deserve. They should enjoy recognition, be widely visited and preserved.

Legeade cave is located 2994m above see level and found near the entrance to Legeade Benifeta peasant association, 25 km south-west of Diredawa. The cave has been stud-ied by three different foreign researchers in 1934, 1970 and 1978. The studies showed that there were pictures of domestic and wild animals on the walls of the cave. The pic-tures have different sizes and were painted with red, white and black colors while there is a rough sketch of the sun scratched on the wall. According to the same study, excava-tion conducted beneath the surface of the cave has helped unearth the remains of ani-mals and camel jaws and various instruments that were used during the new Stone Age.

The Genede Biftu (Suri) cave is found on a mountain 60 km west of the Diredawa ad-ministration. The two pictures inside the cave have been studied by foreign research-ers twice, in the 1930’s and the 1950’s. Ac-cording to the studies, the paint used to draw the pictures was mainly yellow and showed drawings of domestic animals and entire bod-ies of human beings. Here and there, there are drawings decorated with black dots.

There are also pictures of cows and sheep being milked and also drawings of men and women. It is also known that the hairstyles

of the women in those pictures looks like the hairstyles of Oromo women living in the area.

The drawings on the walls of the cave dis-played pictures of tall and short domestic animals with horns and are similar to those in the Legeade cave and could be categorized under the painting style known as the Ethio-pian Arabia second west.

The Goja Ajewa natural cave contains vari-ous drawings and is located 2295 m above sea level and 35.5 km southeast of Diredawa in the Awale farmers’ locality. It takes a 15-minute trek on the mountain to reach the cave and the area is covered with thorny trees and hedges. The cave is situated near a river that flows all year long and its strategic location adds beauty to the whole place.

An Ethiopian and a foreign researcher joint-ly conducted the study of the cave back in 1999. The men who conducted the studies concluded that there were drawings on the outer surface of the cave, near the entrance and on the roof and walls. This is what makes it different from the other caves. The draw-ings could be categorized under the Ethio-pian Arabia drawing style. People of the area used the cave as a place of hiding during the Ethio-Somalia war of the 1970’s and conse-quently the roof of the wall is covered with smoke. Most of the drawings were those of camels and the paints used were black, red and white. According to the researchers, the drawings vary in style.

The natural cave known as Ser-Kema is lo-cated in Diredawa administration near the Hurso military training centre. Following the study made by two foreign researchers in the 1970’s, it was revealed that there are drawings in the last and darkest part of the cave. The drawing style is known as Suri Hanaika Ethiopian drawing style. The draw-ings show tall domestic animals that have no humps. There are also drawings of cows calves, small sheep accompanied with wom-en. The study concluded that people living at that time had started to domesticate those animals and consumed their milk. These drawings are similar to those in the Legeada cave. While the drawings were entire made in black color and the people shown among the animals bear distinctive racial traits. This shows that the people who lived at that time were animal breeders.

Ethiopia’s Natural Caves

An Old Days

FROM THE DIARY OF FOCUS REPORTER

Emperor Menelik II is popular for the repeated attempts he made to import foreign technology to the country and acquaint people with it. He is duly respected and

admired for doing so. One of the first innova-tions he brought into the country was the con-struction equipment he imported from abroad to build one of the first modern roads in the country. In 1889 for instance, he imported roll-ers and dozers to get the 56 km Addis Ababa- Addis Alem road built.

Although the flour mill was introduced earlier, it was only in the time to the Emperor Menelik in 1885 that it was put to practical use. He was also the one who introduced the use of bicy-cles. After seeing how the bicycle was oper-ating, the Emperor was quoted as saying that, “what was the use of the machine since the legs are busy every time?”

Prior to that period and during the time of Em-peror Susenyos, that is to say in the 17th cen-tury, there was an impressive bridge built over the Nile River known as Abay in Ahmharic. What is rather marvelous was that the bridge was said to have been made not with the usual materials like cement and stone or steel but with eggs and other dairy products. This may sound a fairy tale but history has registered it as a fact. This bridge was located 30 km from the town of Bahir Dar and was named the Alta Bridge although it was not clear what Alta meant. WE will have to dig more into history.

By Abebe Abera


Focus editor in chief Elias Aweke held a brief interview with Profes-sor Ha-Joon Chang when he was here in Addis to launch his book entitled, “BAD SAMARITANS

“ Professor Ha-Joon Chang shares his views with our readers on many issues of global and African relevance such as globalization, the current financial crisis and the economic way forward for developing countries. Following are excerpts of the interview.

Why do you criticize globalization? Global-ization has a long history but why do people hammer so much on globalization as if it is a new discovery?The world economy has been going through globalization for the last 50 -60 years. Actu-ally no one used the term globalization until the early 1990s. It is a very politically loaded kind of policy. Everyone has to open up and pursue free market policy, free trade, wel-come foreign investment and privatization.

That kind of globalization has produced vary disappointing results. The world economy used to grow at about 3% between 1950th and 1970s. Since the 1980s, it has been grow-ing at around 2% especially in the developing countries. Growth has disappeared, poverty has grown in many countries and income in-equalities increased in most countries. When we were told that we need to adopt free trade free market oriented globalization, we were told that all would have more growth and ev-erything will be fine but the result has been very disappointing and hugely negative. In the 1960s and 1970s Sub-Saharan Africa registered 1.6 % growth rate per year. In the last 25 years when Africa has been faithfully following this free market, free trade policy, income has been shrinking at the rate of 0.3 % per year. So this particular type of neoliberal globalization has really caused great distur-bance in Sub-Saharan African countries and we really need to pay attention to this.As you know, neo-liberalism has become

very popular after the fall of communism. It has a broad concept. Some of it deals with economics, some of it deals with politics while its other aspect deals with philosophy. So what is your position on this?As I see it, the term neo-liberalism means a new form of liberalism. So that liberalism was the laissezfaire policy pursued by certain countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries. At that time there were very strong political and economic positions saying that govern-ment should minimize its intervention in the economy. Actually neo-liberals claimed that was the error of the doctrine. So they saw that the 19th century doctrine was discredited be-cause of the rise of communism and the great depression, the rise of the welfare state and so on but finally these things also declined and in the case of communism it collapsed. So now neo-liberals are saying that we have to go back to that 19th century philosophy. They cannot completely go back to that because for example most 19th century liberal econo-mists believed democracy was bad because it creates a demand for redistributive policies. The neoliberals do not oppose democracy but made some modifications. Basically the er-ror of the 19th century liberal philosophy said that it was best when you leave things alone. Of course as I tried to explain in this book the reality was very different. In the 19th and early 20th centuries most of these countries used protectionism, subsidies, state owned enterprises and all kind of state intervention in order to become rich. So there was quite a big gap between the theory and the reality but at least in terms of ideology that was the phi-losophy of neo-liberalism. Liberal philosophy said that basically the government should not intervene too much in the economy and that many things should be left to be done by the private sector. Neoliberals have basically ac-cepted that with slight modification here and there.You have mentioned repeatedly the case of your country, South Korea which was not a socialist country but followed the policies, interventionism, protectionism and subsi-dies. Do you think that this is a contradictory term to the planned economy of socialists? Well, many of the elements of planning are introduced. We had five year economic devel-opment plans. Of course it was not a Soviet kind of planning where you have to produce 50,000 pairs of red shoes and so on. But there was a very clear plan on the part of the gov-ernment that we need to develop this indus-try, invest in this kind of infrastructure or education. So, at that level it was a plan but

The Case of Globalization’s ‘Bad Samari-tans’ and the Way out of the Current Crisis: Prof. Ha-Joon Chang

TALKING POINT


“From Poverty to Power” is the title of a new book dealing with the challenge of poverty in Africa whose au-thor, Mr.Duncan Green is working for the NGO Oxfam, was recently here to promote it. The writer was willing to allocate a brief moment from his busy schedule to tell our readers why he wrote the book and what it deals with.

How and when did you plan to write “From Poverty to Power”?The idea for the book came up in our discus-sion within Oxfam which is working on de-velopment issues and I started to write it in 2006. We published it in June of this year.The title is quite catchy. Don’t you think that you are sounding quiet romantic by choos-ing such a title?I think if you work on development you have to be romantic, idealist, optimist and that’s what keeps you going. I see a lot of experi-ence from the program and people moving from poverty to power; so I don’t think be-ing optimistic does not mean that you are not realistic. You can combine the two.You have been in charity work in the past and you’re now working for Oxfam. What are the experiences that you get from the pre-vious organization that you were work-ing for?Let me start with two things. The first one is religion, the huge motivation people have and what motivates them for decades to work for justice and laws. I think I learnt to improve working with states, to make states more effective and using evidence to back up your arguments. So I think I got things from different countries. Also the good thing is that the charity has lots of money. So it is nice to spend money for research, not only on field work. Some peoples argue that as far as religious donation is concerned, specially working as an NGO, the Muslim charities are not that much interested in promoting their aid or-ganizations while Christian organizations are doing the contrary. What do you sug-gest? I think Islamic relief organizations are very good at working together. So I did not think there is not always the problem with organi-zations working across faiths.

Did you try to make mon_ey by publishing this book?If you buy a couple of these books I do not get a cent.Is that a donation?I write because I work for Oxfam; so its part of my job. Have you visited most of the vulnerable Af-rican countries?We did not have enough time to cover many countries. So I visited Botswana, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria. So, I visited a few countries and have the experi-ences I needed. Plus I read about them and that was enough. Then what we did was we drafted for every country we work in and talked to the staff, talk to the partners. So, the process was very well tasted. As you know data is extremely misleading for authors unless you go personally to a particular area and make your own observa-tions. How did you manage to produce your own?It is better to go somewhere and make ob-servations. Sometimes you learn many new things. You just become much more con-fident about the ideas because you actually see them applied on the ground. I tried to travel as much as I could but I have a family and I have a life so, I tried to balance that need to travel to see what is going on. There is always a difference between Af-rican and European writers regarding how to address the problem of poverty in Africa. How fair, or on the contrary, how prejudiced are you in your writing?The book is not only about Africa. It is about Africa, Asia and Latin America. I think it is impossible not to have a third level of as-sumption. But one way of avoiding preju-

dice is by sharing the draft with people in Africa, with African staff, with African in-tellectuals and testing it. So far the opin-ions of the professors, politicians, students from whom I received show that they un-derstood the book perhaps better than many people in the European states. Which organization was most influential in shaping your thoughts on poverty and de-velopment?I did not need organizations as much as in-dividuals to share my thoughts with. The combination of some very good academic and economist and individuals I met when I was travelling as well people on the ground were enough to write the book. People on the ground like to understand change. I went to India to talk to fishermen’s organizations; how they got the right to the fishing ponds for instance. Some of them may help you understand something; how change happens and it’s all the experience which makes the difference.Why did you give so many compliments to your editor? My editor is a magician and is our friend as well and he was very good at making sure we came up with the simple explanation of the overall motive. We didn’t want it to be far from the subject. He was very good, dis-ciplined and with a smile.What else do you want to say about poverty and power?I think in the next piece of work my job will be to think much deeper into this relation-ship between citizens and states and if we have a state which is not working how do you make work. That is the big question in development that I want to write about in the next book.

“ From Poverty to Power ”the Book, the Author and the Message

Duncan Green


All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HU-MAN RIGHTS (Art. 1), adopted by Gen-eral Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948.It was at the end of World War II that the UDHR was conceived and drafted by the then members of the United Nations. Fol-lowing the unspeakable atrocities com-mitted during the long world war in which millions had lost their lives and millions more were displaced from their homes and homeland, it was imperative for the world body to devise a mechanism as well as a legal framework that would aim at ending all wars. The founding fathers of the UN intended very optimistically that World War II be intended and considered as a war to end all wars as the suffering of millions was still fresh in their memory not least the genocidal activities carried out by the Nazi regime and other kinds of grave violations of human rights. Avoid-ing similar atrocities became the first en-gagement of the UN. While it was with this tragic background that the UN as an organisation was formed, we can consid-er the words enshrined in the UDHR as the real spirit or moving machine of the same.What do the main provisions of the UDHR say? How has it influenced subsequent conventions and legislations through the last six decades? The UDHR was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the UN as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of soci-ety, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and educa-tion to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive meas-ures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among, the peo-ples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

It is to be recalled that forty-eight States voted in favour of the Declaration, none against, with eight abstentions. In a state-ment following the vot-ing, the President of the General Assembly of the UN had pointed out that adoption of the Declara-tion was “a remarkable achievement, a step for-ward in the great evolu-tionary process. It was the first occasion on which the organized commu-nity of nations had made a Declaration of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The document has been serving as guid-ance and inspiration for millions. The Declaration consists of a preamble and 30 articles, setting forth the human rights and funda-mental freedoms to which all men and women, everywhere in the world, are en-titled, without any discrimination.To highlight the principal or key provi-sions we can mention Article 1 which be-gins by asserting: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and con-science…”It then assumes that the right to liberty and equality is man’s birthright and can-not be alienated. Article 2 then sets out the basic principle of equality and non discrimination regard-ing the enjoyment of human rights while Article 3, proclaims the right to life, liberty and security of person. This is a real cor-nerstone principle because only if these rights are respected other rights could find their fulfillment. Under Article 22 and following we enter into the fundamental chapter of economic, social and cultural rights. These are rights considered in-dispensable for the dignity of humans, for their free development of personality. They are to be realized, according to the

document, through national effort and in-ternational cooperation where the former find obstacles due to limits in resources. The economic, social and cultural rights recognized in Articles 22 to 27 include the right to social security; the right to work; the right to equal pay for equal work; the right to rest and leisure; the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being; the right to education; and the right to participate in the cultural life of the community. The concluding Articles, 28 to 30, recog-nize that everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the hu-man rights and fundamental freedoms set forth in the Declaration may be fully realized, and stress the duties and re-sponsibilities which each individual owes to his community. Article 29 states that “in the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of moral-

The Significance of UDHR and its Commemoration in

Addis

EVENT & TREND

By Fitsum G.


ity, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society”. It adds that in no case may human rights and fundamen-tal freedoms be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Na-tions. Finally, Article 30 emphasizes that no State, group or person may claim any right, under the Declaration, “to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth” in the Declaration. Conceived as “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all na-tions”, the Universal Declaration of Hu-man Rights has become just that: a yard-stick by which to measure the degree of respect for, and compliance with, inter-national human rights standards. Since 1948 it has been and rightly continues to be the most important and far-reaching of all United Nations declarations, and a fundamental source of inspiration for na-tional and international efforts to promote and protect human rights and fundamen-tal freedoms. It has set the direction for all subsequent work in the field of human rights and has provided the basic philoso-phy for many legally binding international instruments designed to protect the rights and freedoms which it proclaims. For example, in the Proclamation of Te-heran, adopted by the International Con-ference on Human Rights held in Iran in 1968, the Conference agreed that “the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states a common understanding of the peoples of the world concerning the inal-ienable and inviolable rights of all mem-bers of the human family and constitutes an obligation for the members of the international community”. The Confer-ence affirmed its faith in the principles set forth in the Declaration, and urged all peoples and Governments “to dedicate themselves to [those] principles . . . and to redouble their efforts to provide for all human beings a life consonant with free-dom and dignity and conducive to physi-cal, mental, social and spiritual welfare”. In recent years, there has been a grow-ing tendency for United Nations organs, in preparing international instruments in the field of human rights, to refer not only to the Universal Declaration, but also to other parts of the International Bill of Hu-man Rights. Thus one can notice in prac-tically all conventions that came after the UDHR, a phrase or sentence, a principle contained in the UDHR are incorporated in their preamble. In this year’s message by the UN Secre-tary General, it was underlined that the declaration’s adoption was a landmark becoming now the core part of the UN’s very identity. The message proceeded to dwell on the various challenges the world and the organisation was facing such as the severe food emergency, the global fi-nancial crisis, the issue of environmental

degradation while political repression in various countries of the world was still a glaring reality. The Secretary General’s message continues to mention how the most vulnerable continue to be on the frontlines of hardship and abuse and that those lucky enough to avoid such situations should not turn a blind to the victims. The message underlines that hu-man rights should be the ones on which every one should focus and pay attention to their respect. “On this Human Rights Day, it is my hope that we will all act on our collective responsibility to uphold the right enshrined in the Universal Declara-tion. We can only honour the towering vision of the inspiring document when its principles are fully applied everywhere, for every one, the UN boss concludes. One can say that the UDHR, although very short (only thirty articles) can be considered as one that has made a great impact on humanity, probably more than any other in history such as the decla-ration that followed the famous French Revolution, or the US Declaration of In-dependence some two hundred years ago, or a bit in the more distant past, more than the Magna Charta of 1215 and many other declarations and conventions also because it is the most up to date and comprehensive of all rights. Hence in the event of the recurrence of the sixtieth anniversary, there was a set of activities aimed to commemorate it in a very mem-orable and effective manner. An ad hoc committee called the National Committee for the Commemoration of the Sixtieth An-niversary of UDHR was formed with the participation of six organisations, namely, The African Child Policy Forum, ACPF, Action Professionals’ Association for the People, APAP, Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia, OSJE, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, EHRCO, as well as the Ethiopian Human Rights Commis-sion, EHRC, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OH-CHR) was formed it has spearheaded a number of eventful activities nationwide. It was in fact a campaign that lasted the en-tire 2008 aiming to empower right holders by highlighting the enduring relevance of the document that laid the foundation for the gains of the past six decades with the theme “Dignity and justice for all of us”. This was intended to reinforce the vision of the declaration as the first international commitment to the universality of human rights. Among the activities carried out were holding of public lectures on human rights among university students, part-nering with an organisation that prepared the holding of a moot court competition among university students at Mekelle University, a walk that was carried out in Addis in the vicinity of Meskal Square on December 10. The celebration was also highlighted by

the production and dissemination of col-ourful posters, leaflets (written in vari-ous local and international languages), t-shirts, capes bearing the logos of the organisations and important human rights messages. But most significantly a special feature film (in Amharic but with English subtitles) entitled “Lamlak Bake-bet” rotating around the predicament of a poor Ethiopian family in the context of human rights violations, was produced and inaugurated by Rehoboth Promotion at Sebastopol Cinema during which the producer and sponsor, the East African Regional Office of the UN Human Rights presented the film. At the inauguration, Country representative of the Office of the UNHR made a statement about the significance of the various messages such high profile feature films could ef-fectively convey and contribute to the battle for the protection of human rights every where, particularly in Ethiopia. He said the fact that the film was made by highly renowned and admired profession-als for a modicum fee and with a great frenzy and a remarkable spirit of sacri-fice, working practically round the clock for weeks, testified to their commitment for the promotion of human rights, and that the public would appreciate that. He commended the protagonists of the film including the producer Hailu Kebede, the script writer Hailu Tsegaye, the director Ashebir Kabtamu while admiring the prin-cipal actors Meron Teshome and Fekadu Tekle Mariam. As a culmination of the commemoration, there was another event held at the UN Conference Center in the after noon of December 10 where ambassadors and representatives of missions and civil so-cieties as well as the entire family of UN offices were the invited guests. UDHR clips were shown followed by an address by the Commissioner of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Ambassador Kassa Geber Hiwot (who launched the inauguration of a new website of his of-fice) followed by a statement of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights read by Mr. Fidele Sarassoro, RC/UNCT. Then the highlights of the feature film ‘Le Amlak Be Akebet’ were viewed. In the end, the message of UN Secretary Gen-eral Ban Ki Moon was read out by Mr. Ab-doulie Janneh, Under Secretary General of the UN and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.In the end some questions remain to be answered: What does the Univer-sal Declaration of Human Rights mean specifically to Africans and in what way has it affected or influenced their legisla-tions? Has it fulfilled the aim for which it had been originally intended? What is the situation of human rights in Africa? These will remain key questions to ponder on for the coming decades as well.


Corporate Good Governancean issue of growing importance to Ethiopia

By Biniam Estifanos

Currently in Ethiopia, the issue of good governance is a chal-lenge not only for the govern-ment but also for the business community or the private sector

as well. As the government is striving to bring about good governance in the political sphere, businesses are engaged in issues of corporate good governance, the two being interrelated if not interdependent. There will be no corpo-rate good governance in business without the prevalence of good governance in the country at large. The two processes are also comple-mentary in the sense that they both strive to address one single overriding concern which is corruption or the senseless waste of lim-ited resources. Good governance cannot be an end in itself but a means to an end; namely the elimination of high-level corruption from public life. Before going into the issues of corporate gov-ernance in the Ethiopian context in some de-tail, it would be relevant to clarify the basic concepts and theoretical as well as historical issues related to it. Corporate governance includes company management techniques and processes in general, or the way a particular company is managed. In developed countries where free competition and private property are the norms of economic life, company activities and operations are organized around big units such as corporations. The emergence of big companies or corpora-tions as modern economic units generally fol-lowed the appearance of trusts, mergers and monopolies that are huge companies as ex-clusive producers and distributors of certain goods and services. Most big companies or corporations are often registered or function as monopolies with exclusive rights over mar-kets that allow them earn monopoly profits.A corporation is “an organization created by a government charter that allows people to as-sociate together for a common purpose under a common name. The charter gives the corpo-ration certain privileges, including the right to buy and sell property, enter into contracts, sue and be sued, and borrow and lend money.”Corporations were first established back in the Middle Ages dating from the 5th to the 15th century. The corporations that emerged in those centuries were used to organize uni-versities, monasteries and guilds. Later in the 16th and 17th centuries, governments used corporations to organize voyages of explora-tions and discovery. It was after the 16th cen-

tury and more specifically after the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Europe that cor-porations started to assume purely economic or business functions. The advantage of organizing businesses into corporations is best illustrated in the size of profits that are not often commensurate with the share of corporations in business life. For instance, in the United States corporations account for only about 20 percent of all busi-nesses but, they generate about 90 percent of all business incomes. Most other businesses are either sole proprietorships, owned by one person, or partnerships, owned by a small group of people. Unlike the owners of cor-porations, the owners of proprietorships and partnerships are usually involved in the daily operations of the businesses. On the other hand corporations are often managed through Board of Directors or appointed managers and the owners are not directly involved in the day to day running of the businesses. There are two kinds of corporations as far as ownership is concerned. Corporations can be public or private depending on who is own-ing or running them. Public corporations are usually created by municipalities, such as cities, towns, and villages, to carry out such governmental functions as collecting taxes, enforcing ordinances, and raising capital through the sale of bonds. National govern-ments may also organize public corporations to undertake specific objectives that may be too hazardous, too large, or unprofitable for private enterprises. The Ethiopia Electric and Power Corpora-tion (EEPCO) is the best example of a federal government organized corporation that has so far remained in the hands of the government simply because the management of electric power in Ethiopia is too big an undertaking for a private company to undertake. The Tel-ecom Company can also be sited as another instance of a corporate institution that is controlling the management of telecommu-nications in the country. There are also other government-run corporations in Ethiopia be-cause historically, capitalism did not develop sufficiently and big companies could not thus emerge or assume an independent existence. By the same token foreign corporations had so far had little chance of entering the nation’s economy or play a pivotal role as they do in many developing countries whose economies are largely controlled by foreign economic interests. As we said above, big corporations are by

definition positioned to draw big profits or corporate profits due largely to the fact that they are sole proprietors and controllers of the production and distribution of certain goods and services. In Ethiopia for instance the tobacco business is controlled by a state monopoly established by government decrees that gives it sole access to the production and distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products. When it comes to the size of prof-its, the power and telecom corporations get monopoly profits not really because they are monopoly corporations in the capitalist sense but rather due to their exclusive control of the market.Corporations that are not government agen-cies are called private corporations. Some pri-vate corporations are founded and owned by an individual or a small group of individuals. Typically their stock is not for sale to the gen-eral public. These companies are sometimes referred to as privately held. Other private corporations are owned by many individuals. There are also a few private corporations in Ethiopia.Common stockholders usually must ap-prove changes in corporate policy, such as an amendment of the corporate charter. Com-mon stockholders share in the corporation’s profits. Corporations either distribute these profits to the stockholders in the form of dividends or reinvest them in the corporation, thus increasing the value of the shareholders’ investment. Common stockholders also elect the board of directors. The board of directors determines basic cor-porate policy and selects the top officers of the corporation, such as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), to manage operations. The law imposes a duty on the officers and direc-tors to run the corporation in the best inter-ests of the stockholders, and stockholders can bring legal suits against them. If a majority of stockholders are dissatisfied with the man-agement of a corporation, they can vote out a board of directors and bring about a change in management. The organization of businesses into corpo-rations may offer those business certain ad-vantages. The owners of a corporation enjoy limited liability—that is, they are not liable for the corporation’s debts. If the corpora-tion discontinues business, its creditors have a claim only on the assets of the corporation, not on the personal assets of its owners. An-other advantage of a corporation is its ability to raise vast amounts of capital.

DEVELOPMENT


There are also disadvantages to organizing as a corporation. Forming a corporation in-volves a number of expenses, including the cost of securing the charter, fees to do busi-ness in states where the business is not incor-porated, and other legal expenses. Corporate good governance therefore in-volves laws and regulations as well as man-agement techniques that help the corporations survive and thrive. On the contrary ill-suited corporate governance and management is likely to bring trouble to the corporation. The Enron Corporation scandal that erupted four years ago is the best contemporary example of corporate mismanagement that led to the company’s ill repute as well as huge financial losses. In the Ethiopian context, good governance, both in the economic and political spheres, after all boils down to success in curbing abuses and corruption. The fight against cor-ruption in public and private places should therefore be linked with the enforcement of good governance. Corruption is not an issue that affects only the public sphere. It has also spread in the private sector; hence the need for a dual strategy of coordinated attack in both spheres. Governments often try to control corporate abuse such as the one at Enron by enacting laws that deter them from trespassing their mandate and authority. For this purpose the US government for instance has enacted what is known as the anti-trust law that prevents companies to merge into big monopolies that control the markets and products to the detri-ment of the principle of free competition. The establishment of consumer protection so-cieties in developed countries is also meant to protect the public from possible abuses by corporations or monopolies that may overlook the public interest in their pursuit of profits and might offer shoddy products and services from which damage may occur. These laws and protection measures have largely proved instrumental in curbing poten-tial abuses although they may be helpless in the face machinations and market manipula-tions by big and powerful corporations such as Enron.In Ethiopia too, consumers associations have started to appear in the context of the current inflation and food shortage. These associa-tions may, through time, emerge into strong consumer protection societies whose mandate could go beyond their current objectives to include protection of the public from possible abuses by corporations or the government as it is the case in more developed countries. In the final analysis one may not separate corpo-rate social responsibility and the protection of public interests. The two need to go in harmo-ny so that good governance may prevail both in corporations and within society at large.Nowadays, many corporations have been subscribing to an ethical standard known as corporate social responsibility through which corporations are expected to look after the well being of the communities around which

they operate and participate in good social causes by allocating a portion of their prof-its to them. Thus many corporations around the world are engaged in activities that aim to protect the environment, save energy or help vulnerable social groups. Hence, a new corporate ethic seems to be emerging in many countries as a result of lobbying by powerful interest groups that campaign against the corporations’ age old neglect of their environments and their com-munities. New labor regulations and environ-mental protection protocols are part of this growing awareness. In Ethiopia for instance there is a protocol for the protection of the workers and the en-vironment in the floriculture sector that was agreed upon by flower companies, the gov-ernment and local and international labor representatives a few years ago. This may be a process that came on the heels of the glo-balization trend and the resulting awareness as to the need for corporations and the public to work together for a better world. Although corporate social responsibility is a relatively new ethical concept many corporations have displayed unprecedented enthusiasm in re-shaping their former attitude of neglect and abuse. In the final analysis, good corporate govern-ance does not only mean the protection of the corporations’ interests but also include the harmonization of the public and private interests. In this way good corporate govern-ance and corporate social responsibility can be seen as two sides of the same coin.At present, issues of corporate good govern-ance are not popularized and widely debat-ed either because the concepts are new and sophisticated or because the challengers of governance have barely started to emerge in the public arena. Both government and the business community are therefore expected to take up the challenge by encouraging in-formed debates around these issues. At this stage, Ethiopia is not a well devel-oped economy. However, as globalization progresses and Ethiopia becomes increasing-ly integrated to the global economy, the issues of corporate good governance are bound to gain more ground. It would therefore be wise to have a good grasp of the issues involved at this early stage in order to avoid confusion and panic later on as we have observed in the case of the debate that was going on for the last 10 years regarding Ethiopia’s accession to the World Trade organization (WTO).In the case of good governance in general and corporate good governance in particular, the discussions should start now and the relevant literature should be widely available as an integral part of raising public awareness or making informed decisions in the fight against corruption in high places and for a fairer and more balanced distribution of available re-sources as a precondition of the creation of a more just society in the long run.

UnityOne soul, one heart

One mind, one thoughtOne aim, one spiritDiversity in unity

No enmity in a place of multiplic-ity

Each strive for harmony, avoid-ing acerbity

Among people equitySharing common quality

She a sisterHe a brother

Make a peaceful atmosphereAmong each other

Voiding divergence, convergenceFor each and every momentWisely handled not being wasted

Love let it flowLet among us peace glowLet there be amendment

So not be adamantCreate a pleasant ambianceBearing confidence, a sense of

kindnessIn a word of violence

StriveTo add certain zest for life

from ribbon of the heart L.K feb,2003


“There is a great interest in Germany and in the EUas a whole to get engaged in helping to develop the Ethiopian economy and help it stay on the way of

democratization” German Ambassador to Ethiopia

Dr.Claas D.Knoop

German Ambassador Dr.Claas D.Knoop gave an interview to Focus magazine in which he outlined the historical evolu-tion of Ethio-German politi-

cal, economic and diplomatic relations. He sheds light on present challenges and future prospects in bilateral relations between the two countries sharing his optimism and in-sight with our readers.

How do you define Ethio-German diplomatic, economic and political relations?Thank you very much for giving me the chance to say a few words about Ethio-German bilateral relations. As you know, relations between Germany and Ethiopia go back to 1905. Emperor Minilik II gave us this wonderful compound. Germany has always shown a great interest in what was going on in this very old culture in Africa. As far back as in the 17th century, the German people got

very interested in the history and culture of Ethiopia. At that time there was one scientist who was the first person to translate Amharic texts into Latin and later on into English. So he introduced the Amharic language first into Germany and then into Europe. In the course of the 20th century, we have seen many ups and downs. We have seen two world wars. We have seen the partition of Germany into two states then its re-unification. All through these historical events, the friendly relations

EUROPEAN SPEAKING CORNER


between our two countries were maintained down to this day. Current bilateral relations in the economic, political and diplomatic fields are therefore built on solid foundations. We did not come to Ethiopia for just a short while to go out again after we have made some busi-ness. We want to be reliable partners and we want to continue this partnership for a very long time in the future.

Relations between Germany and Ethiopia have been expanding the last two or three years. What is the strategic advantage Ethio-pia gets from Germany?

I think you have to put these things in the gen-eral context. I think it has become very clear that Africa as a continent is a neighbour to Eu-rope and this has been highlighted during the recent Lisbon Summit, during the assumption of Portugal’s EU presidency. The agreement for joint strategy between Europe and Africa has been concluded and forms the basis for the development of partnership between Eu-rope and Africa. If you look at things in this context, I think Ethiopia plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the Horn of Africa. Political stability is the basic precon-dition for economic development in the area; so there is a great interest in Germany and in the EU as a whole to get engaged in helping to develop the Ethiopian economy and help it stay on the way of democratization. As a result of all this, the German government regards Ethiopia as a cornerstone of stabil-ity and the focal area for development coop-eration. That is why we are so much engaged here as a result of the long historical relations but also because we feel that we have a very strong moral obligation to help the Ethiopian people. We have not forgotten that Ethiopia was the first country that resumed official re-lations with Germany after the Second World War when Germany was very much destroyed and we had economic difficulties. The Ger-man people did not forget that.

As you know, one of the foreign policy of the German government is to give attention to media development particularly in Africa. What are the major activities that your em-bassy in Ethiopian has undertaken to give this opportunity for Ethiopian journalists in the international program for journalists?

Well, apart from the Voice of America, the Deutche Welle is the only radio station in the world that is performing in Amharic. We think that by transmitting the Amharic program we are also doing something to develop and sup-port a level field for the media in Ethiopia. The Deutche Velle has offered in the past and will also offer in the future training courses for young Ethiopian journalists and we think that you cannot have a solid democratic sys-tem anywhere in the world if you don’t have free media. The free media play a very impor-tant role in a democracy. That of course also

implies that the media themselves have to act responsibly and they have a very big responsi-bility towards the population and towards the country to report in an objective way. So this is a two may route; on the one had you need a level playing field for the media but the media people themselves have to acknowledge that they also carry a very big responsibility for what they are doing.

The Ethiopian government for the past three years repeatedly condemned and criticized the role of Deutche Velle in Ethiopia. Do you share the argument of the Ethiopian government about the station’s allegedly slanted reporting?

No, we do not share this part of the argument. Perhaps there might have been some misun-derstandings in the past on both sides but as I said we think that the Amharic program of the Deutche Velle is reporting and doing its job in a responsible way and the Deutche Velle of course is an independent radio station despite the fact that it is financed by the German gov-ernment. This is an independent radio station and the journalists carry their responsibility in doing their job and they have asked again and again to talk to the Ethiopian government, if there have been differences. They have asked to talk to the Ministry of Information and to members of Ethiopian government about the facts and figures which probably in the past led to some misunderstanding. I think that on both sides there is a readiness to talk to each other about these misunderstandings if there are any. On our part here at the embassy, we stand ready to facilitate these talks if cor-respondents of the Deutche Velle in Ethiopia and visitors from the radio station in Germa-ny are coming here. We are ready to facilitate these talks to get way from these misunder-standings and to have a good working rela-tionship. So, this is our intention and we are in a good way to resolve them if there is any outstanding problem to resolve by talking to one other.

Ambassador what is the main reason that 500 Germans or more are working in Ethio-pia in GTZ programs and I think that is one of the largest programs in the country. How are all those Germans working in Ethiopia?

Well, I don’t know exactly whether the number 500 is correct but what is normally true is that there are many German develop-ment workers in the country. We have a much decentralized system of developement agen-cies or implementing agencies like the GTZ as you just mentioned. GTZ is only one of the implementing agencies and there are several others like the German development Bank, the German Development service DED and the German academic exchange service. They have also other experts here. There are different implementing agencies represented here in Ethiopia and doing there job in their

respective fields. The big number of German experts working in Ethiopia is simply a re-flection of the fact that Ethiopia is the focal country when it comes to development coop-eration and that of course means that there is a need to meet the challenges our development agenda together with Ethiopian government. We therefore need the necessary staff; so that is why we see the increase in the number of Germans working in Ethiopia. I think this is a good sign because it shows our commitment to meet the challenges together with our part-ners on the Ethiopian side.

Would you tell me something about the vol-ume of German development assistance to Ethiopia?

Well, we have in the past forty years spent about 1.3 billion Euros in our official devel-opment cooperation with Ethiopia. So this is a big amount of money. Only recently we concluded bilateral negotiations with the Ethiopian government on the continuation of our development cooperation for another three year period which will start this year at the end of which the amount of official devel-opment aid will double to reach 96 million Euros. This money will be spent mainly is in three focal areas one of which is what we call capacity building program together with the Ethiopian government. The second one is the so call SUN program. SUN stands for Sus-tainable Utilization of Natural resources and the third one is good governance particularly in the field of urban governance or urban de-velopment. Here we are also active with our experts so that is the area we spend in but I also like to add in this context that official development aid is only part of our whole en-gagement. We also have to take into account the aid which is given by NGOs; by German NGOs; be it from the church which is very active in this country, or from “Menshen for Menshen” that has spent almost 300 million Euros in the country in the past 25 years. There are many other active German NGOs who have also spent a lot of money and let us say that you can put the same amount which we spend on official development aid on top of the NGO aid which is going to Ethiopia. So that is the situation and we are amongst the biggest donors to Ethiopia.

Ambassador, would you tell me about the maximum advantage that you have gotten from the re-unification of Germany because unity is always a sign of strength?

Yes, I think you are right. I think there is a lasting message from this unification process not only for Ethiopia but I think it is a message which is valid for the world. And this message is a simple one: It is possible to overcome the difference between two opposing systems. It is possible to overcome it in a peaceful way so that is one message. And the second mes-sage is that it is also possible to build a new


future, a promising future for our children on the basis of this re-unification if we feel and have the sense of solidarity amongst the people. We know that before re-unification took place, the east Germans were living in very different economic circumstances and of course we and the West knew very well that it will cost us an enormous amount of money to bring them up to the same kind of living standard we have been enjoying for the past 50 years after the Second World War. Inspired by this idea of solidarity, all Germans are spending a lot of money to bring the country forward or to develop the eastern part of the country. I think that is also a lesson which one can learn when you are reunited and you are trying to base your development on the sense of unity that has always to be solidarity. And solidarity means that you have to help the weaker part of your society and I think this is something which could also be, let’s say, a model for Ethiopia or for other African coun-tries and the rest of the world. What I mean is that the idea of solidarity is an idea which is applicable everywhere. After all, Ethiopia is a country where Christianity still plays a big role. The idea of solidarity is in the Bible. The Bible says one has to help the poor, help the weak and feel a sense of compassion towards once country and once countrymen. So, that is an idea that goes down well everywhere in the world.

Your ministry of foreign affairs says that all German embassies are aggressively work-ing to get the latest information of human rights, respect to the rule of law and democ-racy, talk to representatives of civil societies, lawyers and journalists. Based on this infor-mation feedback, your government has ad-justed its foreign policy. Have you done this particularly in Ethiopia?

Of course human rights protection is a central element of our foreign policy. Every coun-try that has signed the UN Charter has also agreed to take the responsibility to observe the human rights. Without the observance of human rights, you cannot develop a country, a stable democracy and society. So this is really a basic element of our policy and it should be a basic element of the foreign policy of all countries. Human rights play very important role also in the policy of European countries as a whole. We do have human rights strategy in the European Union.Germany being a member of the European Union is of course taking this strategy very seriously. We therefore are observing devel-opments here in the country when it comes to human rights very attentively. We have very good relations with the Ethiopian Hu-man Rights Council and the Human Rights Commission. These are the two bodies that are dealing with human rights in this country. There are also NGOs that are also engaged in human rights protection and of course we are talking to all of them. We have a constant exchange of youth and we have meetings

with NGOs, CSOs be it foreign NGOs or lo-cal ones. We are of course very much interested in the facts and the figures when it comes to the human rights situation in Ethiopia and I am certainly not telling you a secret but human rights always play also a significant role in our conversations we have with representa-tives of the government at the highest levels. We are talking about it and we are also talk-ing about concrete cases if they are any. We are trying to figure out what the situation is and we are also quiet happy that the Ethiopian government is taking these talks very serious-ly because they know that the observance of human rights is a basic element for the devel-opment of a democracy.Are you open just to meet journalists regular-ly to update them with the latest information you have about Ethio-German relations?Well of course, I am very open to talk to jour-nalists about the latest developments and I have no worries whatsoever to talk to you the media people as long as we have a common understanding, that we have a joint responsi-bility when we carry out such interviews but I am not afraid of giving interviews.

Many years back journalists were invited to accompany the German ambassador to visit projects and to get information from the beneficiaries’ angle rather than printing the press releases and the information that you give in this regard. Have you done or do you have a program to do like that?

Yes we do. We have a program that allows us to invite journalists to visit projects or to go with us to the spot to talk to the people who are benefiting from the projects. So this is the program which the embassy administers and our press officer is the one who should be contacted; but we have the possibility.

Finally Mr. Ambassador, I heard that there is a problem of discrimination in Germany. Some Ethiopian immigrants have been com-plaining by saying that the Germans want to give priority in everything to former East European countries. Is that right? Are such things done in Germany?

No. You see, in every country you find indi-vidual cases where some individuals feel they are being discriminated against. If they feel they are not treated according to the law, then of course they have the possibility to go to the court. I mean this is part of any democratic system. If you feel you are not treated in the right way or if you are discriminated in the society in which you are living, you have of course the possibility to go to the court and the court will deal with that. But in general there is not a policy of discrimination against a certain group of people in Germany. I can see that in practice if this is happening- and I don’t deny that sometimes it is happening as it is happening in any country- then of course there is public debate and we are coming back

to the role of the media. The media are blam-ing the government or individuals about the role they are playing and then there is open discussion and very often you also see a dis-cussion in parliament. That is how it should be if there is something which is not working well. I think it is basically a matter for the media to bring these things up to public at-tention and have public discussion about it. Also parliament has to discuss it and if there is a real reason to believe that some groups of foreigners who are living in Germany are be-ing discriminated then of course there should be this discussion. The big problem in Ger-many is to integrate the foreigners that are living in our country. You have to take into account that amongst 80 million Germans we have 8 million, which is 10%, foreigners living in our country. And many of them are coming from Islamic countries. The issue is how to integrate people with a Muslim back-ground into our society which is more or less dominated by Christians and of course there you have to develop a policy. How do you do it? This is an issue which is not simply one which you find in Germany but you find it all over Europe and it is a European issue which we are still struggling to address.

Will economic crisis in Europe affect the de-velopment programs of Ethiopia?

Well, of course Ethiopia is a big country and it is obviously affected by the world economic situation particularly by the financial crises. Why? The answer is very simple: because Ethiopia is a landlocked country. You have to import every drop of oil from outside sources from Djibouti to the country and if the oil price is between 130-150 USD this is an ex-ternal factor which Ethiopia cannot influence. It affects of course all the economic sectors in the country. If you pay more for your oil bill and as long as this money is immediately spent to pay for the oil bill I think there is not very much left for the development of the country. Of course Ethiopia is affected by the situation and of course Ethiopia is also always affected by the exchange rate between the dol-lar, the Euro and birr that affects the economy very, very strongly. And then another very important problem is the shortage of foreign exchange in this country. On the one hand Ethiopia wants to attract more investment but if the investor comes to Ethiopia and wants to import capital goods and machinery to build up his business, he needs foreign exchange but here we have a difficult situation in which Ethiopia is now. Of course this situation is not unique to Ethiopia. Many other African coun-tries are in the same situation and that is why I personally think that Prime Minister Meles is right when he is asking for international ap-proach to help developing countries get out of this situation because otherwise it would be very difficult to imagine how all the poor countries like Ethiopia can really develop rapidly to the point which we and the Ethio-pian government would like to see.


World AIDS Day 2008 “Leadership:

Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise”

HIV and AIDS has been around in our world well before 1984 in a somewhat disguised or unknown form. The disease was effectively

and scientifically identified that same year. Ever since 1987, the whole world was engaged in the fight against this global scourge that has not yet shown any sign of abetting. In the last 25, huge political, economic, social and scientific efforts have been made to stem the tide with varying de-grees of success.The global efforts against this formidable scourge that has become the single most threatening pandemic in human history have been and are still being coordinated by the major global organizations, namely the UN and AU. The impact of the disease on society is multi-dimensional namely; political, social and economic. Hence the fight against HIV and AIDS must be at local, regional and international levels. This requires according to UNAIDS, one agreed HIV and AIDS action framework that provides the basis for coordinating the work of all international partners; One Na-tional AIDS Coordinating Authority, with a broad-based multi-sectoral mandate and ONE agreed country-level monitoring, evaluation and reporting system.Africa, as the continent most affected by this global pandemic has always claimed more attention when it comes to address-ing it. As available data indicate, 67% of

all HIV positive people live in Sub-Saha-ran Africa. 76% of all women living with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. 90% of all AIDS orphans are found in sub-Saharan Africa. 80% of all AIDS deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. About 3 million new infections are registered annually in Sub-Saharan Africa. These statistics are enough to indicate that HIV and AIDS is a major African development challenge and will still remain so for a long time to come until current international efforts lead to vaccine and curative for treatment and care tech-nologies.However as the saying goes, even a dark cloud has a silver lining. Yes, HIV and AIDS is a devastating disease at individual, family, community, national and interna-tional levels. Fortunately however, HIV and AIDS, particularly at the current depth and levels of source mobilization is not a scourge that cannot be defeated. Deadly as it is, it has also led to a level of interna-tional mobilization and dedication of ef-forts rarely seen in human history. It has generated global, national and community organizations specially committed to the fight against the scourge. It has led to the creation of hundreds if not thousands of NGOs dedicating themselves to the contin-ued global fight. It has helped to mobilize an unprecedented amount of financial and scientific capital. Last but not least, it has led to the global coordination of efforts that have started to bear encouraging results al-

though they are still a long way from ef-fectively curbing the spread of the disease particularly in Africa, which is the most af-fected continent.The creation of UNAIDS in 1996 was a milestone that gave the green light to the global fight against the pandemic and sub-sequently inspired leaders in Africa to come up with tangible initiatives in similar direc-tions. In the official statement he made on the 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day on the 1st December 2008, ADV Bience P. Gawanas, AU Commissioner for Social Af-fairs said that, “Since then, a lot has been done to promote access to comprehensive services, address stigma and discrimina-tion and provide support for those affected and infected by the HIV and AIDS. More and more resources have been mobilized. At the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria was also created and has made a big difference to access to services. In April 2006, the AU, in collabo-ration with the WHO, UNAIDS, UNCEF and ECA launched a Campaign to Intensify HIV prevention.” For Africa, HIV and AIDS has long gone beyond being a mere health issue and at-tained the unenviable status of being a real and immediate development threat. The full story of the ravages caused by HIV and AIDS on African economies and socie-ties is not yet compiled but the disease has virtually moved to the centre of attention


in development discourse across the African continent. Nowadays there is no conference or forum on African development that does not put the HIV and AIDS issue on top of the agenda. To this end the AU has held various summits since the historic Abuja Summit of 2001 on HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseas-es. In May 2006 another landmark summit was held again in Abuja, Nigeria with the theme, “Universal Access to HIV and AIDS, TB and Malaria Services by United Africa by 2010”. In May 2008 a Special Session of the AU Conference of Ministers of Health met on the fringes of World Health Assembly in Geneva. The ministers deliberated on the status of implementation of the outcome of the Abuja 2006 Special Summit. The balance sheet was a positive one. It was generally admitted that there was a signifi-cant improvement in addressing HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria in Africa although there were still huge challenges in such areas as weak health systems including shortage of human resources, lack of access to affordable medicines and technologies, poor nutrition, insufficient or sporadic funding, the impact of other diseases like TB on those infected to mention but a few of them.As Mr. ADV Bience P. Gawanas said in her statement, “During the last few years, the theme has focused on “Leadership” and the slogan has been “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” In other words, every individual, family, community, nation and indeed the whole world is called upon to play their role, keep the promise and deliver on the commitments made to conquer HIV and AIDs. “December 1 is annually observed as Word AIDS Day since 1988 with various themes and slogans. In 2001, the theme was: “AIDS-Men Make a Difference”. In 2002-2003 it was: “Live and Let Live”. In 2004, it became: “Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS” in 2005 the theme was: “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise”. In 2006, 2007 and 2008 the theme is: “Leadership” and the slogan is “Stop Aids. Keep the Promise”It seems that the slogan: “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” has stuck into the conscience of the international community because the messages targets everybody and not just governments or institu-tions. The UN General Secretary has best expressed the overriding concern of this slogan when he said that “All of us must recognize AIDS as our problem. All of us must make it our priority.” As we said above, for Africa HIV and AIDS is not just a health or a life and death issue at individual level. It has grown into an issue of national survival and economic wellbeing. For this reason, it has been included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and more particularly to MDG6 namely; to “Combat HIV and AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases” with the stated objective to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS and the incidence of malaria and other diseases by 2015. The MDGs are based on an ambitious program for reducing poverty and improving the lives of African communities.How much of this agenda is so far implemented and with what degree of success? The records are mixed. On the one hand there is tangible evidence indicating that a slow progress is in the off-ing in the area of curbing the spread of the pandemic while on the other hand a tremendous amount of effort still needs to be made if significant advances were to be made in realizing the objectives of the MDGs in general and that of the fight against HIV and AIDS in particular. The African Union is the prime mover of all efforts against HIV and

“All of us must recognize AIDS as our problem.

All of us must make it our priority”

UN Secretary GeneralThe tragedy of AIDS is perhaps the most catastrophic event that could have happened to humanity in general but more specifically as it in fact resulted later on to the less developed world during the last three decades. HIV/AIDS has gone through various phases since its exact discovery and configuration about thirty years ago. It has been the scourge of humanity yes, but it has been more so for the poor, the less well off. It in fact exacerbated the already dreadful life the poor had to bear with as an ulterior calamity. The vicious circle was made even more malicious and without apparent end. In fact for years it was merely identified as the disease of the

Twenty Years of

AIDS: What next?

AIDS as well as initiatives to make the MDG goals a reality, the two are in fact inseparable and the AU is equally committed to both. As the highest authority in the continent in matters related to realizing

the above objectives, the AU is charged with urging leaders of Mem-ber States to fulfill their promises to the people, working in collabora-tion with neighboring countries as HIV and AIDS is a cross border challenge. Among the commend-able efforts the AU has made is the April 2006

initiative for the campaign to scale up HIV prevention which was launched by AU, WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF. The major chal-lenges in the years ahead remain to be the promotion of local gov-ernmental initiatives for the production of quality and affordable generic essential medicines, particularly anti-retrovirals and also to sustain efforts to promote universal access treatment, care and support.

“During the last few years, the theme has fo-cused on “Leadership” and the slogan has been “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” In other words, every individual, family, community, nation and indeed the whole world is called upon to play their role, keep the promise and deliver on the commitments made to conquer HIV-AIDS. “


poor, some how because it debilitated the already weak immunity the poorer people availed of. It was often asked what sort of immunity would the poor have, given what kind of food they rely on, the kind of medi-cal assistance or care they could benefit from.

At times there have been statements such as: ‘HIV/AIDS does not exist among the rich’ or ‘HIV/AIDS attacks only the poor’. There have been many misperceptions and misunderstandings or misinformation and distortions about this disease, some creat-ed by the community, others involuntarily created or disseminated by the media, still others invented by malicious people with their own agenda to pursue. And the conse-quence has been lots of sufferings for more and more people, lots of avoidable deaths and sufferings; a grave consequence on de-velopment efforts of countries particularly relying on their youths, given these are the most vulnerable sectors of society. Lots who could have been saved have instead perished; lots who could have avoided the contagion have instead been victims of infection; lots who could have conducted normal life have been prevented from doing so due to unnecessary stigma and prejudice caused by ignorance and misinformation. Even in the reality of our country we have had living examples of HIV/AIDS causing havoc among families, only because there was not enough information about the dis-ease and there was the consequent exces-sive anxiety about its contagion. The first years the virus was discovered, few people gave it the attention it was later to deservedly receive. There was little light about its origin, how it could be transmit-ted and how any one should manage with it once contracted. The basic character-istics of the disease were not well known and people just made their own conclusions basing their observations on whatever HIV patient they happened to come across, ex-perience or hear about.The authorities, particularly the Ministries of Information and Public Health should have been the chief architects of manag-ing the crisis even before it developed to such proportions, practically going out of control. In the advanced countries, the in-formation was immediately made available to every one and thanks to their well orga-nized and developed systems and the level of maturity of the society as well, HIV was put under control in a relatively short span of time while its negative consequences were limited. There were very few conta-gions and the ones who actually suffered from it were seen as rare cases and treated well in ad hoc centers. In fact, HIV was considered as a malady mainly confined

to the homosexual community and to the people with the habit of sharing the same needle to inject drug to their blood intra-venously. In any case, there was conducted such an intensive and protracted campaign that it was eventually controlled.Unfortunately, the case with the developing world was not the same as the one with the developed world. The way these societies live or inter act, the habits they have and the kind of life they lead are totally differ-ent from those of the European or American realities. The level of development being very limited, the health infrastructure and system being very rudimentary and lacking in most localities in the country side, added to the rather easy going or promiscuous sex-ual mores, contributed to a very fast pace of spread of the virus. In fact other factors as well contributed to the fast spread and getting out of control of the virus. Among those could be cited the reluctance of the authorities to admit the gravity of the case and take immediate measures, the stigma and discrimination that came to develop as a result of exposing oneself as HIV positive in the communities and the lack of health facilities including the availability of anti retroviral drugs are to be mentioned. Until very recently the trend was continuous in-crement of infections and people resulting adamant to understand and respond to the immense sensitization campaign launched at all levels of society. Awareness was not a problem but response accordingly a huge one. As the level of awareness about the pan-demic took years to grow significantly, today’s reality however seems a lot more optimistic. Studies have shown that there is practically no one who has not heard about HIV and what the basic characteristics of the disease could be. What has resulted very difficult has been the eradication of all sorts of stigma and prejudice against people living with HIV and the reluctance of any one to test for HIV. The fact that in-formation has penetrated every aspect and level of society could be taken as a major step towards the prevention of new infec-tions but the challenges to tackle and talk of a reversal of the HIV pandemic case is still distant.The way the campaign against HIV was conducted for years had its own problems and the kind of alarmism that was devel-oped in the psyche of the societies led many to hide one’s status and even avoid knowing about it. HIV was considered by many as ‘death at your door’ and people even in their own families used to hide their status for fear of being evicted from their own homes and be thrown out in the streets. Reports of cases of people evicted for their rented houses and employees be-

ing sacked or not being recruited in the first place have been plenty and the battle for ju-dicial measures is being conducted in many societies. Ad hoc legislation has been one way of campaigning against the pandemic and in this respect there have been some positive measures taken. The major difficulty in the campaign against HIV has been that people’s habits are hard to die or change. People hardly re-spond to all sorts of sensitization campaign with a change of attitude with their com-mon day to day mores and sexual habits. For instance, there are reports that com-mercial sex workers continue to receive offers of unsafe sex from their clients, and even when they advised their clients to avoid such risks, they were mocked at or not heeded. Some people believe that there are traditional cures for the virus such as herbal medicine or holy water. What is more, HIV still seems to many a remote reality that would hardly affect them. But the demonstration of the contrary did not delay from being evidenced through the ef-fects it brought to practically every family, every quarter, every community, including the remotest and least imaginable commu-nities in the country side. The fact that it was once considered an urban phenomenon hence ended. By the time every family came to know enough about the threat of HIV, it was already too late and the conse-quences were millions of avoidable deaths and millions having to abandon their work places, millions of youths who would be key working forces being lost . The con-sequences have been millions of children left with out parents and cases of grandpar-ents having to take care of small children. The tragedy has been immense and it was more so in the less well off societies and that meant that Africans were the hardest hit by this pandemic. As far as Africa is concerned, the numbers related with HIV status in the background are just frightening. 67% of all HIV Posi-tive people live in Sub-Saharan Africa. 76% of women living with the virus are there and 80% of deaths related with HIV occur in the same area. About three million new infections particularly within the age group of 15-24 occur here. Hence the challenges faced in connection with HIV are immense in Africa and they involve instituting ef-fective prevention, treatment of the sick, the care and support programs with the af-fected and the distribution for free of anti retroviral drugs to save lives.

Recognizing that the case of HIV in Africa is a priority issue of maximum attention, the AU has been trying to do its best in ad-dressing the issue for the last years. It has organized special heads of state summit


in 2001 and 2006 and a campaign to scale up HIV prevention was launched in April 2006 in cooperation with WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF. What now remains as a ma-jor challenge it to produce the often unaf-fordable ARTs at accessible prices for the poor in the continent itself so that it could reach to every one along with the spread of medical facilities to all.

While the creation of the UNAIDS in 1996 could be taken as a landmark in the fight against HIV/AIDS, however, this by itself could not guarantee total success. The Sec-retary General of the UN created UNAIDS also because he heeded the concern of Af-rican leaders. Then followed the historic summit of Abuja, Nigeria, in April 2001 called ‘African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infections (ORID)’. It was the OAU together with UNAIDS, ECA and other agencies that came together to organize such summit. The Abuja Declaration and Framework for Action with priorities for implementation at national level was outlined. It focused on leadership at national, regional and conti-nental levels to mobilize society as a whole to fight HIV, TB and ORID. Resource mo-bilization both at national and international levels, protection of human rights, poverty, health and development, strengthening of health systems, prevention, improvement of information, and education and com-munication, access to treatment, care and support, access to affordable drugs and technologies, research and development on HIV/AIDS, TB and ORID including vac-cines, traditional medicine and indigenous knowledge, partnerships and monitoring and evaluation were the main themes treat-ed in the declaration.

Since then a lot has been done to promote access to comprehensive services, address stigma and discrimination and provide support for those affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. More resources have been mo-bilized. At the 2001 UN General Assem-bly Special Session on AIDS, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria was also created and has made a big difference to access services. In April 2006, the AU in collaboration with the WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF and ECA launched a Campaign to intensify HIV prevention.

The Abuja Declaration needed to be re-viewed in terms of what it managed to achieve and what it failed to do, and that was exactly the objective of another spe-cial summit in May 2006 with the theme “Universal Access to HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Services by the United Africa by 2010. The implementation of the Plan of

Action of the Abuja Summit 2001 was re-viewed with the adoption of a call for more dedication to scale up efforts towards the same priorities of 2001 Declaration and Framework for Action and to achieving the MDGs.

The World AIDS Campaign has been con-ducted now for years and come December 1st every year, World AIDS Day is marked with lots of activities aimed at disseminating information on developments linked with the pandemic. For years there have been only grim reports of widespread damages and consequences of the virus and bleak perspectives for the future also because peoples’ life would not show any signs of change now that HIV was devastating it.

Hence there were very big challenges fac-ing authorities involved in the campaign. There was not a need of resources only but also one of commitment and continuity be-cause HIV campaigns would not have last-ing effect unless they were absorbed by all concerned. Hence the campaign organizers introduced new slogans every year so that it could penetrate the psyche of communi-ties and all along the year various activities related to the theme selected would be put forward.

Various aspects of the disease and the sub-jects affected by its spread and control were taken as leads in the themes and widely used. For instance in 2001 the theme was ‘AIDS men make a difference’ to show the role men could have in its control. In 2002/3 the motto was ‘live and let live’ and this was done in consideration of the stigma spread in society. In 2004, ‘Women, girls and HIV’

was used to show the most vulnerable part of society with the disease, but also empha-sis their role as nurturers and care provid-ers. ‘Stop AIDS Keep the Promise’ was the other theme used for 2005 and during the last few years since then emphasis was put on ‘Leadership’ in the Campaign against HIV ‘Stop AIDS Keep the Promise’.

The need to focus on the theme ‘Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise’ came from the objective of advocating for the fulfillment of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment of the UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS and many other commitments ad-opted over the years at various fora. The World AIDS Campaign is now linked to MDG 6: “Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and

other diseases with a target to halt and be-gin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the incidence of Malaria and other diseases by 2015. MDGs are based on an ambitious agenda for re-ducing poverty and improving lives of com-munities. The annual review of MDGs in-dicates that Africa needs to scale up ef-forts to combat HIV/AIDS and other pandem-

ics if it is to attain the MDG targets. That is why the AU is taking these issues as seri-ously as it can. But it realizes that it cannot do it by itself and that is why it asks for the partnership and collaboration of vari-ous stakeholders. Only through committed partnerships among stakeholders could the way forward be paved positively.

The best way forward is to implement vari-ous global, continental, regional and na-tional commitments adopted by our lead-ers effectively. This requires coordination, partnerships and harmonized strategies. There is need also for sustained advocacy to prevent more infections and mitigate the impact on the already affected and infected. This brings us to the main reason why De-cember 1 has been declared World AIDS Day and is continuously marked for the last twenty years.


The African Renaissance An Idea on Trial

The dictionary definition of the term renaissance is too narrow to give us a comprehensive un-derstanding of the concept. One of the conventional definitions

of renaissance is “rebirth, a rebirth or revival of culture, skills or learning forgotten or pre-viously ignored.” The term comes from the French renaitre or “be reborn” whose root is the Latin renasci, nasci or “be born”.When we say rebirth, we imply that a birth had previously taken place and for one reason or another had been lost and that we want to have a second coming or a restoration of the lost entity. In the case of Africa, this is bound to raise a series of questions: Had there been a first birth or a naissance as the French would say? If yes, when and how the first birth oc-curred and how was it lost and why do we want to have a second birth or a rebirth? What is to be reborn?These are questions worth raising and dis-cussing in greater detail but lack of space en-tails us to approach and treat them within a very limited perspective.Before looking into the concept and prac-tice of an African renaissance one is bound to refer to the European idea and practice of renaissance because we in Africa are not the originators of the concept in the first place. The European renaissance was a “series of literary and cultural movements in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. These movements began in Italy and eventually expanded into Germany, France, England, and other parts of Europe. Participants studied the great civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome and came to the conclusion that their own cultural achievements rivaled those of antiquity.”In the case of both European and African renaissance, the underlying idea is that both continents had witnessed a period of politi-cal cultural and intellectual flourishing fol-lowed by a period of decline and the need to restore that lost legacy. One may ask in this connection whether Africa had its glory days in the past and the answer is an emphatic yes although many so-called “Africanists” tend to overlook this point or try to deny that Africa too had its periods of political, cultural reli-gious or philosophical glories. Of course it would be unrealistic to try to draw a picture of African renaissance similar to that of Europe. The two continents are his-torically, culturally and in every other sense dissimilar as the Swiss Alps do not compare with Kenya’s Mount Kilimanjaro. Yet, one can indicate that despite radical differences between the two entities, African countries too have passed through ups and downs in

their long history, periods of cultural and eco-nomic prosperities to be followed by periods of decline and fall. Thus various civilizations had risen in Ethiopia, Uganda, Western and Central Africa as well as in Mali, Egypt and South Africa, to name but few instances.There were periods when African cultures and societies went through phases of birth and growth to be undermined later on by internal wars or by European colonial invasion. The subversion of African cultures and societies by European colonialism is best expressed by Chinua Achebe in his classic novel ‘Things Fall Apart”. As a continent, Africa is now believed to be the place of origin of mankind but also the place where admirable civilizations had taken roots in the intellectual and cultural areas. Egyptian and Ethiopian histories are replete with instance of great strides in the develop-ment of thought, architecture, and the writ-ten word and in other areas. Let us take only one example. Although Greece is considered the birthplace of modern philosophy, the ma-jor Greek philosophers owe a great debt to Egyptian thinkers of the ancient times and to Ethiopia’s great civilizations even Homer, the great Greek poet, mentioned in his writings.If we agree that there was more or less a peri-od of African civilization followed by periods of “decline and fall” as British writer Evelyn Waugh would say, we are bound to subscribe to the concept of renaissance in the modern sense as an attempt to go back and restore the lost heritage. African renaissance in the mod-ern 20th century sense thus started very late in the 1960s, when European colonialism, as one of the major causes of African decline, started to crumble. Professor Washington A.J. Okumu author of The African Renaissance: History, Sig-nificance and Strategy, says that although “renaissance” is not a new concept in terms of world history and that the term was first applied in a cursory and non-technical man-ner by Dr. Namdi Azikiwe, the first president of Nigeria and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana.However both Azikwe and Nkrumah used the concept of African renaissance in its politi-cal sense linking it to the concept of African independence and liberation from colonial-ism. This idea later on found its extension and elaboration in the famous idea of Pan-Africanism whose greatest champion was of course Kwame Nkrumah. According to Professor Okumu, while Nkru-mah’s theory and practice of African libera-tion and renaissance in the political sense, as expressed in the liberation of the continent

from colonialism found practical expression in the 1960s, his Pan-Africanism, or Black Renaissance, as an expression of the urge for the unification of the entire continent could not be realized. However this did not prevent other prominent African leaders to take up the concept of African Renaissance in this new century and develop it according to the new political and economic realities.Professor Okumu says, “In the same way, leaders of the African National Congress such as Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki (and Oliver Tambo were he still alive) can develop African political and economic thought born of their experiences in the struggle for free-dom. Hence, their commitment to, and clear understanding of the need for, and African Renaissance.” Thabo Mbeki is particularly credited for de-veloping the modern concept of African Ren-aissance. Professor Okumu says that, “At the moment south Africa will necessarily play a central role in the development of the idea of African Renaissance, due to the acknowl-edged leadership that President Mbeki has provided.” According to the same author, South Africa is bound to play a pivotal role in the devel-opment and practical application of the idea of African Renaissance not by choice but due to its leading position on the continent as the leading economic (“the economic powerhouse of Africa”) and intellectual power where de-mocracy seems to take deep roots despite the setbacks and conflicts in other parts of the continent that tend to frustrate the realization of the dreams of African Renaissance. How-ever, the idea of African Renaissance will not obviously be confined to South Africa.In the 1990’s for instance, there was wide-spread belief in the West as well as in Africa that a new generation of leaders was emerg-ing, and that old-style dictators were leaving the political scene for good. This optimism was more or less dashed as new tyrants emerged in many African countries and what Professor Okumu calls “the big man syn-drome” prevailed. This was not obviously conducive at all to the spread of the idea of African Renaissance Despite many political and economic prob-lems still besetting the continent the idea of African Renaissance may be on trail but it is not defeated at all. Again, South Africa has taken the lead by establishing what is known as the African Renaissance Institute in Gabor-one that might, “undertake that task, but since it is still a young organization, it has neither the physical nor the financial resources neces-sary.” Professor Okumu calls on the interna-

By Yosef .B

AFRICAN DRUM BEAT


the difference between the Korean model and the socialist model was that it was regulated quiet strongly. Basically the profit motive and private ownership are seen as normal state of affairs. In the old socialist system, they tried to get rid of these things all together. So it was basically capitalist economy but with a very strong element of planning and state guidance.Do you have a common understanding of globalization with your mentor and friend Joseph Stiglitz?Well, we share many things in common but there are also some differences between us. For example Joseph Stiglitz believes that it is important to use protectionism in the early stage of development but he also believes that protectionism should be more or less uniform across different sectors. I talk about industry protection which means that some industries are more protected than others. So there are those differences. We share our beliefs in the benefits of globalization if it is done in the right way. Secondly, we acknowledge that government has a very important role to play. Thirdly, we take a very pragmatic approach when we endorse or oppose certain policies. We both have the attitude of what works, works and we don’t have that kind of religious attachment.Do you think that neo-liberalism is a dominant school of thought in the new millennium?No, neo-liberalism will decline. The current financial crisis has already shown that the kind of un-controlled liberalization that they have been advocating was unsustain-able and at least in the area of finance. So they are on the defensive if you like. On the other hand dominant ideas do not leave the scene quickly. It will take time for these things to change. It will depend partly on how serious this crisis is. For example, if it is as serious as the Great Depression of the 1920s, it might change the political landscape quiet a lot. It all depends on what people ac-tually do about it. Don’t forget that the Great Depression produced the welfare state in America and Sweden but produced Nazism in Germany. So it all depends on the choices of the political leaders, the democratic will of the people and on how the world community reacts to these things. But neo-liberalism is certainly going to decline. Do you think that the global financial crisis in United States, Japan and Germany is the result of neo-liberalism or globalization?Absolutely. Let me just give you one exam-ple, before the US went for major financial liberalization in the early 1980s under Ronald Regan, the total financial asset of the United States was around 30%, 40% of the GDP. Now it is over 100%. So finance has really outgrown the real economy. Basically the de-coupling of finance and real economy is the heart of this program and that was basically the result of neo-liberalism’s policy changes.

Bad Samaritans advocate globalization and neo-liberalism. Would you compare and contrast why bad Samaritans advocate of globalization and neo-liberalism?What I called bad Samaritans in this book is derived from the Good Samaritans. People know the story of the Good Samaritan. So it is a play on that word. When I say bad Sa-maritans, I mean that rich countries go to de-veloping countries and give them all kinds of policy recommendations thinking that they are actually helping them by giving them the good advices. But when you actually look into the policies you realize that rich coun-tries themselves did not use them when they were developing and secondly, these policies have, in the last 20- 25 years, produced very disappointing results but they just keep push-ing these policies thinking that they are help-ing the developing countries. So actually they are not being good Samaritans. They are be-ing bad Samaritans.How do you comment on the book of Thomas F r e i d m a n ’ s “ L e x u s and Olive

Tree” as he is one of

the peo-ple who

popu-

l a r -i z e d g loba l -ization?I have some c r i t i c i s m s about this work; but basi-cally that book is based on an incom-plete understanding of history. The author sees a few contemporary phenomena. He is a very clever man. So he can pick a lot of past history from what he sees as an international journalist. For example in his famous book “Lexus and Olive Tree” he uses the luxury brand of Toyota, the Lexus, as the ultimate example of what is good about globalization. As I tried to point out in this book, actually the car company Toyota could basically sur-vive only because the Japanese government gave it 25 years of high protection. Back in 1949, the Japan central bank injected the pub-lic money in to Toyota to save it from bank-ruptcy. Actually it is an example of the suc-

cess of the opposite policy. Freidman looks at Toyota in 1990. So that it looks as if it were the only example of a successful capitalist company conquering the global market. If he had actually known its history, he would not have used it as an example of successful globalization because that company survived and developed only because the Japanese government did all the wrong things. These are the things that Freidman and his intellec-tual colleagues are saying developing coun-tries should not do and the book has many of that kind of examples.You are one of the leading economists and professors in the UK especially in Cam-bridge. Do you try to inject your ideas into the thinking of policy makers just to change their attitudes?No, I don’t think intellectuals are that much important. I mean ideas are already there. When the time comes people will demand certain type of ideas and then we supply the idea. So I don’t necessarily believe in com-bating people by going around saying this and that.At least to save them from the crisis?In general, all intellectuals have this elevated view. Intellectuals have this great theory and they think that if they can keep telling it to ev-eryone, they will believe them and the world would be changed. I don’t see it that way. Ba-sically we are products of our situation and I mean increasingly more people want to lis-ten to me not mainly because things are not working well and that they are looking for a new solution.

So what is the dominant economic view of today?

Still it is a neoliberal thinking. I mean this view that the market, if not com-

pletely perfect, works the best in most cases. Government should

not intervene outside the limited areas like providing national defense. In many countries even the role of catching

thieves is performed by private se-curity companies. So basically this view

has been dominant. Even if it is thought to be on the defensive, it is still dominant.Do you think our world needs a new eco-nomic order?Well, I think that if you want to make it a better place, yes, the world needs a new eco-nomic order. I don’t think that since neo-lib-eralism has been proven wrong people will immediately change their minds and create a new world. It does not work that way. It takes a lot time to bring about change. When the Great Depression happened, people agreed that it was free market capitalism that did not work well but it took them basically years of depression and another world war and so many things before they sorted it this out and build a new world after the economic war. So you have to put this into perspective.


Thank you very much for giving us the chance to have an inter-view with you. Is it your first time to be an ambassador to an African country?

Yes, as an ambassador this is my first time in Africa and I am very proud and happy that my first ambassadorial post is in Ethiopia which is, without any doubt, one of the most impor-

tant countries in Africa. Ethiopia is very im-portant because of its history, culture and its new millennium. I arrived in Ethiopia in its new millennium year. So, that makes me very happy. But this is not my first time in Africa. I served as a diplomat in Ghana and also I fully devoted almost all my life to research work on Africa. So for me Africa is quite a familiar

continent and even I did my master’s degree at the National University of Ghana, Legon. Where were you before you assumed this new post?CEAMO according Spanish acronys, I was the director of the Centre for Research on Africa and the Middle East in Havana. This is a non-governmental organization devoted to academic research on African politics and

history. When did you join the diplomatic commu-nity?Well, I am a career diplomat. I studied 1982 diplomacy at the High Institute of Interna-tional Relations in Havana that is the Cu-ban diplomatic academy and I graduated in 1998. Later on I worked as a foil researcher

at CESMO for several years. Between 1999 and 2003 I served as a diplomat in Ghana for my first time and now I have my second ap-pointment as a diplomat here in Ethiopia.What is your impression about the 50th anni-versary of the popular Cuban revolution?Thank you for calling my revolution a popu-lar one. Well, 50 years may be a long time in the life of a human being. But in the life

of the country, it is not that long. For us, the 50th anniversary of the Cuba revolution has several meanings in different areas. First of all it is a very important to continue devel-oping our national policy which at the same time has an international diminision. For us in Cuba, our national politics has a lot to do with economics for instance and we try to develop

“Between Cuba and Ethiopia there is a relationship signed with blood;... ”

Cuban Ambassador to Ethiopia, Mrs. Clara M. Lulido EscandellMrs. Clara M. Lulido Escandell is the new Cuban Ambassador to Ethiopia. She recently sat with Focus Editor in Chief Elias Aweke to dis-cuss Ethio-Cuban relations, the Cuban revolution and future prospects. Excerpts of the interview follow.

LATIN SPEAKING CORNER


our country as much as possible. But we don’t restrain economics to classic economics. We relate economic policies to social policies. For instance, the area of education is a very important one and we follow the concept that to invest in education is to invest at the same time in the development of the country. So we will continue to look very seriously at dif-ferent socio-economic areas in the country’s national development and reinforce our edu-cational system which today is spread at the university level to over the 169 municipalities of the country. That means that we have at least one University Faculty at each Municipa city. We also reinforce daily our health policy. As you know, education and health in Cuba are given free of charge, our population can get free medical care as well as free educa-tion from the primary up to the university level. The same happen with health care. You can get Medical Attention even the most so-phisticated one for free only in accordance of your need we are also very concerned with developing our infrastructure and our electri-cal system. We are a country that has very friendly international rela-tions mainly with third world countries. We also try to link our national policy and our achievements with coopera-tion with other countries in the third world. For us this is something very important. All the achievements made by my country during the last 50 years have been scored despite the fact that we have been suffering from the policy of economic blockade from the American governments. As we always say, as Cubans we have no problem with the American people. We have a lot of love for the American people but un-fortunately we have been suffering from the policy of blockade from the American Gov-ernment. A policy that has been condemned by the United Nations. Last year the United Nations condemned once again this policy of blockade with a majority of voices during the voting. We got more than 185 votes in the United Nations against the blockade and that means a lot for us. That means that the international commu-nity is with us in this struggle. And I cannot also forget the five Cubans who are in prison in the United States for struggling against ter-rorism. That is very important because for us it is important to get these five Cubans back as free men in our country. There is also one person that we can never forget when we talk about the 50th anniversa-ry of the Cuba revolution. I am talking about our former president and the leader of the revolution Commander Fidel Castro. He has done a great deal not only for the Cuban peo-ple but also for countries all over the world because he has been the mastermind behind the Cuban foreign policy of international co-operation. So we Cubans are very proud to

have him still alive, to have him with us still leading us now through his thinking. And he is the man without whom it is not possible to talk about the Cuban revolution. Before the fall of communism you were quite popular and provided inspiration to Afri-can, Asian and Latin American revolutions. Do you think that this relation is still main-tained?I think yes. And I cannot only speak about revolution. I also have to speak about social processes. For instance in Latin America to-day we can see that very interesting and im-portant social and political processes are under way in different countries. A very important thing is that we have very good relations with all those processes. I can mention the one in Venezuela led by President Chavez, the one in Bolivia led by President Evo Morales and others who are in power in some other Latin American countries. What is very important is that each process is based on its own reality and that each of these processes is following the national history and the national culture. This means that nobody is copying from any-

body else and that every country is trying to meet their own needs and their own reality despite the fact that we can cooperate among ourselves. It is important to note that the Latin American processes are very national in char-acter and each of these processes has its own social basis. That is something very impor-tant. I would say that relations with them are very good both political and economic main-ly through cooperation and we shall continue with those relations. But our relations are not only with Latin American countries. We also have very good relations with African countries. For instance more than 20 African countries have embassies in Havana. We have embassies in almost 30 African countries. They are trying to do their best and they are trying to work as hard as possible in different areas; mainly in health, education, sports and in many different technical areas too. So our presence in Africa is both diplomatic and at the same time more important than diploma-cy. With our cooperants we have more than 1890 medical personel and also lecturers, sport trainers, alric, water resources, plan-ning, telecommunications and others.How do you define Ethio-Cuba relations?They are very good. We have a long history in common. On December 24th, we went to the Ethio-Cuba Friendship Park to celebrate the first year of the monument. The monu-

ment was inaugurated on December 17th, 2007 and the Cuban vice president came here specially for the occasion. This monument is very unique. It is the first monument fully devoted to Cubans who lost their lives strug-gling for the territorial integrity of a country outside our borders. That means that between Cuba and Ethiopia there is a relationship signed with blood; the common blood that we spilled in the Ogaden region when we were fighting together. But the relationship between Cuba and Ethiopia does not only relate to that war. What is more important is that more than 3000 Ethiopians have studied in Cuba. Also a lot of Cubans have come to Ethiopia to serve as medical doctors, lecturers at the universities, as sports trainers teachers at vocational and elementary schools and as experts in different areas like sugar, water re-sources and engineering as well. So it means that our relationship is quite strong and quite well developed.Do you have a development cooperation agreement with the Ethiopian government?Yes, we do have. We have a joint commission

between the two govern-ments. And according to that commis-sion we have in Ethiopia 13 Cuban medical per-sonnel not only doctors but also tech-nicians. This

number will increase at least to reach about 40 Cuban medical personnel. At this very mo-ment they are only working in Addis Ababa’s four hospitals, namely in Saint Paulos, Meni-lik, Yekatit 12 and Black Lion hospitals. We hope that more doctors and medical person-nel will work at those hospitals and also in other areas of Ethiopia. We are expecting for instance doctors to come to work in Oromia region according to the decision of the minis-try of health of Ethiopia. We also have more than 20 Ethiopian students in Cuba at this very moment studying medicine, sports and others. We have 5 Cuban lectures in Ethiopia. One is working at Jimma University and 4 are at Mekelle University and we are expect-ing more lecturers to join different universi-ties in different regions of Ethiopia. We also are expecting the arrival of six Cuban sports trainers in boxing, basketball, volleyball, and athletics. All this shows that our cooperation is in a very good health and continued to de-velop in different areas. Last month a team of Cuban experts in the area of water resources was here working with the Ministry of Water Resources of Ethiopia. More Cuban experts will come to work in those areas. We can in-crease the number of teachers for the elemen-tary schools mainly the technical ones which is very important for a developing country like Ethiopia or Cuba.

We also have very good relations with African

countries. For instance more than 20 African

countries have embassies in Havana. We have

embassies in almost 30 African countries.


What are the major areas you have studied at the university?Well, I am an Africanist and I have been work-ing on African studies for the last 24 years. I am specialized in Western and also in Sub-Saharan Africa in general in the areas of gov-ernment and politics. I have published some books and articles on Arica in Spanish and French and with my presence now in Ethio-pia it seems to me that this is a very crucial moment in my career because Addis Ababa is also the capital of Africa with African Union headquarters here. So for me, this is a very important moment to try to fulfil my academ-ic research with a practical job not only with Ethiopia but also with the African Union.Do you still believe in socialism?I do.What do you feel when American capitalism and Western capitalism is digging its own grave to end up in collapse. This is actually the famous dictum of Karl Marx. What is the feeling you have about this thing?Well, as a socialist I prefer capitalism to go towards its end. As I said before, I do be-lieve in socialism and it seems to me that the world will be better off with socialist politics. But I am not really sure whether capitalism is getting to its end. Now What I can say is that capitalism at this very moment is going through a very serious crisis which has a lot of manifestations in different areas, such as the environmental crisis that is causing lot of damage all over the world. The financial cri-sis, the energy one areas of the several world economy are also in a very serious and com-prehensive crisis. We, as socialists, can say that the struggle is still going on. I do believe in socialism because for me socialism is a pol-icy where the human being is at the very core of every policy. This is what we have tried to do in Cuba for the last 50 years: to put human beings at the core of every policy, to always think first about human beings, how human beings can develop more, how they can have more knowledge, how we can develop the country without affecting the environment and how we can develop the country always trying to address the needs of human beings. This is why I believe in socialism.How do you evaluate the change of leadership from President Fidel Castro to Raul Castro? Do you think there is a radical change in lead-ership?It is not a radical change. First I want to un-derline one idea, because there is a lot of prop-aganda saying that now this is Fidel’s brother. It is true the two men are brothers. This is a fact. But Raul Castro was elected president of Cuba not because he is Fidel’s brother. Raul Castro is elected president of Cuba on his own merit. His own merit started since he was very young and he was among those who went to attack the Moncada barrack. That moment in the history of Cuba was a landmark and the starting point for our final liberation struggle. Later on he was in prison and after he was released from prison he went outside the country together with his brother and other

Cuban leaders. He then returned to Cuba and they launched the final struggle against neo-colonialism and against the dictator that we had in Cuba at the moment. He won his own military degree of Commander first strug-gling in the liberation war. After the struggle, he became one of the most important minis-ters of the country leading the armed forces. He has also served as first vice-president for several years. He has his won merit not only at the moment of the struggle but also at the moment of national development. He has big reputation in the country. And the Cuban people know very well that he is a very hard worker and that he has devoted all his life for the good of the Cuban revolution. This is why he was elected president. I also need to underline that despite western propaganda, leadership in Cuba is not only about Fidel Castro. As I said it is impossible to talk about Cuban history without mention-ing former president Fidel Castro. I have also to underline that in practical terms we in Cuba have a collective leadership. It is not only the decision of a president. It is the decision of the State Council, the decision of the National Assembly which is our Parliament, and the decision of the leadership of the party. But be-sides all that, it is also the decision of Cubans. Why? Because there is no way that any law can be passed in Parliament without full dis-cussion at the grassroots levels. So whenever our Parliament is going to approve a law, it has to be discussed all over the country main-ly by those people who are going to be more affected by that law. So this is very important. This is one of the pillars of our democracy: that no law can be passed in Cuba without ap-proval from the grassroots. Of course, everybody cannot be member of a parliament but everybody can participate in the decisions at the grassroots. And the third point I want to underline is that we in Cuba have no difference between genera-tions. Of course each generation has its own ideal and young people will always be more vibrant; that is normal. At the same time peo-ple of different generations are represented at the national assembly, at state council, at the leadership of the party. We have people who participated in the struggle but also we have members of the state council who are today in their 30s. They have enough experience to bring their own support but at the same time they are young enough not forget what young people are thinking.Where were you during the time of the revo-lution? I was not born at the time of the revolution. . I was born after the revolution. I am one year young than the revolution. That means that all my life pass on the revolution and that revolu-tion is my life

tional community to come up with some form of assistance, financial or otherwise to help the institute carry out the task of helping the implementation of the idea of African Renais-sance. The idea of renaissance in general or African Renaissance in particular continues to inspire other countries on the continent to follow suite and try to apply the concept in light of their specific situations. One such country is Ethio-pia where the idea of renaissance seems to be gaining ground as the nation tries to draw in-spiration from its own history and civilization in order to address modern challenges of po-litical and economic developments in the 21st century. The idea of renaissance or “hedasse” in Amharic, is an attempt by the current Ethio-pian leadership to seize the opportunities for renewal that appeared at the turn of the new Ethiopian millennium. Although the objec-tives might be lofty, the concept of Ethiopian Renaissance or “ hedasse”, which is more of a slogan than anything else at this stage, might be not be better articulated at this stage and needs further elaboration if it is expected to bear practical results as a leading idea fro po-litical and economic re-engineering.Despite dire predictions by the Western media regarding the feasibility of the idea of African Renaissance, the concept seems to be gain-ing ground although formidable challenges sometimes make it look a lost cause. Profes-sor Okumu concludes his pioneering book by saying, “In our view, it would be wrong to as-sure the success or failure of an African Ren-aissance purely in terms of economic growth rates or of food production levels, important as these are. The success of an African Ren-aissance will also be shown by the quality of life of the African people, in terms of greater community and opportunity, improved access to healthcare and education, and a flowering of the literary, visual and performing arts. In the final analysis, the degree of freedom and democracy under which Africans are living must also demonstrate whether or not the deeply desired African Renaissance has taken place.” If we try to measure the concept of African Renaissance with Professor Okumu’s yard-sticks, we can say that most African countries are still at a very early stage political and economic developments. The continent has not yet done away with the old demons of po-litical tyranny and economic backwardness as well as cultural neo-colonialism. This should not however nurture an attitude of pessimism. Afro-pessimism syndrome which was charac-teristic of Africa in the past is nowadays in-compatible with the urge for an African Ren-aissance.Hence, the ongoing challenge is to make the idea and/or inspiration for an African renais-sance serve the challenges of economic and political developments in the continent in general and in individual African countries in particular.

Focus Magazine January - February 200938We wish you a happy and prosperous New Year


Wazema or Eve of Celebration of the Historic Anniversary of

Ethiopian Emperors.Written by: Blaten Geta Hiruy Woldessellassie Date of publication: 1921 E.C.Printed by: Goh Tsebah printing press Published by: Shimeles Yilma, Addis Ababa, 2008Reviewed by: Mulugeta Gudeta

Before looking into the author’s work under review here, (Wazema or Eve of the Celebration of the Historic Anniversary of Ethiopian Emperors) it would be more appropriate to have a bird’s eye view of his life and works in general. Hiruy Woldeselassie, also known by his distinguished and honorable title as Blaten Geta, one of the highest ranks for achievement and services in traditional Ethiopian church and state, is little known by the new Ethiopian generation but ranks among the most respected intellectuals, diplomats and statesmen of his time. He is also considered one of the classic authors and the father of Am-haric literature who wrote close to thirty books of fiction and non-fiction, works that reflect a high standard of morality, prophesy and maturity highly influenced by his faith in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and his early upbringing and education in church dogma and practice.Born in a family of farmers in a place called Merabete, Den Abo in Shoa district in 1864. Hiruy, alias Gebre Meskel, rose from a rather modest background to achieve one of the highest ranks in intellectual and diplomatic achievement of his time. Like many of his contempo-raries, Hiruy’s early education started at a small church school where he distinguished himself for his early and firm grasp of the Holy Scrip-tures including the psalms of Dawit and spent many years pursuing the most advanced studies in the most distinguished centers of learn-ing under the guidance of the most celebrated religious erudite. As written learning was not yet introduced in his time, Hiruy did all his learning orally, something that required a high degree of commitment, talent, faith and discipline. Although his father was an illiterate farmer, his farsightedness was demonstrated in the unusual devotion he displayed, at that time of general backwardness, to provide his son with a solid education and see him succeed in life. He was not however fated to see his talented and hard working son achieve success as he died rather prematurely from the illness he suffered from for most of his life. Undaunted by the loss of his father, Hiruy continued to sail through thick and thin and face life alone at that tender age, life that took him away from his native place and forced him to fight for survival in an environment replete with poverty, backwardness, hunger and great discomfort. His only weapons were his faith in God and his deter-mination to achieve the goal set by his late father and nurtured by his unbreakable spirit of hard work, discipline and good nature. He achieved respect and distinction at a relatively young age at great per-sonal suffering and sacrifice thanks to his abiding morality and thirst for knowledge.The young Hiruy had an insatiable appetitive for learning not only in traditional church education but also in any kind of discipline. At one point he tried to enroll at the Swedish Missionary School at Mount En-toto where he studied for six months and interrupted it when rumors

about his alleged conversion to Catholicism made it impossible for him to continue. Although he stopped going to the missionary school, he continued his studies in pri-vate. After his first setback, Hiruy befriended an Egyptian whom he encountered at that time and started to study Arabic. This too was unsuccess-ful as defamato-ry rumors about his alleged con-version to Islam started to circu-late among the clergy and made it impossible for him to seek greater knowl-edge. His last bid to get some semblance of foreign educa-tion was however relatively more successful as he found the oppor-tunity to get an employment with the French veterinary surgeons that had come to Ethiopia at that time. Working with them, he studied French and spoke it perfectly, and this proved a skill that served him well later in his career as scholar, dip-lomat and statesman. The writing skills he acquired at great personal effort and his knowledge of French led him to attract the attention of the few learned aristocrats of the time such as Ras Kassa Hailu who took him to London with him to attend the coronation of George V in 1896. This in turn gave him the opportunity to visit Oxford University, Paris, and Rome, Alexandria and Cairo where he could see the level of civilization attained by those countries and peoples. Blaten Geta Hiruy’s star was on a course of steady rise as he succes-sively became director of the mayor’s office and then lord mayor. His foreign travels became more frequent and his experience more varied and broader. His trips took him as far as the Far East and Japan as he continued to work harder so that his country Ethiopia could be as civilized as the places he visited. In 1907, at the age of 44, Hiruy became judge of the special court that was established at that time. In 1912, he became special advisor to the reagent prince Ras Teferi and director of the foreign ministry, earning the highest title of Blaten Geta. He displayed great diplomatic

LITERATURE


skill and maturity at a time when Fascist Italy was preparing to invade his country. In 1916, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Af-fairs, a post that remained vacant for a long time because no one was skilled and educated enough to fill it. Thus, the post remained in the hands of the crown prince Teferi until the appropriate candidate could emerge. With his experience and education, Blatem Geta Hiruy was found to be the only person who could fill the vacancy. Blaten Geta Hiruy’s diplomatic career over-lapped with his literary pursuits and he used all his spare time reading and writing some of the best pieces in early Amharic literature. He was not a man given to enjoy ordinary en-tertainments or lost his time in idle pursuits of temporary pleasures. He was extremely disciplined and workaholic, using all his spare time reading books, doing researches, discussing with the great intellectuals and scholars of the time, writing pieces that are useful to his country’s welfare and to his people’s wellbeing. It was in this way that he wrote more than 30 classic works of Amharic literature that remained influential for a long time in his country and have been studied by foreign scholars. He is legitimately consid-ered one of the original stylists of Amharic prose writing, the man who opened the road for the development of the modern Amahric fiction and left behind some of the most ad-mirable works in prose and poetry. He was a great educator and a courageous critic of the evil practices and traditions that contributed to his country’s state of social backwardness. He was a great conscience of his time, a man who lived within his means and adhered to high ethics and standards of morality. This is a brief portrait of the man who wrote Wazema or Eve of the Celebration of the His-toric Anniversary of Ethiopian Emperors, a book of history chronicling the rise and reign of different Ethiopian emperors and archbish-ops through a long period of time. The book is 182 pages long and divided into 14 chapters. The first chapter traces the ori-gins of the Ethiopian polity, the particular form of government that existed within the state or institution. In this chapter, the author outlines the origins of Ethiopia as a country basing his analysis on Biblical or religious documents. He says that one could not exactly point out when and how the ancient Ethiopian form of government, or Ethiopia as a political entity, arose but he provides ample evidence demonstrating that it is indeed an ancient pol-ity while refuting certain erroneous historical propositions to the contrary. Interestingly enough, the author’s approach to Ethiopian history is critical. In the very first chapter he says, “It is a long time since the Ethiopian government was established. We shall demonstrate this in the future. We should rather study what is written about Ethiopia before us and adopt what is good about it while leaving what is bad and not accept as true everything that had been writ-ten.” Then he goes on quoting relevant pas-

sages from the Bible to show that the origins of Ethiopia go back to Creation and to what happened afterwards.The second chapter deals with the first line of emperors that reigned in Ethiopia starting with the first tribes the author calls “Negede Kam”. He thus provides a list of 22 kings who succeeded one another within a span of 508 years going from 2545 BC to 1985 BC. Likewise, the following chapters outline the

evolution of the Ethiopian polity and the names of the various tribes and the kings that appeared on the historical scene such as the reign of Agazi kings (liberators), the reign of Menelik I, through to the establishment of the Gonder state up until the appearance of what is known in history as the Era of the Princes and the rise of emperor Theodros. In all these chapters, Hiruy Woldesellassie pro-vides the reader with a painstaking analysis of the successions of kings and tribes and lists of the names of the emperors and the years of their reigns. Reading through these chap-ters requires a great deal of patience and one cannot but marvel at the amount of research the author has put into those seemingly bor-ing but historically interesting accounts and chronicles. The book becomes more interesting as we reach chapter 10 where the author deals with the names of kings and emperors that arose after the end of the Era of Princes and the rise of “those who ruled by force” as the title of this particular chapter has it. There are three emperors in this category namely emperors Theodros II, Teklegiorgis II and Yohannes IV. The most prominent of these three emperors was of course Emperor Theodros II whose rule was characterized by unprecedented acts of brutality and barbarism. “At the beginning

of his reign, Emperor Theodros II was a just king who was also a friend of the poor. Later on his rule became bloody because of the re-volts that erupted in the various districts of his governorate.” The author says on page 72. This verdict, though it does justice to emperor Theodros, does not in any way undermine his importance as the sovereign who died de-fending his country and choosing death over surrender to the British.

On the contrary, the author sheds a posi-tive light on the reign of Emperor Yohan-nes IV about whom he has positive state-ments to make. “Besides being a famous hero, Emperor Yohannes IV was a man of his words, God fearing and who had great love for Ethiopia. “the author says and goes on outlining what he calls the two outstanding achievements of Em-peror Yohannes IV, namely his decision to appoint Menelik as King of Shoa and Teklehaimanot as King of Gojjam and the fact that he brought in four archbishops from Alexandria saying that since Ethio-pia was a big country, one archbishop cannot cover the entire country going around spreading the words of God. Chapter 11 deals with what we may call the rise of the unified and modern Ethio-pian state under what the author tells us was “the lords of the Shoan govern-ment or state”. In this category, we find the names and years of reign of 14 kings or emperors starting from Emperor Ya-kob and ending with Empress Zewditu, spanning a period of 243 years. The au-thor takes time to comment on the rules of certain emperors of the time such as Emperors Wossenseged, Sahle Sellassie,

Hailemelekot and Menilik, all of whom he commends for their positive achievements. When we reach chapter 12, the book takes a new turn or makes a transition from the chronology of Ethiopian emperors to those of archbishops who were appointed from Alex-andria and served in Ethiopia. The following two chapters in fact deal with a different sub-ject and can be seen as part two of the book. Wazema or Eve of the Celebration of the His-toric Anniversary of Ethiopian Emperors may sometimes be baffling with its long lists of the names and dates particularly for those of us who are used to reading Ethiopian history in a different style. But the book is a precious mine of information for students of Ethiopian history and a handy reference work for those who want to know which particular emperor ruled in which particular era. What is however more astonishing is the amount of hard work, scholarship, patience and commitment the author has put in pro-ducing such a scholarly and detailed presen-tation of Ethiopian history which is mostly the history of its kings and emperors. To pro-duce such a work of historiography at a time when sources and references were scarce and libraries were unavailable was a great and perhaps unique intellectual feat indeed.


According to the latest statis-tics, 37% of the total popu-lation of Africa consists of youths. This figure repre-sents a huge chunk of the

African population running into several dozens of millions of people. This in turn represents a huge pool of human resource, talents and opportunities. Yet, the great challenge in Africa is that 44% of these youths are unemployed and this is a very frustrating situation not only for the present but also for the future as the youth population continues to grow at a very high rate while the number of unem-ployed youths tends to show parallel growth. Unless something ur-gent is done to improve the situation, Africa’s prospect for economic development would be greatly compromised by this kind of youth population explosion coupled with the rise in unemployment.If Africa’s great demo-graphic and economic challenges, that are also the world’s challenges, are to be overcome, the large group of young African women and men must be given opportunities through decent employment. They must be turned from job seekers to job creators. The Afri-can Commission is one of the international initiatives that have recently come forward with a modicum of solution to address the issue of growing youth unemployment in Africa.The African Commission was launched in April 2008. The objective of the commis-sion is therefore to find effective means of improving job opportunities for young Africans. This will be accomplished by finding good practices and developing new, innovative means of getting more young Africans into value-creating employment. The underlying assumption is that develop-

ment has to be country-led. Development aid in itself will not ensure sustainable de-velopment of the African continent.With this basic assumption in mind, the commission has carried out five thematic conferences in Africa with more than 500 stakeholders from the private sector, gov-ernments, civil society and academia. The recommendations collected during this thorough consultation process have provid-ed valuable input to the commission.The second high level meeting of the Africa

commission was held in Addis Ababa on 20 November 2008. It has discussed new ways to foster economic growth. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss concrete initia-tives that can foster growth and job creation in Africa, The commission’s ambition is to bring about real change for Africa’s grow-ing number of young people by improving its competitiveness in the global market. The African Commission has been able to develop overall policy recommendations during the thematic conferences it held prior to the November 2008 conference in Addis Ababa. Some of these recommenda-tions are: 1: Growth and employment should be key development objectives as productive and

decent employment is the key route out of poverty. 2: Competitiveness of the private sector in Africa must increase, be a focus of African governments, and be supported by interna-tional partners. Growth and employment have to be private sector led. 3: In focusing on growth and employment, the international development cooperation should be based on country specific strat-egies that involve stakeholders in private sector in policy formulation and implemen-

tation. At the first meeting of the African commis-sion which was held in Copenhagen in April 2008, it was concluded that although huge progress has been made in primary school enrolment across Africa, 70 to 80 per cent of this age group do not have access to further education. A third of the university educated Africans work outside Africa. The commission emphasized that there is need for more assistance to secondary education, agricultural, technical and vo-cational education and training and higher education for both women and men, at the same time as expansion of education for all at primary level is supported. The major themes were also followed up

The African Commission Initiative: New and Better Jobs for Africa’s Youths

AFRICAN DRUM BEAT

By Bazen E.


Following is a reaction against the article written by Mafa E. Chip-eta, that appeared in last month’s issue of Focus magazine. The author of the present piece is a

veteran Ethiopian journalist who has been following developments in the food and ag-riculture sector in Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular since the cataclysmic famine that hit the country back in 1984-85. He expresses his disappointment with the UN system and more particularly with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for being too bureaucratic, too slow to react to the needs hundreds of millions of poor Afri-cans who have been carrying the burden of famine for many decades now. Mr. Biniam criticizes the international system for gener-ating or recommending one policy package after another without being able to live up to its promises thus far. He says that the failure of the UN system in addressing the famine issue in Africa is another reflection of the fail-ure of the political elites that have been ruling the continent for the promising decades after independence and that Mr. Chipeta and his colleagues at FAO have, wittingly or unwit-tingly, failed to identify the core problem of Africa’s food problem as the elitists politics or policies of the post-independence era that have so far failed to live up to expectations. I very much appreciate the fact that a high-level UN (FAO) functionary with so little time on his hand has found enough time and more importantly, enough inspiration to discuss one of Africa’s pressing problems and share his views on one of the continent’s lin-gering malaise, although he did so as a person rather than as a member of the institution or agency he is part of. Although Mr. Chipeta claimed that the views expressed in his arti-cle were personal (page 28) it goes without saying that the same views, are also those of the agency he belongs to although the issue of who took whose views is of no serious impor-tance as I will try to show below. I hope Mr. Chipeta would not blame me for taking a standpoint different or diametrically opposed to his in assessing the problem of hunger in Africa. I would rather call my perspective “the view from the be-low” as his angle of perception is much more elitist or from the top down, and as such hard-ly reflects the aspirations of the very people who are facing the dire consequences of the internal and external policies that have at best diagnosed the malaise but have largely so far failed to treat the epidemic so to say.The first weakness or shortcoming I noticed in Mr. Chipeta’s argument is the tendency to generalize things or to present Africa’s food

and agriculture problems in general terms without going into the specificity of things or by forgetting that the devil is rather in the details. The recipes he suggests at the end of his article have nothing new and he repeat the same clichés that have largely been suggested not by domestic African intellectuals or poli-cy makers but by foreigners who control the international bodies and impose their views on Africans, irrespective of the latter’s genu-ine aspirations. It may not also come as a surprise that Mr. Chipeta does not generate or articu-late his own views and aspirations that should tally or converge with the aspirations of hun-dreds of millions of his hungry fellow men and women across the continent because do-ing that might endanger his career or maybe he does not want to bite the hand that feeds him. In his book entitled, “Globalization and its Discontents” American economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz says that his attempt to criticize the international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank was met with stiff resistance by the leaders of those agencies who accused him of biting the hands that fed him, as he himself put although he said he took a courageous personal decision by relinquishing his senior advisory function on the board of one of those institutions. After reading Mr. Chipeta’s con-ventional opinions, one may be disappointed to discover that his views lacked the integrity or the courage even expressed by a Western economist like Mr. Stiglitz. The other weakness in Mr. Chipeta’s analysis of Africa’s food problem is the ab-sence of a critical dimension or the necessary if not the indispensable angle or standpoint from which the challenges should be viewed and addressed. No international organization wor-thy of it name has ever gathered the neces-sary courage or boldness to look at Africa’s demons through the prism of another demon: politics. No international organization has ever had the courage to upset African govern-ments or hold them politically accountable for the wrong economic policies they have been pursuing over the years or the foreign models they have been imitating according to the changes in the international political and economic environment. For instance in my country Ethio-pia, the military regime that was in power before the present government followed the Soviet model of economic development in general; and agricultural development in par-ticular. The political system that existed be-fore it was a mixture of feudalism and the free

market model mostly recom Following is a reaction against the article written by Mafa E. Chipeta, that appeared in last month’s issue of Focus magazine. The author of the present piece is a veteran Ethiopian journalist who has been following developments in the food and agriculture sector in Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular since the cataclysmic famine that hit the country back in 1984-85. He expresses his disappointment with the UN system and more particularly with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for being too bureaucratic, too slow to react to the needs hundreds of millions of poor Afri-cans who have been carrying the burden of famine for many decades now. Mr. Biniam criticizes the international system for gener-ating or recommending one policy package after another without being able to live up to its promises thus far. He says that the failure of the UN system in addressing the famine issue in Africa is another reflection of the fail-ure of the political elites that have been ruling the continent for the promising decades after independence and that Mr. Chipeta and his colleagues at FAO have, wittingly or unwit-tingly, failed to identify the core problem of Africa’s food problem as the elitists politics or policies of the post-independence era that have so far failed to live up to expectations. I very much appreciate the fact that a high-level UN (FAO) functionary with so little time on his hand has found enough time and more importantly, enough inspiration to discuss one of Africa’s pressing problems and share his views on one of the continent’s lin-gering malaise, although he did so as a person rather than as a member of the institution or agency he is part of. Although Mr. Chipeta claimed that the views expressed in his arti-cle were personal (page 28) it goes without saying that the same views, are also those of the agency he belongs to although the issue of who took whose views is of no serious impor-tance as I will try to show below. I hope Mr. Chipeta would not blame me for taking a standpoint different or diametrically opposed to his in assessing the problem of hunger in Africa. I would rather call my perspective “the view from the be-low” as his angle of perception is much more elitist or from the top down, and as such hard-ly reflects the aspirations of the very people who are facing the dire consequences of the internal and external policies that have at best diagnosed the malaise but have largely so far failed to treat the epidemic so to say. The first weakness or shortcoming I noticed in Mr. Chipeta’s argument is the ten-dency to generalize things or to present Afri-ca’s food and agriculture problems in general

No Solution for Africa’s Perennial Hunger- Elitist Discourse and the Reality on the Ground

BY BINIAM ESTIFANOS


terms without going into the specificity of things or by forgetting that the devil is rather in the details. The recipes he suggests at the end of his article have nothing new and he repeat the same clichés that have largely been suggested not by domestic African intellectu-als or policy makers but by foreigners who control the international bodies and impose their views on Africans, irrespective of the latter’s genuine aspirations. It may not also come as a surprise that Mr. Chipeta does not generate or articu-late his own views and aspirations that should tally or converge with the aspirations of hun-dreds of millions of his hungry fellow men and women across the continent because do-ing that might endanger his career or maybe he does not want to bite the hand that feeds him. In his book entitled, “Globalization and its Discontents” American economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz says that his attempt to criticize the international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank was met with stiff resistance by the leaders of those agencies who accused him of biting the hands that fed him, as he himself put although he said he took a courageous personal decision by relinquishing his senior advisory function on the board of one of those institutions. After reading Mr. Chipeta’s con-ventional opinions, one may be disappointed to discover that his views lacked the integrity or the courage even expressed by a Western economist like Mr. Stiglitz.The other weakness in Mr. Chipeta’s analy-sis of Africa’s food problem is the absence of a critical dimension or the necessary if not the indispensable angle or standpoint from which the challenges should be viewed and addressed. No international organization wor-thy of it name has ever gathered the neces-sary courage or boldness to look at Africa’s demons through the prism of another demon: politics. No international organization has ever had the courage to upset African govern-ments or hold them politically accountable for the wrong economic policies they have been pursuing over the years or the foreign models they have been imitating according to the changes in the international political and economic environment. For instance in my country Ethiopia, the military regime that was in power before the present government followed the Soviet model of economic development in general; and agricultural development in particular. The political system that existed before it was a mixture of feudalism and the free market model mostly recommended by economists in the 1960s, before the old crisis of the 1970s contributed to its demise. The political system that is put in place after 1991 is on its part adopting poli-cies that are in fashion at present, i.e. struc-tural adjustment, poverty reduction strategy known as PRSP in development parlance, last but not least the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) all prescribed from abroad and often presented as local initiatives. I would like Mr. Chipeta for tell-ing Africa not to succumb to policy fads and fashions but I would also like to ask African leaders why they are often charmed by for-eign models and policy fads and fail to look into them with greater depth. Again he would have realized that African elites adopt foreign models and fads because they think they serve their basic interests, namely that of staying in power and perpetuating their rules until an-other set of domestic and international crises force them to go packing. So, Mr. Chipeta’s failure to look at the specifics of the challenge of hunger or at least look at it on a regional basis, or consider the political issues that have so far prevented most African governments to feed their popu-lations, has rendered much of his discourse not different from the usual elitist discussions we have been hearing for much of the last many decades. When I read in the introductory part of this article that says, “this note carries the views of the writer, which are not necessar-ily shared by FAO…”etc. I was expecting that Mr. Chipeta would dissent from the of-ficial views of the institution he is part of or come up with novel ideas, but my hopes were dashed as soon as I finished reading his piece. I also realized that it was too naïve on my part to expect African intellectual elites to dissent and sacrifice their personal career interests for the sake of the truth. The kind of intellectual rebels I was looking for are not certainly found in the corridors or offices of the UN agencies. Neither are they found in individual African governments. My con-clusion was therefore to try to seek the truth away from conventional modes of thinking. I was expecting Mr. Chipeta to break out of this institutionalized mold and I was disappointed by his conventional ideas that have been presented all through the years in various forms and by various foreign ex-perts of Africa. These are mostly academic views that reflect the educational systems and ideological preferences of the African elites that have been shaped by them. And in my opinion Mr. Chipeta is no exception to this rule. One can read and re-read Mr. Chi-peta’s rather clearly stated ideas, but I am afraid one may not encounter any original ideas, apart from the bureaucratic or techno-cratic utterances that are presented in hun-dreds if not thousands of official documents and policy statements. Early in his article, he raises the fundamental question of why Africa is hungry but later on fails to address the problem in an original and/or satisfactory manner because he succumbs to the conven-tional views of the agency he represents. He juggles with statistics to show Africa’s food consumption or expresses his disappointment and anger with the continent’s external image but hardly bothers about its internal political

dynamics that are shaping its economic des-tiny in general and the challenge of feeding its people in particular. Mr. Chipeta again asks the funda-mental question of why Africa is hungry (page 29) and again he sees the forest but fails to not the trees by taking population growth and war or conflict as major causes while “poor incentives to producers”, “inadequate public investment” or “lack of vision” (page 29) are blamed as contributing factors to the problem of African hunger. He raises the issue of con-flict which is basically political in nature but fails to go deeper into the issue apparently because Mr. Chipeta, like the agency he be-longs to, wants to avoid the political issue as the major or most important factor causing or generating Africa’s perennial food problem. Once again, Mr. Chipeta may not want to bite the hand that feeds him or dis-sent. But the truth is in dissent because Af-rica’s failure to feed itself is the reflection of the failure of elitist politics geared towards greed, corruption, tribalism, ethnic division, and resource mismanagement to name but a few of the underlying symptoms. Regrettably enough these are taboo subjects, that elitist politicians and bureau-crats across the continent avoid like a pest because it goes counter to their interests and to the interests of those in whose name they are ruling the African countries or share in the loot of African resources. I could go on showing evidence of conventionality in Mr. Chipeta’s views on the causes of Africa’s famine or food problem as he put it mildly. But nowhere could I find an original or personal view. What I could read in Mr. Chipeta’s article were the conventional opinions of FAO and its leaders and policy movers and shakers behind it. In my opinion, the main weakness of Mr. Chipeta’s arguments is the apolitical nature of his views and his avoidance of the major cause of Africa’s poverty and famine, namely the corruption of its elites and politi-cians as well as the so-called foreign donors that have so far failed to emerge from the po-litical contradictions of the post-independence period that are generating and regenerating the same neo-colonial realities on the ground while well-educated and intelligent people like of Mr. Chipeta are engaged in elitist dis-courses that offer little alternative by way of a palatable solution to Africa’s enduring legacy of poverty and famine. Africa’s fundamen-tal problems stem from failed governance predicated on the same failed development policies, underlined by the aid dependency syndrome, greed, and senseless waste of re-sources, time and energies in divisive tribal politics whose final outcome is the aggrava-tion of the continent’s poverty and famine as we are witnessing now.


On December 12, 2008, the African Union called a meeting to discuss the cur-rent global financial crisis and it is impacts on Africa. The meeting was held at

the African Union hall. Representatives of international organizations, diplomatic corps, and NGOs as well as, students and media pro-fessionals were in attendance at the meeting.There were four presenters whose papers dealt with the global financial crisis, its origin and consequences, international finance de-velopment regulations of the financial market and the response of the developing countries of the south to the crisis caused by the devel-oped countries of the north.According to the speakers Africa is currently faced with the financial crisis whose origins are first in the globalization process which was started with what they called the inva-sion of electronic media and the end of social-ism. According to them, the second source of the current financial crisis is speculation economy while the causes of this speculation economy are derivates, that is to say tradable financial products whose value depend on the value of other assets or a combination of as-sets, casino sales of securities people used them to raise more money. It is this specula-tive activity which has led to the loss of mil-lions if not billions of dollars that affected the real economy and led to the present financial crisis. It was also noted at the meeting that the finan-cial crisis started after the coming of artificial products especially in the area of housing, au-tomobile industries, and climatic change that was caused by capitalism’s high production.The speakers further noted that very few Af-rican countries are affected by the financial crisis because they have not been closely integrated to the global economic system in general and to that of the financial market in particular. In a way, the relative marginaliza-tion of African countries in the global econo-my has been a blessing in disguise since very few countries might be really affected by the ongoing crisis. Some of the speakers said that as long term strategy against global economic upheavals similar to the present one, Africa needs to create a common market and should try to evolve its own solutions. The creation of a common monetary system is also important because it can lead to global financial access. Africa should avoid aid and insist on trade. Among the other remedies indicated by the presenters are the need for Africa to increase or encourage local entrepreneurship, develop stock markets, take measures to protect its industries against unfair foreign invasion and competition. It will have to stem the ongoing

brain drain that is robbing the continent of its best manpower resources that could other-wise be used to develop the continent instead of seeking better opportunities abroad. Last but not least, Africa also needs to promote agricultural activities to protect itself against future food crises, price upheavals that often expose its vulnerability to global financial and economic crises. According to one speaker, in the area of food and food production, the current financial crisis will affect the developing countries of Africa more than the developed parts of the world because of the prevailing international speculation in the production and sale of ma-jor cereals. As food production and distribu-tion both at the policy and practical levels are dictated by the developed countries of the north, there is little Africa can do to change the situation in its favor. It has no control over the prices of foodstuffs that are determined by the international market.Africa as a whole might not be deeply af-fected by the current financial crisis but there is one area in which its vulnerability is much in evidence and that is in the area of foreign debt. According to one speaker Africa will go through a new financial crisis compara-ble to the Asian financial crisis of the 1990’s as far as debt is concerned. Before this hap-pens however, Africa will have to take certain measures that might absorb the shocks of a possible debt crisis. To this end, it will have to seek and attain agricultural trade balance and food sovereignty in order to overcome the food crisis. The continent needs to estab-lish an African monetary fund and an African bank of the settlement and investment while a common monetary system will be a crucial step in the continent’s economic integration. Africa will also have to learn from the Eu-ropean process of economic integration and establish regional complementary marketing systems since the European success is based on the fact that 80% of trade is being con-ducted among European states themselves.As indicated by one of the speakers, the current global financial crisis has different impacts on Most Industrialized Countries (MICs) and Least Industrialized Countries (LICs). In industrialized economies the crisis leads to low interest rate and huge increase in spreads and credit crunch. On the other hand, its major impacts in least industrialized econ-omies will be in the areas foreign assistance, leading to a sharp reduction in the volume of Official Development Assistance (ODA) re-duction in financial flow to the continent of Africa in particular in the form of remittances and decrease in commodity prices that have been enjoying favorable terms in recent years and fuelled the growth of many economies in Africa.

The solutions to the crisis likewise vary in MICs and LICs. In MICs, the recommended solutions are permanent access to the interna-tional financial market, low spreads, and cau-tious financial openness, among others.The solutions for LICs comprise effective foreign financing in large amount and slow disbursement that can lead to stability, pre-dictability and flexibility of the financing. Concessional loans, coupled with grants, could result in slow growth and debt relief.The major problem of most African countries is effectiveness, i.e. to strength aid effec-tiveness. The Paris Declaration of 2005 was adopted in order to improve aid effectiveness, towards budget support and as a way to over-coming past distortions that focus on results and impacts. Africa needs debt sustainability and access to the international financial mar-ket.Possible measures were also indicated to avoid excess borrowings that aggravate the debt burden. This will have to be addressed within the framework of the IMF-IDA debt sustainability strategy. Governments need to reconsider their debt strategies. Concessional lending needs to be reformed and innovative source of financing as well as international finance facility for immunization should be sought. Anti cyclical loans and private financ-ing will have to be encouraged.By way of conclusion, the speakers noted that Africa did not anticipate the actual situation; that Africa is not responsible for these crises. However, the problem is that although Africa did not anticipate the crisis, it was not well-prepared to deal with it. This is not however to say that there is nothing Africa can do to deal with the negative effects of the crisis in the short and long term perspectives.Among the remedies indicated at the end of the meeting was the need for promoting inter-regional trade such as COMESA that seems to balance better and provide a broader mar-ket. The future African Monetary Fund will have to support the purchasing power of Africans, lead to systematic wealth creation and the innovation of new and better suited technologies for Africa. Measures should also be taken to decentralize the IMF presence in Africa. These policies will have to lead to the emergence of middle classes in African countries that would expedite economic de-velopment and industrialization as well as create demand that will stimulate production. All these measures however require a great deal of political will and solidarity within Af-rica. Because most of the things suggested at the meeting will need pooling resources and working with a common objective which is also the fundamental aim of the African Un-ion.

The Global Financial Crisis and Africa: African PerspectivesFINANCE & ECONOMY

By Melat Yoseph Dejene


La disposition de l’armée Italienne

Le chef du détachement de l’armée Italienne, etait le général Barateli Comme meilleur moyen, pour sa décision essentielle et finale le 1ér Mars 1896, il a tenu compte de son plan préparatif de faire une attaque surprise envers les Ethiopiens.

Tout d’abord ce concepteur et arbitre de la bataille a dialogué avec ces collaborateurs et a décisivement divisé et placé sa troupe en 4 divisions et directions.

La première qui était en disposition de la di-rection droite était sous la responsabilité du général Daboriméda. Ce général commandait les deux brigades d’infanteries et des cadres de militaire sa préparation assurer sa capa-bilité suffisante de relancer ou réaliseune vic-toire. Dabormida avait simultanément deux brigades de batterie incluant le 5éme, 6 éme, 7 éme brigades. Il occupait au total 3800 per-sonnes et 18 artilleries.

La mission du général Dabormida était d’occuper le terrain de ‘’ Spour beleh ‘’. En ce temps là, la seconde colonne centrale était sous le commandement du général Armondi. Armondi occupait la 5éme, 8éme et le 11éme batterie. Au total 2493 soldats et 12 pièces d’artillerie étaient sous sa responsabilité sa mission était d’occuper la montagne ‘’ super beleh ‘’.

Le gé-néral Da-borimeda (mort à Adoua)

Le gé-néral Al-b e r t i n o (capturé à Adoua)

Le gé-n é r a l Arimondi (mort à Adoua)

De même le général Albertino était le respons-able de la troisième direction. La 1ère, 2éme, 3éme et 4 éme batterie que avaient 4076 soldats et 14 pièces d’artillerie s’abritait sous son commandement. Son ob-jectif visait sur la montagne ‘’ Kidane Mihret ‘’.

Cette préparation a été faite pour éviter les manques de moyens de communication et de collaboration.

Donc l’armée Italienne a déclenché la bataille juste à 15 heures. Le général Ellena avec ses 4150 personnes et 12 pièces d’artillerie était en disposition de réserve au bout de quelques heures, le général Barateri a contrôlé la direc-tion de l’est nommé ‘’ Rebi Arayoni’’.

Comme le combat était dangereuse le risque était incalculable et imprevisble. Alors voila tout a changé d’un coup en tout début de la bataille.

Les hommes de renseignement de Ras Alula qui ont foncièrement observe le niveau alar-mant et les mouvements des forces Italiennes ont informé l’événement aux commandants Ethiopiens avec émergence la démarche des Italiens a provoqué une colère aux Ethiopi-ens qui voudraient préserver leurs indépen-dances.

Au bout de quelques heures l’armée abyssini-enne qui est obsessé par l’envahissement a brièvement combattu l’ennemi et menacé les environs des baraquements.

Le Ras Mikaël a sérieusement confronté la troupe du général Albertino. La force de Ras Makonen a attaqué la troupe du général Dabormida . Pour donner plus de poids à la bataille et pour mettre entre les mains la vic-toire, les prêtres et évêques de l’église ‘’ Saint George ‘’ faisaient une messe par une mél-odie de succès fort.

La perte Italienne envers la victoire estimée

En raison de l’envahissement, les Ethiopiens ont à cette époque des raisons concrètes de s’en plaindre est ce a dire que même les Ethi-opiens ont toujours une relation difficile avec leur ennemi?

On se plaint de l’envahissement des colonial-istes en général dans tous les pays. Les Ethi-opiens de l’époque d’Adoua avaient voulu voir le soleil de l’indépendance et la garantie de vivre paisiblement que rien de désagréable ne peut leur arriver. Comment les Ethiopiens ont bâti leurs courages à faire la bataille? Pour réussir à la bataille ils ont utilisé une stratégie qui leur permettrait de conquérir de nouveau gloire.Les Ethiopiens avaient choisit l’indépendance par leurs fiertés fixes. Juste à la fin de la ba-taille 3 généraux de l’armée Italienne ont perdu leurs vies et l’un a été capturé

Les généraux morts étaient1. Le général Dabormeda2. Le général Alberto3. Le général GalianoLe général capturé s’appelait le général Al-bertinoLe général qui était grièvement blesse s’appelait Ellena.Selon l’historien Professeur Richard Pankrest la participation des soldats Ethiopiens étaient remarquable Le Docteur launch a aussi claire-ment indique qu’a Adoua, les Ethiopiens sans aucune arme de feu sont devenu de plus en plus audacieux dans le poursuit des gens du géneral Italien nommé Dabormeda et Richard Pankrest a noté que l’ennemi a perdu 43 % de sa force originelle qui a participé à la bataille incluant les 3 généraux morts et l’un blessé.

La bataille d’Adoua(2ème Partie)(Prix National de Meilleur Performance de Journalisme 2007/2008)

Par Biniam YemaneJournaliste et écrivain Ethiopien


DEMISSÉ TSIGGÉ

Ce pays qu’on appelle Éthiopie est très étrange. Laissons même de côté les 3 000 ans d’histoire don’t il est crédité: le temps d’une vie d’homme suffit ici à voir tant de choses… Je suis né dans une famille de la classe moyenne. Mon père était contremaî-tre à la minoterie de Saris, et notre vie était meilleure que celle de la plupart des gens du quartier. Je pus donc accéder à l’éducation. J’appris le syllabaire à l’ école religieuse. J’y appris aussi le calcul. Puis le syllabaire dans le désordre («a, bou, gui, da») et les psaumes du Dawit: tout cela était mortellement ennuy-eux. Surtout les psaumes, que nous récitions en guèze sans les comprendre. Notre institu-teur luimême avait du mal à lire le guèze, qu’il ne comprenait pas plus que nous. Néanmoins nous étions obligés de réciter par Cœur tout le psautier. Imaginez combien cela pouvait être difficile et fastidieux. Comme notre instituteur nous fou-ettait au moyen d’une verge, nous le craignions beaucoup. Il nous pinçait aussi, pour nous ap-prendre les bonnes manières, si fort que nous en ressentions une brûlure. Étant enclin par nature à l’indolence, il m’était très difficile de retenir les pages du Dawit et le «a, bou, gui, da». Pour échapper à cette corvée, je pertur-bais la classe. Je recevais le fouet deux à trois fois par jour. Parfois, je préférais le fouet à l’inepte récitation du Dawit. J’en vins même à me ficher du fouet, tant j’y étais habitué.Je me souviens aujourd’hui encore du jour où j’ai été fouetté pour avoir raturé la pho-tographie de l’Empereur qui était accrochée au-dessus du syllabaire. À l’époque, Hailé Sellasié était considéré comme une divinité. Son portrait trônait en majesté dans la de-meure de chacun, toisant tout le monde, et nous craignions de le regarder en face.Si quelqu’un s’apprêtait à te frapper, il suffi-sait de lui dire: «Au nom du créateur de hailé Sellassié!» - il se calmait et ne te touchait pas. Quand un voleur prenait la fuite, si quelqu’un lui criait:«Arrête-toi, au nom du créateur d’Hailé Sellasié!», il se figeait aussitôt.Le Dieu d’Hailé Sellasié nous protégeait même quand nous mentions. Si nous niions avoir commis quelque mauvaise action en jurant «par la mort de Hailé Sellasié!», nos instituteurs et nos parents nous croyaient. Nos mères surtout n’oubliaient jamais de prier Dieu d’accorder une longue vie à l’Empereur. Elles faisaient cette prière non seulement à l’église, mais aussi en buvant le café.De temps en temps, Hailé Sellasié faisait une apparition dans les quartiers. Quand il venait dans le nôtre, dans sa belle Mercedes violette, nous l’entourions en criant de joie. Et nos mères sortaient de leurs demeures, s’agenouillaient face à la Mercedes, baisant

le sol et saluaient le Roi-Soleil.Dans son effrayante majesté, le Roi-Soleil sourit et ordonne à Abba Hanna, son tré-sorier, de distribuer de l’argent à nos mères. Et Abba Hanna ouvre sa grande sacoche noire, et donne 1 birr à chacune de nos mères. Celles-ci, même dans le plus grand besoin, ne dépensaient par le birr béni de Sa Majes-té Impériale. Elles le conservaient dans une cache secrète. On croyait alors que le billet de l’Empereur avait le pouvoir de susciter l’abondance…Partout où l’Empereur s’est déplacé, il n’a ja-mais donné plus d’un birr à nos mères. Tout le monde pensait que c’était Abba Hanna qui l’empêchait de donner plus généreusement, si bien que le nom du trésorier était devenu synonyme d’avarice. Pour traiter quelqu’un d’avare, il était courant de l’appeler «Abba Hanna».Nous avons compris plus tard qu’Abba Han-na n’était que l’instrument de la parcimonie et des péchés de l’Empereur. Sa Majesté ne manquait pas de malice. Elle savait briller tout en laissant à d’autres les sales besognes. Et quand le peuple avait à se plaindre, il avait coutume de dire: «Que peut faire l’Empereur? Ce sont ses subalterns qui nous maltraitent.» Comment son Roi-Soleil divinisé aurait-il pu être méchant?Ce n’est qu’après mon entrée au lycée que je me suis senti capable d’affronter le visage ef-frayant et majestueux de l’Empereur. La ré-volte contre le régime était entamée, et nous répandions des slogans tells que «La terre à celui qui la cultive», et nous fermions nos écoles. Partie de l’université d’Addis Abeba, l’agitation avait gagné peu à peu les lycées. Nous nous réunissions dans nos écoles pour écouter les discours des dirigeants des con-seils d’étudiants. Lorsque nous tentions de manifester dans la rue en criant nos slogans, la police nous dispersait à coups de bâton et en tirant en l’air. Nous répliquions, autant que possible, par des jets de pierres, mais bien vite il nous fallait battre en retraite. Nos écoles fermaient alors leurs portes pendant un mois.Une fois, au retour d’un voyage à Harar et Djijiga organisé par le club de notre école (qui s’était constitué après la fermeture de celle-ci), nous nous rencontrâmes face à face avec l’Empereur, près de la ville de Asabe Taffari. Hailé Sellasié se rendait à Harar. Quand nous l’eûmes reconnu, nous descendîmes du car et lui barrâmes le chemin. Des gardes du corps, splendides spécimens d’athlètes, nous entourèrent aussitôt, menaçants. Mais l’Empereur baissa la vitre de sa portière et fit signe à ses sbires de nous laisser approcher. En vérité, ce fut quand il nous demanda: «Qui êtes-vous? D’où venezvous?..», que j’ai pu constater à quel point son visage était majes-tueux et effrayant. Aucun de nous n’osa le regarder dans les yeux. Même les dirigeants de notre club, pourtant connus pour leur har-

diesse, répondirent en bégayant aux questions de l’Empereur. Ce fut aussi à ce moment que j’ai compris comment cepetit roi, à peine plus grand qu’un métre, avait pu terroriser et faire courber la tête à tout le peuple d’Éthiopie.Ce que nous avions alors lu de la Révolution française, de la guerre civile américaine et d’Abraham Lincoln nous avait montré que le changement était possible. D’année en année, le sentiment de récolte des étudiants et des lycéens prit forme et force, et il nous apparut bientôt que le visage majestueux et terrifiant de l’Empereur n’était que le masque d’un ti-gre en papier.Les étudiants,conscients que le régime féodal tenait en maintenant le pays dans l’ignorance et la misère, intensifièrent la lutte. Et si nos mères continuaient à voir l’Empereur comme une divinité, en revanche les travailleurs et les paysans, las de la servitude, commencèrent à hausser la voix et à réclamer leurs droits. Dans le Tigré, le Gojjam et ailleurs, les cam-pagnes s’agitèrent.Sous Hailè sellasié, les terres du pays, par-ticulièrement celles du Sud, étaient tenues par quelques grands féodaux. La région de Jimma appartenait à Ras Mesfin; les fils de l’Empereur se partageaient le Harar. Les pay-sans, qui labouraient avec leurs outils ances-traux, remettaient à leurs maîtres l’essentiel de leur misérable récolte, et souffraient de la famine tout au long de l’année. Pour que change cette situation, nous, les étudiants, avions mené la lute contre le régime, sans armes, mais avec nos slogans. Puis l’idéologie marxiste-léniniste, venue de l’étranger, nous imprégna peu à peu.De notre pays nous lisions les œuvres d’ Abé Gubégna, de Mengistu Gedamo. J’ai lu égale-ment à cette époque les grands classiques eu-ropéens: Dickens, Hugo, Tolstoï… Ce que ces lectures m’apportèrent m’aida à m’intégrer au movement étudiant.Prenant acte du renforcement de la révolte, l’Empereur et son parlement-entièrement composé de riches propriétaires fonciers – tentèrent de retoucher quelque peu le système de la propriété foncière.Hailé Sellassié a gouverné l’Éthiopie pendant 57 ans au total: 13 ans en tant qu’héritier de la couronne, 44 ans comme empereur. En dépit de quelques petites mesures, il a conservé le pays tel qu’il était au temps de Ménélik. On reconnaîtra cependant qu’il a transformé son palais en université, qu’il a fait d’Addis Abeba le siège de l’OUA, et que, dans une mesure insuffisante, il a cherché à promou-voir l’éducation et à développer quelques infrastructures de base. Bien qu’il semblât déterminé à réformer le pays en profondeur durant sa régence et les premières années de son règne, ses projets ont rarement dépassé le stade de l’intention. Nous lui devons pour-tant notre première constitution. Mais ayant échoué sur la question décisive de la proprié-

LIVRES, BOUTEILLES ET FUSILS


té foncière, il n’a pas pu lancer le pays vers le développement. Si l’on compare ses maigres réalisations avec ses nombreuses années de règne, on peut objectivement conclure que les progress accomplis par son gouvernement ont été, au total, insignifiants.L’Empereur a travaillé d’avantage au rayon-nement de son nom à travers le monde qu’au dèveloppement de son pays.Tandis que Hailé Sellassié et son gouverne-ment ont sommeillé pendant 40 ans, d’autres pays du Sud ont émergé. Aujourd’hui la Corée du Sud, la Thaïlande, Singapour ont atteint un niveau de vie que nous ne connaissons pas en-core. Si nous comparons notre situation et la leur, nous pouvons même avoir le sentiment d’avoir régressé.Pourtant le combat des étudiants contre la pauvreté, l’ignorance, la féodalité, était ex-emplaire pour l’Afrique. Il avait gagné div-ers secteurs de la société: les enseignants, les paysans, les travailleurs, et plus tard les militaries. En 1960-61, l’armée avait déjà fait une tentative de coup d’état sous la direction du général Mengistu Neway. Mais le peuple, à ce moment, n’était pas disposé au change-ment et ce fut un échec. Ce fut en 1974 que l’armée, soutenue cette fois par l’opinion, chassa l’Empereur d’un trône qu’il occupait depuis des décennies. Cette année-là vit la fin du régime féodal. Le changement, bien que souhaité par beucoup, laissa le pays dans l’expectative. On craignait qu’il n’éclatât, que le peuple s’entretuât. Les gens étaient sous l’emprise contradictoire de la joie et de la peur.Nous, les étudiants, qui avions contribué au soulèvement, ne savions pas qui devait pren-dre le pouvoir. Le marxisme que nous avions adopté comme principe directeur nous laissait sans réponse devant cette question. Mêmes nos leaders ne savaient pas que penser. L’armée, elle aussi, qui avait destitué l’Empereur, parut au début désemparée. Elle ne voulut finalement pas lâcher un pouvoir qu’elle avait saisi par hazard. D’ailleurs, même si elle l’avait voulu, personne n’était alors prêt à le récupérer. De ce fait, après une sanglante lutte interne, un groupe de jeunes officiers émergea, sous la houlette de Mengis-tu Hailé Maryam. Une junte remplaça le par-lement déchu et devint tout à la fois l’organe exécutif, législatif et judiciaire du pays. On l’appela le Derg. Nous étions touts partisans du changement, mais l’attitude du Derg nous inquiéta d’emblée. Devions-nous nous op-poser à lui ou le soutenir? Et si les militar-ies, ayant pris goût au pouvoir, se refusaient définitivement à réintégrer leurs casernes? Différentes réponses furent envisagées. Les members du Meison («Mouvement socialiste de toute l’Éthiopie») tenaient la junte pour progressiste et affrimaient qu’il convenait de lui apporter un soutien critique. Je rejoignis quant à moi l’Ihapa («parti populaire révolu-tionnaire éthiopien») qui pensait que les mili-taries deviendraient tôt ou tard des dictateurs et qu’il fallait nous opposer immédiatement à eux. Nous avons réclamé un «gouverne-

ment populaire progressiste» et le départ de l’armée. Nous avons harcelé le Derg en remettant l’accent sur la question encore ir-résolue de la propriété foncière.Le Derg, soutenu par le Meison, confisqua par proclamation des bâtiments urbains et des terres jugées «excédentaires». Cette mesure lui a apporté un certain soutien populaire, à la suite duquel il mobilisa les jeunes et les envoya alphabétiser les campagnes. Les étu-diants mobilisés tentèrent de politiser les pay-sans et éliminèrent les derniers partisans de l’Ancien régime.Les pays occidentaux avaient alors cessé toute relation avec l’Éthiopie et le Derg se rapprocha du bloc communiste. Il proclama que le socialisme serait désormais l’idéologie officielle du pays. Cela divisa d’avantage l’opinion, majoritairement composée d’intellectuels et d’étudiants. L’antagonisme et la haine se firent plus intenses entre les partisans du Derg et ceux qui, comme moi, réclamaient un «gouvernement populaire immédiatement». Nous sortîmes alors nos fusils. Mais, étape par étape, le Derg musela la société. Dans les villes, il créa les Kébélé, et mobilisa dans les campagnes les associa-tions de paysans pour réduire l’opposition. Les jeunes de l’Ihapa n’acceptèrent pas cette première phase de coercition. Ils prirent les armes et tirèrent sur ceux qui étaient devenus leurs ennemis. Nous qui avions lutté ensemble pour un système démocratique et pour que la terre soit rendue «à celui qui la cultive», nous nous entretuâmes. Le Derg, profitant de nos divisions, massacre des milliers de jeunes. La terreur rouge, avec l’aide des pays socialistes, emprisonna, tortura et fusilla sans jugement.J’étais alors instituteur à Dessié. J’ai échappé à une mort annoncée. Les prisons du Derg étaient pires que tout ce que l’on peut imag-iner. J’ai vu des enfants de quinze ans tor-turés et fusillés comme «tueurs à gages» de l’Ihapa. Des collégues instituteurs emprison-nés comme moi, furent passés par les armes sans autre forme de procès. J’ai survécu non par chance, mais par miracle. Quand je fus libéré, ma famille et mes proches avaient déjà pleuré ma mort.Au total, la terreur rouge a massacré quelque 1oo ooo étudiants, paysans, travailleurs. Les cadavres, jetés sur les chemins, brûlaient et puaient au soleil, Pour inhumer leurs enfants, les mères devaient payer le prix de la balle qui les avait tués.Pour autant, les exactions du Derg n’avaient pas encore éteint notre ardeur à lutter. Nous croyions encore en la victoire, en la possibili-té de libérer notre peuple. Nous nous battions pour un vrai socialisme, qui nous apporterait justice et prospérité. Pour cela nous étions prêts à affronter les châtiments et la mort. Les tortures que j’avais endurées ne m’avaient pas encore complètement brisé. J’espérais que nos camarades qui s’étaient réfugiés à la champagne reviendraient, fusils brandis, nous libérer. Mais par sa réforme sur la pro-priété foncière, la terre ayant été rendue aux paysans, les immeubles et les outils de pro-

duction appartenant désormais au «peuple», le Derg nous confisqua le soutien des travail-leurs.Les ouvriers et les paysans, pour lesquels nous avions lutté contre le système féodal puis contre junte, se mirent à nous tirer dessus – avec les fusils que le Derg leur fournissait. Nous fûmes finalement réduits, vaincus, inca-pables d’endurer plus longtemps la prison, la torture, les tueries.Nous n’étions pas les seuls perdants. Les in-tellectuels et les jeunes qui s’étaient rangés du côté du Derg le furent aussi. Ils s’étaient en effet opposés aux dérives fascistes du Derg. Une semaine suffit à jeter la plupart d’entre eux en prison. Leurs leaders furent éliminés. Ainsi s’éteignit le mouvement estudiantin né à l’époque de Hailé Sellasié.Les I7 années du Derg furent un temps de défaite, d’oppression, d’émigration. Presque tous les survivants des premiers massacres s’enfuirent pour l’Europe ou les Etats-Unis. Les Ethiopiens, connus pour leur fierté et l’attachement à la terre, durent encore courb-er la tête et émigrer. Nous, qui étions restés au pays, nous semblions vivre, mais nous n’étions en réalité que des morts-vivants, sans espoir, à genoux, écrasés par la botte du Derg. J’eus moi qussi l’occasion de quitter le pays, mais je ne le fis pas. J’imaginais qu’un jour le combat reprendrait – et qu’alors il faudrait être présent.J’appris alors combine il pouvait être amer d’accepter la défaite. Cinq ans après la chute de l’Empereur, après ma sortie de prison, il me semblait qu’il ne restait plus rien de ma vie. Tous mes amis étaient morts ou à l’étranger, nos organisations dissoutes. J’avais alors 25 ans. La boisson et la lecture m’ont empêché de devenir fou, elles m’ont été le seul moy-en de fuir cet affreux sentiment de défaite. Les bouteilles et les livres m’ont permis de supporter cette époque terrifiante où il était impossible de marcher transquillement, de penser et de parler librement. Je me suis mis lire de plus en plus. J’enseignais le jour et je lisais la nuit. Même en prison j’avais réussi à me procurer des livres.Je lisais pas mal d’auteurs russes (parmi lesquels Soljenitsyne). Egalement Malraux, Hemingway, Sartre…L’Ethiopie, vous disais-je, est un étrange pays. C’est à ma sortie de prison, à la fin des années 70, que j’ai décou-vert l’existentialisme…J’avais pris goût à la lecture au lycée. La litté-rature de mon pays, de la France, de la Russie et de l’Angleterre m’était devenue familière. C’est aussi au lycèe que j’ai commencé à écrire. Nous avions formé un cercle litté-raire. Nous imprimions diverses revues avec le polycopieur de l’école. J’ai aimé les livres dès ce temps-là. Un peu plus de 1O ans plus tard, J’ai vu le Derg brûler les bibliothèques de toutes les écoles du pays. Seule la biblio-thèque Kennedy de l’université d’Addis Abe-ba échappa au brasier grâce à l’entêtement héroïque de quelques professeurs.Tant que dura le Derg, je n’eus d’autres amis que l’alcool et les livres. Les ciseaux de


UnitedPrinters


la censure étaient trop vigilants pour que je songe à publier mes écrits. J’ai dû me conten-ter de faire paraître une traduction de Maxime Gorky (La mère du traître), puis quelques in-nocents articles sur la culture éthiopienne, dans des journaux comme Zaré Ethiopie («L’Ethiopie d’aujourd’hui») ou Addis Ze-men («Ere nouvelle»).À la veille de la chute du Derg, en 1990, j’ai aussi publié un petit roman et quelques tra-ductions de l’américain. Durant les dernières années du Derg, j’ai travaillé comme institu-teur, puis pour la Commission du tourisme, ce qui m’a permis de mieux connaître mon pays et son peuple. J’ai pu toucher du doigt la diversité de l’Ethiopie, ses nombreuses na-tionalités et coutumes. Partout j’ai constaté l’ampleur de la pauvreté, la régression.Quand la junte se crut débarrassée de toute opposition interne, elle mobilisa 300 000 hommes en vue d’écraser le mouvement sé-paratiste érythréen, avec l’appui de l’URSS et d’autres pays socialistes (armements mod-ernes, emprunts, aides diverses). Le combat des Erythréens remontait au temps de Hailé Sellassié. Le Derg, qui venait de triompher de l’invasion somalienne, pensait en finir rapide-ment avec l’Erythrée.Mais la campagne prit un tout autre tour. La guerre, qui ne devait durer qu’un an selon les estimations officielles, se poursuivit plus de dix ans. De nouveau des milliers de jeunes, mobilisés de force, disparurent. L’armée en-gloutissait 60% du budget du pays.Alors le peuple, épuisé par la guerre, la pau-vreté et l’oppression, se souleva contre le Derg s’organisa et s’arma comme il put. En particulier, la lute qui reprit alors dans le Tigré et l’Amhara commencèrent à affaiblir sérieusement la puissance du Derg. Cette armée qui avait semblé invincible dut quitter l’Erythrée en 1991. Très vite, elle es-suya de cuisantes défaites dans le Tigré, le Gondar, le Gojjam, le Wallo…Ce fut la dé-bandade.Et Mengistu Hailé Maryam, qui se vantait naguère en disant: «Je me battrai jusqu’au dernier home et jusqu’à la dernière balle», s’enfuit précipitamment au Zimbabwé. Lui qui avait constraint tant d’Ethiopiens à émi-grer, connut à son tour l’exil. Au printemps 1991, le EPRDF (Front révolutionnaire des peuples d’Ethiopie) entrait à Addis Abeba. Ce fut la fin du régime militaire.Quelles furent, au total, les réalisations du Derg en matière de développement? Cer-taines furent remarquables, et cela en dépit du fait qu’il consacrait à la guerre l’essentiel des ressources limitées du pays. La campagne d’alphabétisation a tire de l’ignorance des millions de nos concitoyens. De nombreus-es usines ont été créées. L’armée ell-même, avant sa débâcle, n’avait pas d’équivalent en Afrique. En 17 ans, le Derg a fait d’avantage que l’Empereur en 44 ans. Il a répandu un cer-tain nombre d’idées progressistes en combat-tant le système feodal et les valeurs arriérées, traditionnelles et religieuses qui étaient ses fondements. Le Derg a créé aussi – de force

– toutes sortes d’associations qui lui ont sur-vécu, la société éthiopienne ayant bien com-pris la nécessité de s’organiser.En revanche l’économie entièrement dirigèe a exposé le pays à une extreme pauvreté. Pour acheter du pain, il fallait faire la queue pen-dant des heures, dès le matin. Chacun errait dans les kébélés, jour après jour, pour essayer de se procurer les produits de première néces-sité.Le Derg a perdu la longue guerre qu’il a menée contre l’Erythrée et d’autres régions. Cet immense sacrifice n’a finalement servi à rien: l’Erythrée s’est détachée de l’Ethiopie.En définitive, comme à la chute de l’Empereur, nous n’avons reçu en héritage que la misère.À la veille de la défaite du Derg, J’avais per-sonnellement perdu tout espoir. Je ne pensais plus assister, de mon vivant, à la libération du pays. Encore aujourd’hui, je me souviens de la joie ressentie au printmps 91.Pourtant, nous, les Ethiopiens, ne désespérons pas aisément. Nous menons à présent un com-bat éprouvant en vue d’asseoir la démocratie, d’ouvrir le pays à l’économie de marché , de réduire la pauvreté. Ce n’est pas facile. Pour parvenir à leur développment actuel, l’Europe et les États-Unis ont travaillé pendant plus d’un siècle. Nous ne pensons pas qu’il nous faudra attendre aussi longtemps, mais nous jugeons que trente à quarante années seront nécessaries. Au moment où j’écris ces lignes, en décembre 2003, les ruraux représentent encore 85% de la population.Chez nous, l’instauration de la démocratie est très récente. Ce système tiendrat-il? Comment ne nous poserions-nous pas la question? À l’heure actuelle, unelute acharnée se déroule entre tenants et adversaries de la démocratie. Si tous semblent avoir le même but, le choix des moyens les oppose. De l’issue de cette lute dépendra l’avenir du pays.Nous, les Ethiopiens, sommes un peuple sûr et fier de lui. Nous sommes fiers de notre histoire. Nous sommes fiers des guerres que nous avons menées. Nous sommes fiers de notre indépendance toujours conservée. Mais nous sommes également fiers de notre pauvreté. Nous n’avons même pas honte de notre incapacité à atteindre l’autosuffisance alimentaire, quoique nous possédions un pays naturellement fertile.Qui sait? Peut-être nous libèrerons-nous de la misère par le combat sans violence que nous menons pour la démocratie. Peut-être tenter-ons-nous de résoudre nos problèmes par la voie habituelle, en ressortant nos fusils.Cher lecteur, j’ai essayé par ce court texte de vous conter l’histoire de cinquante années de mon pays et de ma vie.Après le Derg, j’ai quitté la Commission du tourisme pour me consacrer au journalisme et à l’écriture. J’ai été Durant dix ans rédacteur en chef de l’hebdomadaire Zaré Ethiopia et du quotidian Addis Zemen. J’ai eu la chance de pouvoir éditer les œuvres du célèbre Seb-hat Gebre Egzihaber, mon ami et mon maître. Au temps de l’Empereur et du Derg, il était impossible de publier ses romans.

Je suis aujourd’hui rédacteur en chef du tri-mestriel Zemen. Tout récemment, j’ai pub-lié un recueil de nouvelles intitulé Methat («Prestidigitation»). Je souhaite désormais consacrer mon temps à publier mes romans et mes nouvelles. Mais ici, plus qu’ailleurs, le destin d’un individu ne dépend pas seulement de ses choix personnels.Vais-je réussir? Je ne sais pas!

jets sont actuellement en retard à cause des insuffisances que nous avons mentionnées ci-dessus. Ceux-a ne veut pas dire cependant que le coût du ciment et de l’acier pourrait baisser parce que la demande de ces produits pourrait continuer d’augmenter à mesure que l’industrie de construction se déploie à d’autres parties du pays moins développées. Ceux-a est en effet ce que nous témoignons déjà à mesure que les petites villes à travers le pays essaient de rattraper la fièvre de la construction.

Quelques risques que l’industrie de construc-tion pourrait faire face à présent, il est prob-able qu’une économie prospère absorbera les choques comme il est évident en Chine où la vitesse de la construction continue sans dimi-nution grâce au taux annuel moyen de crois-sance économique de plus de 10 pourcent. L’Ethiopie enregistrera –t-elle des taux de croissance semblables dans les années à venir de sorte que plus de demandes seront créées dans l’industrie de construction qui lui per-mettra de procéder actuellement et même à une vitesse plus rapide ? Toute tentative à répondre à cette question peut apparaître ou semble spéculative. Cependant, puisque l’actuel boom de la construction est partiel-lement financé par des investisseurs qui ont joui de la bonne aubaine dans les marchés des produits internationaux, les mêmes com-merçants pourront continuer à détourner leurs profits dans les affaires des biens immeubles à condition que le marché international des produits demeure favorable aux produits Ethiopiens à la longue.

Un autre facteur qui pourrait aider que l’industrie de construction évite un déclin ou une crise est le fait que la plupart des projets de construction de grande échelle, tel que les barrages, les projets d’irrigation, les écoles et les cliniques sont financés par des insti-tutions publiques ou du gouvernement qui créent continuellement de demande. Ceux-a peut être la seule garantie digne de confiance pour que l’industrie de construction continue de grandir malgré la présence des facteurs qui pourraient militer contre elle. La perspective des affaires de construction à Addis Ababa et dans tout le pays est donc plus brillante que beaucoup d’observateurs pourraient sup-poser. Les quelques années à venir pourraient cependant se révéler critiques à l’actuelle vi-tesse de croissance qui alimente les flammes des affaires de la construction.- 4 -


BusinessLe Boom de la construction

à Addis:Soutenable pour combien de

temps ?Depuis les trois ou quatre années, la capitale Ethiopienne Addis-Abe-ba est devenue la scène de construction fébrile, des activités de démo-lition et de construction. L’horison de l’autre côté de la ville qui était, depuis peu, certainement un changement rapide avec les grues de con-struction visibles partout dans la ville, Addis n’est plus la ville de la forêt dormante une fois ridiculisée par des visiteurs étrangers cyniques C’est un changement rapide dans la ville moderne pour revendiquer sa place légitime en tant que la capitale de l’Afrique.

La vitesse continue de la construction est un témoignage vivant à la croissance économique récente du pays. De nouvelles routes sont en construction. Les vieilles structures sont en train d’être démolies pour reculer devant les grattes-ciel modernes. De nouvelles zones résiden-tielles sont en train d’émerger à partir de zéro. Les affaires des biens immeubles sont en pleine activité alors que le coût des maisons est en fusée volante. Ceux-a est plutôt l’image ou l’impression générale que quelqu’un peut avoir en circulant dans la capitale Ethiopienne.

Derrière l’éblouissante fièvre de la construction cependant se trouvent des défis moins visibles et des question harassantes. Pour combien de temps cette fièvre de construction peut être soutenue avant que le boom de la construction se transforme fortement en déclin avant que les nouveaux projets soient complétés ?

L’économie éthiopienne est inévitablement en train d’être intégré à l’économie globale par laquelle est connu comme le processus de la globalisation. Par suite de Ceux-a toute crise ou cheque dans n’importe quelle partie du monde est en train d’être sentie et continuera de se faire sentir ici en Ethiopie comme aucun pays peut encore vivre dans une autarcie économique. La récession couramment grimpante dans l’économique américaine doit être sentie ici d’une manière ou une au-tre. L’hypothèque et la crise financière est tenue de donner des leçons importantes à une autre économie moins développée dans les arts de gestion de crise.

Cependant, toute comparaison entre les économies de l’Amérique et de l’Ethiopie serait un exercice forcé. Pourtant à ce moment particulier l’Amérique est considérée comme l’endroit le plus mauvais pour les propriétaires de maison par suite de la récente crise de l’hypothèque, du crédit exacerbé et de la déflation rampante ainsi que la faillite des banques de logement et de construction qui étaient laissés les mains vides parce que le boom se transformait en marasme et que les em-prunteurs étaient incapables à rembourser leurs prêts.

La crise de l’hypothèque en Amérique pourrait avoir des lessons utiles mais Ceux-a ne veut pas dire que l’économie Ethiopienne a quelque chose à apprendre de sa contre-partie Américaine., Les deux pays et leurs économies se trouvent à l’échelle de croissance économique dia-métralement opposée et sont ainsi incomparables en aucune manière possible. Mention peut cependant être faite du fait que des maisons peuvent devenir à vil prix comme elles sont maintenant en Amérique où elles étaient une fois impossibles à se procurer et il pouvait être dans l’intérêt de chacun de garder les choses d’aller de mal en pis.

L’industrie de construction ou l’affaire des biens immeubles en Ethi-opie est improbable à faire face à un tel désastre parce que la Banque

Nationale est la seule prêteuse à grande échelle aux affaires des bien immeubles et non aux constructeurs des maisons individuelles. Et la Banque Nationale d’Ethiopie qui, à tout prendre, joue un rôle similaire à celui de la Réserve Fédérale Américaine est suffisamment prudente à équilibrer son prêt et ses réserves en utilisant des différents instru-ments fiscaux et monétaires. Ceux-a pourrait être considéré comme une bénédiction de la propriété de l’état des banques qui sont stricte-ment contrôlées et gérées pour éviter des crises de prêt possibles.

Les banques appartenant à l’état ont prêté, selon le bruit qui court, un montant considérable d’argent disponible aux affaires des biens im-meubles sur la supposition que les bâtiments eux-mêmes pourraient être utilisés en tant que cautions au cas où les emprunteurs manquent de rembourser l’argent qu’ils ont pris des banques. Ceux-a crée un sens commun économique à l’extérieur mais la perspective tracas-sante de la plupart des personnes de la banque et des affaires des biens immeubles est que les banques commerciales sont en train de pomper beaucoup plus d’argent dans l’économie en poussant en haut de cette manière la spiracle de l’inflation.- 2- Certaines personnes suspectent, légitiment ou non, que l’actuelle croissance du taux d’inflation qui a dépassé les 20 pourcent de point, pourrait être partiellement à cause de trop d’argent circulant dans l’économie par suite de prêt massif accordé par la banque centrale qui est acharnée à se débarrasser de son problème de liquidité.

D’autre part qu’est ce qu’il arrivera si la fièvre de construction atteig-nait le point de saturation naturelle et beaucoup de grattes-ciel man-quaient d’attirer soit les acheteurs soit les locataires comme beaucoup d’entre eux sont soupsonnés avoir déjà atteint ce point - là ? Les con-structeurs de maison continueront d’emprunter de l’argent tant qu’il est disponible et suffisamment généreux à attirer plus d’investisseurs dans le secteur. L’ennui a lieu quand le boom se transforme en mar-asme et quand les emprunteurs évitent de sentir la chaleur parce qu’ils manquent de restituer l’argent qu’ils ont emprunté ou ont manqué de s’assurer plus de prêts afin de déplacer leurs investissements à d’autre affaires plus profitables.

L’industrie de construction à Addis Ababa et en Ethiopie en générale n’a pas apparament atteint ce stade mais la menace pourrait être là tant que les banques continuent à effectuer des prêts à grande échelle sans évaluer les risques à long terme.

L’inflation de l’effort d la demande dans l’industrie de construction pourrait aussi être derrière le coût toujours croissant des maisons et de bâtiments, des maisons résidentielles en particulier. Le coût nomi-nal de la terre est également croissant à un taux alarmant bien que la terre est de droit la propriété de l’état et personne n’a le droit d’acheter, de vendre ou de l’hypothéquer . Il n’y a pas de marché de parcelles de terrain en tant que tel. Toutes les fois que des transac-tions dans l’affaire des biens immeubles ont lieu , le prix du terrain est inclus ou présenté sous une forme déguisée tel que le prix de la maison qui est fondée sur cette parcelle de terrain particulière . Le prix du terrain est ainsi camouflé ou déguisé comme le coût de la maison.

L’investissement dans les affaires des biens immeubles est improb-able à atteindre le point de saturation très bientôt parce que la vitesse de la construction est souvent ralentie par des facteurs qui militent contre l’industrie tel que la non disponibilité ou le prix élevé des con-sommations majeures de l’industrie, à savoir le ciment et l’acier.

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Une douzaine ou plus de nouvelles cimenteries sont en construction dans plusieurs parties du pays et une fois que ces entreprises com-mencent à fournir leurs produits au marché elles accéléreront prob-ablement l’allure de la construction parce que beaucoup de pro-


ሀገርም እንደሰው ልጅ ነው፡፡ ታናሽ ሁሌም ታላቆቹን ነው የሚከተለው፡፡ የመጀመሪያው ሮል ሞዴል መሆኑ ነው፡፡ ታላቅየው ጎበዝ ተማሪ ከሆነ ታናናሾቹም እንደሱ ለመጎበዝ ይጥራለሉ፡፡ ታላቅየው ሰነፍና በተለያዩ ሱሶች የተጠመደ ከሆነም ታናናሾቹ ከዚህ አያመልጡም፡፡ ሀገርም እንደሰው ታላላቆቹን እያየ ነው ወደፊት ለመራመድ የሚሞክረው፡፡አሁን ዘመኑ የዲሞክራሲ ነው፡፡ ሶሻሊዝም በዓለም አቀፍ ደረጃ ተሸንፎ ካፒታሊዝም የነገሰበት ነው፡፡ ካፒታሊዝም ደግሞ በነፃ ገበያ ላይ ስለሚመሰረት ዲሞክራሲን የግድ ይላል፡፡ ካፒታሊዝምን ከዲሞክራሲ ውጪ እየገነቡ ያሉትን ቻይናንና ቬትናም ሳንዘነጋ ለዚህም ነው እንደ ሀገራችን ያሉ ታዳጊ ሀገራት በዲሞክራሲ ውስጥ ለማደግ ሲፍጨረጨሩ የሚታዩት፡፡ በቴክኖሎጂውም በሃብትም ነግሰው የሚገኙት ታላላቅ ሀገሮችም እና ደካሞችና ድሆች የነሱን አርአያ እንድንከተል ከፍተኛ ተፅዕኖ ያደርጋሉ፡፡ውድ አንባቢያን ለሶስተኛው ዓለም ሀገራት ዲሞክራሲ አያስፈልገንም ልላቸው የተነሳሁ እንዳይመስላችሁ፡፡ ያስፈልገናል በደንብ ያስፈልገናል፡፡ ግን እኛ ሀበሾች ወይም ባጠቃላይ አፍሪካውያን ለዲሞክራሲ በቅተናል ወይ? ይህንን ለመጠየቅ ነው፡፡ አነሳሴ፡፡በአንድ ሀገር የሚገነባው ዲሞክራሲ የተሟላ እንዲሆን የተለያዩ የማዕዘን ድንጋዮችን ተፈልጓል፡፡ ዋናዎቹን ለመጥቀስ ያህል ዲሞክራሲ በመጀመሪያ ነፃ ፕሬስን ይፈልጋል፡፡ ሀሳብን በነፃ ለመግለፅና ለማሸራሸር በሁለተኛ ደረጃ በህዝብ ለህዝብ የተመረጠ መንግሥትን አምጡ ይላል፡፡ በርካታ ብሔሮችና ሀይማኖቶች ባሉበት ሁሉን አቀፍ እኩልነትና የእምነት ነፃነትን ይጠይቃል፡፡ ከላይ የጠቀስኳቸውን ነገሮች አሟልቶ ለመገኘት ዲሞክራሲ አንድ ነገርን አጥብቆ ይሻል፡፡ ምን ይመስላችኋላ ያ ነገር? ቀላል ነው ብዙ አትጨነቁ መልሱን እኔው እሰጣችኋለሁ፡፡ መቻቻል፡፡መቻቻል? እኛ ደግሞ የማናውቀውን አዲስ ነገር ልትነግረን መስሎን እንጂ የተጨነቅነው፡፡ መቻቻልንማ እናውቀዋለን፡፡ በተለይ እኛ ኢትዮጵያውያን የሀይማኖት መቻቻል ተምሳሌት አይደለን እንዴ በመላው ዓለም ትሉኝ ይሆናል፡፡ ልክ ናችሁ ኢትዮጵያውያን በርግጥም የሃይማኖት መቻቻልን ቀደም ብለን ያወቅን ህዝቦች ነን ግን ከልብ እንጠያየቅና ተቻችለን ነው ወይስ ተፈራርተን ነው አብረን እየኖርን ያለነው? መልሱን ለናንተው እተወዋለሁ፡፡ በዲሞክራሲ ውስጥ መቻቻል የማይገባበት የለም የሀይማኖቶች መቻቻል ፣ በብሔር መቻቻል፤ በሃሳብ መቻቻል፣ በቤተሰብ መቻቻል፣ በባህል መቻቻል ፣ በአስተዳደር ውስጥ መቻቻል. . . ብቻ ስንቱን ዘርዝረን እንጨርሰዋለን ባጭሩ መቻቻል ዲሞክራሲ፤ ዲሞክራሲ መቻቻል ነው፡፡ ብንል ሳይሻለን አይቀርም፡፡ ዲሞክራሲና መቻቻል የማይነጣጠሉ የአንድ ሳንቲም ሁለት ገፅታዎች ከሆኑ እኛ ሀበሾች ምን ያህል ነው መቻቻልን የባህላችን አካል አድርገን እየተጓዝን ያለነው? እስቲ ለዚህ ጥያቄ መልስ አንድ አ

ንድ አብነቶችን ላነሳሳና መልስ የሚሆን ነገር ላፈላልግ፡፡ ከቤሰብ እንጀምር ስንቶቻችን ነን በቤተሰቦቻችን መካከል መቻቻልን አስፍነን ህይወታችን በዲሞክራሲያዊ መንገድ የምንመራ በደንብ ከማውቃቸው ቤተሰቦች ውስጥ ያንዱን ታሪክ ላውሳላችሁ፡፡ ነፍሱን ይማረውና አንድ ጓደኛ ነበረኝ (አሁን በህይወት ስሌለ ነው ነፍሱን ይማረው ያልኩት) ይሄን ጓደኛዬን እውጪ ስታዩት በጣም ትሁትና ጨዋ ሰው ነው፡፡ ለኛ ለጓደኞቹ ማለቴ ነው፡፡ የተማረም ነው፡፡ ቢያንስ ቢያንስ የመጀመሪያ ዲግሪውን በማኔጅመንት ይዟል፡፡ ታዲያ የዚሁ ትሁት ጓደኛዬ ባህርይ በጣም የተለያየ ነው፡፡ እውጪና እቤቱ ውስጥ ማለቴ ነው፡፡ ለማመን በሚያስቸግር መልኩ ሁለት ሰው ሆኖ ታገኙታላችሁ፡፡ ቀለስላሳውና ትሁቱ ጓደኛዬ እቤቱ ሲገባ ሌላ ሰው ሆኖ ቁጭ ነው የሚለው፡፡ እዚያ ፈላጭ ቆራጩ እሱ ነው፡፡ ሚስቱም፤ ልጆቹም ገና ከውጪ ድምፁን ሲሰሙ በድንጋጤ ይርበተበታሉ፡፡ የሚይዙት የሚለቁትን ያጣሉ፡፡ በር አንኳኩቶ ቶሎ ካልተከፈተለት ወዮላቸው ለሚስትና ለልጆቹ ሠራተኛውንማ ተዋት ምድት ተከፍቶ ቢውጣት ይሻላታል፡፡ እንግዲህ ቁጣው ከዛ ይጀምራል፡፡ በሩን የከፈተው ሠራተኛዋ ወይም አንዱ ልጁ ከሆነ በመጀመሪያ የስድብ ውርጅብኝ ይለቅበታል፡፡ ሥራ ይዤ ነው ወይም ምንትስ ብለው ምክንያት ከሰጡ አንድ ካልቾ ወይም አንድ ጥፊ ይከተላል፡፡ ግቢ ውስጥ ከገባ በኋላ ውሻው ካልታሰረ ዶሮዎቹ በየቆጡ ካራፈፈሩ እማድ ቤቱ በር ላይ የወዳደቁ እንጨቶች ካልተሰበሰቡ ወዬ ለሚስትየዋ እሷም በተራዋ የግልምጫና የስድብ ናዳ ይወርድበታል፡፡ በቢሮ ሥራ ደክማ እቤቷ የገባች እሚሰራ ትንሽም አረፍ ብላ ትንፋሻን ሳትውጥ ንጉሱ ባል ይመጡና በቁጣና በትዕዛዝ ያጣድፏታል፡፡ ፀጥ ብላ ከመታዘዝ ሌላ ምን ማድረግ ትችላለች? መልስ ብትሰጥ ዱላ ሊከተል ይችላል፡፡ ትሁቱ ጓደኛችን እቤት ሲገባ የሚያሳየው የባህሪ ለውጥ እሱ ነው ወይስ ሌላ ሰው የሚያሰኝ ነው፡፡ በጋራ ቤታችሁ ባል ሁሌ አዛዥ፤ ሚስት ሁሌ ታዛዥ ሆነው ነው የሚኖሩት ትዳራቸውን የሚነካ ነገር እንኳ ቢሆን ከተፈፀመ በኋላ ነው ለሷ የሚነገራት፡፡ የተሰራው ሥራ ስህተት ሆኖ ቢታያትም እንኳ ሚስት መቃወም ቀርቶ የእርምት ሀሳብ ማቅረብ አይፈቀድላትም፡፡ ለነገሩ በባህላችንና በሀይማኖታችን ሚስት በባሏ እንድትገዛ አይደል እንዴ የተፈጠረችው? ይሄ እንግዲህ ተምሯል አውቋል በሚባለው የአዲስ አበቤው ህብረተሰብ ውስጥ የሚፈፀምውን ነው የማወራችሁ፡፡ አብዛኛው የሀገራችሁን ሰው የሚኖርበትን ገጠሩን እናንተው በአይነ ህሊናችሁ ዳስሱት፡፡ ከዚሁ ከትሁቱ ጓደኛዬ ቤት ሳንወጣ በሱና በልጆቹ መካከል የነበረውን ግንኙነት እንመልከት፡፡ አባት ልጅ ተቆንጥጦና ተገርፎ ማደግ አለበት የሚል እምነት ነው ያለው ስለዚህም ልጆቹን ይቆነጥጣል፤ ይገርፋል፡፡ አልፎ ተርፎ የሚለብሱትን የሚጠጡትን የሚበሉትን የሚወስንላቸው እሱ ነው፡፡ አራት ልጆች አሉት፡፡ ሁለቱ ህፃናት ናቸው፡፡ ሁለቱ አድገው እሁለተኛ ደረጃ ገብተዋል፡፡ በተለይ እነ

ዚህ ሁለቱ ናቸው የንጉሱ ተፅዕኖ ባያሌው የሚያርፍባቸው፡፡ እነሱ ሳይጤቁና ሳይስማሙ የጥናት ሰዐት፣ የጨዋታ ሰዐት፣ የምግብ ሰዐት ተብሎ ጊዜያቸው በሶስት ተከፍሏል፡፡ በጥናት ሰዐት ወደዱም ጠሉ ደከማቸውም አልደከማቸው ደብተር ዘርግተው መቀመጥ ወይም የቤት ሥራ ለመሥራት መሞነጫጨር አለባቸው፡፡ በምግብ ሰዐት ራባቸውም አልራባቸውም መብላት አለባቸው፡፡ በጨዋታ ሰዐት ከግቢው ውስጥ እንዲወጡ አይፈቀድላቸውም፡፡ ጓደኛ የሚባል ነገር ወደእነሱ አይመጣም፡፡ እነሱም ወደጓደኛ አይሄዱም፡፡ ይባስ ብሎ ጓደኛም የሚመርጥላቸው አባትየው ነው፡፡ ከእከሌ ልጅ ጋር እንዳትገጥሙ፡፡ ከእነእንትና ጋር እንዳትሄዱ ወዘተ የሚል መመሪያ በየጊዜው ይሰጣቸዋል፡፡ አንዳንዴ እናት ወደ ሱቅ ልካቸው ትንሽ ከረፈዱ አስር ጊዜ ደጋግሞ እከሌ የት ሄደ፤ እከሊት የት ሄደች፡፡ የት ገባች እያለ ይወተውታታል፡፡ የፈረደባት እናት የባጡን የቆጡን እየቀባጠረች ያረፈዱበትን ምክንያት ትሰጣለች እናት ይህንን በመፍራት ልጆቿን ከመላክ ይልቅ እራሷ ብትሄድ ትመርጣለች፡፡ የሚያስቀው ትዕይንት ደግሞ በአመት በዐል ወቅት የሚታየው ነው፡፡ አባ ለልጆቹ ልብስና ጫማ ለመግዛት ወደገበያ ይወጣል፡፡ በየሱቁ እየዞሩ ሲመለከቱ ልጆች ትምህርት ቤት ጓደኞቻቸው የሚለብሷቸው ልብሶችና ጫማ አይነት ሲያዩ ቀልባቸው ያርፍበታል፡፡ ይሄ ይሻለኛል ይላሉ፡፡ አባት የነሱ ምርጫ አይሰማማውም፡፡ ለሱ ጥሩ የመሰለውን ይመርጣል፡፡ ብዙ ከተጨቃጨቁ በኋላ አባትየው ያሸንፋል፡፡ ልጆቹ ቅር እያላቸው ከዘመናቸው ጋር የማይጣጣም ልብስና ጫማ ተገዝቶላቸው እንደተከፉ ወደ ቤት ይገባሉ፡፡ ልብ አድርጉ አባት ይህንን የሚያደርገው ልጆቹን ለመጉዳት አስቦ እንዳይመስላችሁ፡፡ ባገር ባህል ደንብ በጨዋ ደንብ ኮትኩቶ ማሳደጉ ነው፡፡ ደግሞስ ልጆች የሚበጃቸው ከአባታቸው የበለጠ ሊያውቁ ነው? ልጆቹ እየጎረመሱ በሄዱ መጠን የአባት ቁጥጥርና ጫናም እያደገ ሄደ፡፡ አንድ ቀን ት/ቤት አርፍደሽ ገባሽ ብሎ የደረሰች ሴት ልጆች ሙልጭ አድርጎ ገረፉት፡፡ ዱላው ያስመረራት ኮረዳ በሳምንቱ ቤቷን ጥላ ካንድ ጎረምሳ ጋር ኮበለለች፡፡ ቆይታ ማታ ማታ ተውባና ደምቃ ቦሌ መንገድ ላይ ቆማ ታየች ተባለ፡፡እሷ ከቤት ከወጣች በኋላ አባትየው በወንዱ ልጅ ላይ የሚያደርገው ቁጥጥር እየከረረ ሄደ በሶስተኛው ወር ገደማ እሱም በተራው ቤቱን ጥሎ ወጣ፡፡ ሰንብቶ አንድ ታክሲ ላይ ወያላ ሆኖ ታየ፡፡ልጆቼን በስነሥርዐት አሳድጌ ለቁም ነገር አበቃለሁ ብሎ የተነሳው አባት በንዴትና በቁጭት አንጀቱ እርር ድብን አለ ሁለቱንም ልጆቹን ወደማይፈልጉት ጎንና የመራቸው የሱ አምባገነንነት መሆኑን ሊረዳው አልቻለም እሱ ተቆንጥጦ ተገርፎ ነው ያደገው ልጆቹን በራሱ አይነት ሊያሳድግ ተነሳ ውጤቱ ግን ያልተጠበቀው ሆነ፡፡ጓደኛችን በብስጭትና ተስፋ በመቁረጥ ከመጠን በላይ ይጠጣ ጀመር፡፡ ሰክሮ አምሽቶ ሲገ

ሀበሻና ዲሞክራሲደምሴ ፅጌ

አንቀፀ ብዙኃን


ባ ባለቤቱንና ትንንሽ ልጆቹን የቁም ስቃይ ያሳያቸው ገባ ለሁለቱ ልጆች መባከን ተጠያቂዋ እናት እንደሆነች ሁሉ እሷን መጨቅጨቅና የንዴቱ መወጪያ ማድረግን ስራየ ብሎ ተያያዘው፡፡አንድ ቀን ከመጠን በላይ ጠጥቶ ጥንብዝ ብሎ ሲገባ እደጃፉ ላይ ወደቀ፡፡ ጭንቅላቱን ድንጋይ መትቶት ኖሮ ሆስፒታል በገባ በሶስተኛው ቀን አረፈ፡፡በሀይማኖት አለመቻቻል ምክንያት ደግሞ ባንድ ቤተሰብ ላይ የደረሰውን ክፉ አጋጣሚ ላውጋላችሁ፡፡ እናት ታማሚ ነበረች በአንድ ጓደኛዋ ወትዋችነት ፕሮቴስታንቶች ጋር ትሄድና ፀሎት ሲደረግለት ከበሽታዋ ማገገም ትጀምራለች፡፡ እግረ መንገዷንም ያደገችበትን ሀይማኖት ትታ ፕሮቴስታንት ሆናለች፡፡ ልጅቷም እሷን ተከትሉ፡፡ አባት ክሩን ያልበጠሰ ኦርቶዶክስ ነው፡፡ የናትና የልጆቹ አካሄድ ያስደነገጠው አባት በመጀመሪያ በቁጣና በግልምጫ አልሆን ሲለው በማግባባት ሚስቱንና ልጆቹን ለመመለስ ተጣጣረ፡፡ ይባስ ብለው እነሱ አጥምቀው ወደነሱ ተቀላቀሉት ይወተውቱ ገቡ አልተሸነፈም፡፡ ከዚያ በኋላ አባት ባንድ ጎን እናትና ልጆች በሌላ ጎን ሆነው ይፋለሙ ጀመር፡፡ አባት ተማርሮ መኝታ ቤቱን ለቆ በሰርቪስ ውስጥ ለብቻው ይተኛ ጀመር፡፡ ገበታ ሳይቀር ለየብቻ ሆነ ወዳጅ ዘመድ ጣልቃ ገብቶ ሊያስማማቸው ሞከረ፡፡ አልሆነም፡፡ የሰውየው ጓደኞች መከሩ መካከሩና የተለያዩ ቤተክርስቲያናት ተከታዮች ብትሆኑም፡፡ ሁለታችሁም ክርስቲያኖች ስለሆናችሁ አንተም የሷን እሷም ያንተን እምነት አክብራችሁ ተቻችላችሁ ኑሩ፡፡ የሚል ቀና ሀሳብ አቀረቡ ሚስትና ልጆች በዚህ ተስማሙ አባት ግን ሞቼ እገኛለሁ አለ፡፡ የቤተሰቡ ክፍፍል እየሰፋ ሄደ በመካከሉ ትልቋ ልጁ ባል አገባለሁ ብላ ተነሳች ሰርጉስ?‹‹ሰርጉማ! አለ አባት ሰርጉማ በሀገራችን ደንብ በጨዋ ልጅ ወግና ማዕረግ ድል ያለ ሰርግ ደግሼ ነው እምድር››እናትና ልጆቹ አልተስማሙም በሀይማኖታችን መሰረት በፀሎትና በመዝሙር ታጅባ ነው የምታገባው፡፡ መጠጥ ዘፈን ጭፈራ የሚባል ነገር ከአጠገባችን አይድረስ አሉ፡፡ አባ ያዙኝ ልቀቁኝ ቢልም በመጨረሻው ተሸነፈ ልጅት በእምነቱ መሠረት ለስላሳ እየተጠጣ እየተዘመረ እየተፀለየ እየተሰበከም ተዳረች፡፡ ያን እለት አባት አኩርፎ ከመኝታ ክፍሉ ሳይወጣ በሩን እንደቆለፈ ዋለ፡፡ዘመድ አዝማድ አንጀቱ አረረ ወርጉ አልሆነም አሁን እንደምንም ብለህ ድል ያለ መልስ ደግስና ጥራቸው ተባለ፡፡ አባት ለመልሱ ታጥቆ ሲነሳ ሚስት አሻፈረኝ አለች፡፡ በኛው ደንብ ተድራለች በኛው ደንብ መልሱ ይደገሳል እንጅ የምን ጭፈራና ውካታ ነው በላ እርፍ፡፡አቤት እሷን ትቶ ከዘመዶቹ ጋር መልሱን ደገሰ፡፡ በእለቱ ሙሽሮቹ ቢጠበቁ ቢጠበቁ የውሀ ሽታ ሆኑ፡፡ አባት እፍረቱን ዋጥ አድርጎ ድግሱን ከዘመዶቹና ከእንግዶቹ ጋር ተቋደሰ፡፡ ብዙም አልቆየ ከሀያ አመት በላይ ያስቆጠረው ትዳር ፈረሰ፡፡ አባት ሚስቱንም ልጆቹንም አጥቶ አጨብጭቦ ቀረ አይደል የሚባለው እነደዚያ ሆነ፡፡በሀሳብ ልዩነት ሳቢያ በኔ በራሴ ላይ የደረሰውን ደግሞ ልተርክላችሁ፡፡ ለጋብቻ የተቃረብን ፍቅረኛሞች ነበርን የመንግስት ለውጥ ሆኖ ደርግ ከወደቀ በኋላ ልዩ ልዩ ፓርቲዎች ተቋቋሙ፡፡ እኔ ያንዱ ፓርቲ እሷ ደግሞ የሌላው ተከታይ ሆንን በሀገሪቱ ውስጥ የፖለቲካው ሙቀት እየገነነ በወጣ ቁጥር በሁለታችን መካ

ከል የተፈጠረው የሀሳብ ልዩነት እያደገ መጣ፡፡ በፊት በትንሽ ነገር እንለያይ የነበረው በበርካታ ነጥቦች ላይ ልንስማማ አልቻልንም፡፡ አዝማሚያው ስላሰጋኝ ለማፈግፈግ ሞከርኩ ውቡ ፍቅራችን በሃሳብ ልዩነት ምክንያት መደፍረስ የለበትም ብዬ ላድነው ተነሳሁ፡፡ እሷ ጎን እንደ እኔ ካላሰብክ መስማማት የሚባል ነገር አጠገቤም አያልፍ አለች፡፡ ለምንነ ሁለታችንም እምነቶቻችንን እንደያዝን በሚያስማሙን ነገሮች ፍቅራችንን አናዳብረውም ብላት ወይ ፍንክች አለች፡፡ እኔ የምደግፈውን ትደግፋለህ እኔ የማምነውን ታምናለህ አለበለዚያ…አለበለዚያዋን እየፈራሁ ብዙ ጣርኩ የተለያዩ አብነቶችን እየጠቃቀስኩ ላለዝባት ሞከርኩ፡፡ አልተሳካልኝም፡፡ የዲሞክራሲ አባት የሆኑት አሜሪካኖችን እንደዋቢ አቀረብኩ፡፡ አሜሪካ ውስጥ ሚስት የዲሞክራቲክ ፓርቲ ባል ፤የሪፐብሊካን ፓርቲ ደጋፊ ሆነው ተቻችለው አብረው ይኖራሉ፡፡ እንግሊዞችም እንደዚሁ፡፡ እኔና አንቺስ እንደነሱ ለምን አንሆንም ብዬ ተማፀንኳት ከንቱ ልፋት ነው የሆነብኝ፡፡ትወደኛለች እወዳታለሁ፡፡ ግን እምነቶቻችንን አቻችለን ወደጋብቻ መዝለቅ አልቻልንም፡፡ ይባስ ብላ ፖለቲካውንም ሀይማኖቷንም እያከረረች መጣች፡፡ የከረረ ነገር ደግሞ መበጠሱ አይቀሬ አይደል፡፡ ተለያየን፡፡ እኔም እምነቶቼን ችላ አብራኝ የምትኖር በማጣቴ ወንደላጤ እንደሆንኩ አለሁ፡፡ስለአንድ ባስልጣን ወዳጄ ልጨምርላችሁ፡፡ መተዳደሪያችን ዲሞክራሲ ነው፡፡ ከተባለበት ቀን አንስቶ እንደሱ ያለ የዲሞክራሲ ጠበቃ የለም፡፡ ንድፈ ሃሳቡን በቃሉ ይዞታል፡፡ እቢሮው ሲገባ ግን የሚያነበንበው ንደፈ ሀሳብ ይረሳና ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ሆኖ ቁጭ ይላል፡፡ ሰራተኞቹን አንቀጥቅጦ ነው እሚገዛቸው ባጠገቡ ሲያልፍ ጎንበስ ብሎ ሰላምታ የማይሰጥ እሱ ወደቢሯቸው ሲገባ ብድግ ብለው ያልተቀበሉ ሠራተኞች ወዮላቸው፡፡ከስሩ ያሉትን ሀላፊዎች ስብሰባ ይጠራና አብዛኛውን ጊዜ የሚናገረው እሱ ሠራተኞች ምንም አይነት ጥሩና ትክክለኛ ሀሳብ ቢያቀርቡ በመጨረሻው እሱ ያለው ነው ትክክሉ የሱን ሀሳብ ለማፅደቅ ነው ሁሌም የሚሰበሰቡት፡፡ ያለኔ ዲሞክራት የለም የሚለው ጓደኛችን የተጎናፀፉን የዲሞክራሲ ካባ አውልቆ እቢሮው ሲገባ እንኳን ሰራተኞቹን እኛን ያስፈራናል፡፡የካባ ነገር ሲነሳ በደርግ ጊዜ የተፈፀመ አንድ ነግ ትዝ አለኝ፡፡ አነድ ጓደኛችን ቀንደኛ የሶሻሊዝም ካድሬ ይሆናል፡፡ ሁሉም ነገሩ ሶሻሊዝም ሶሻሊዝም ይሸታሉ፡፡ አለባበሱ አረማመዱ አበላሉ ሳይቀር የሶሻሊስቶችን ሆነ ልብ አድርጉ ይሄ ሰው እኛ ስናውቀው ዲያቆን የነበረ የቄስ ልጅ ክርሰቲያን ነው፡፡ ሶሻሊዝም ሲመጣ ሀይማኖቱን በጉያው ደብቆ የሰው ዘር የተገኘው ዝንጀሮ መሰል ከሆነ ፍጡር ነው እያለ መስበክ ጀመረ፡፡ እውጪ እንዲህ ይበል እንጅ እቤቱ ሲገባ ሌላ ሰው ነው፡፡ ማታ ማታ የሶሻሊዝም ካባውን ያወልቅና አምላኩን በፀሎት ይማፀናል፡፡‹‹አምላኬ አደራህን የምቀባጥረውን ሁሉ አትያዝብኝ የእንጀራ ገነር ሆናብኝ ነው፡፡ አንተው ነህ አምላካችን በአምሳልህ የፈጠርከን አሁን ነው ማረኝ..ማረኝ.. እያለ ይቅርታ ይጠይቅ ነበር፡፡ጉደኛው ኢሃፓ ድንገት ተነስቶ አባላቱን ቤተክርስቲያን እንዳትሄዱ፤ የወለዳችሁትን ልጅ ክርስትና እንዳታስነሱ የሚል መመሪያ ያስተላልፋል፡፡ ጓደኛችን ጉድ ፈላበት እርጉዝ ሚስቱ ስትወልድ ክርስትና ላያስነሳው ነው፡፡ ጭ

ንቀት ውስጥ ገባ ቆይቶ መላ መጣለትና ሚስቱ ወልዳ የክርስትናው ቀን ሲደገስ ገጠር ወዳሉት ዘመዶቿ ጋር ሄዳ በድብቅ ክርስትና እንድታስነሳ አደረገ፡፡ ቤተክርስቲያን ግን ሄዶ ሊሳለም አልቻለም፡፡በዚህ ጭንቀት ላይ እያለ ደርግ ወደቀለት፡፡ በማግስቱ ቤተክርስቲያን ግቢ ከተገኙት ካድሬዎች አንዱ ይሄ ጓደኛችን ነበር፡፡ የሶሻሊዝም ካባውን እዚያው አውልቆ ጥሎ ዛሬ አንድ ቁጥር ፀሚ አንድ ቁጥር አክራሪ ክርስቲያን ሆኗል፡፡ አሁንስ የዲሞክራሲን ካባ ያጠለቅን ስንቶቻችን እንሆን?በቅርቡስ ኬኒያ ውስጥ የተፈፀመ ጭፍጨፋ ላለመቻቻል ጥሩ አብነት አይደል? ምርጫ ተደረገ፡፡ ውጤቱ ተነገረ ተቃዋሚው ፓርቲ ተጭበርብሬያለሁ አለ፡፡ ገዢው ፓርቲ የለም በትክክል ነው ያሸነፍኩ አለ፡፡ ሁለቱ ተጨቃጨቁ ተከታዮቻቸው የሆኑት መናጨችም ተጣሉ ዘር ለይተው መጨፋጨፍ ጀመሩ፡፡ ስንት ምስኪን ዜጋ ተጨፈጨፈ በመቶሺዎች የሚቆጠሩት ከቤት ንብረታቸው ተፈናቀሉ፡፡ በርግጥ የኬኒያውን ሁኔታ ሲያስታውሉት እውን አፍሪካውያን ለዲሞክራሲ በቅተዋል? የመቻቻል ባህል አላቸው የሚያሰኝ ነው፡፡ለማጠቃለል ዲሞክራሲ የመቻቻል ባህልን የግድ ይላል፡፡ ቤተሰባዊ መቻቻል ሀይማኖታዊ መቻቻል ፖለቲካዊ መቻቻል ምን ቅጡ በሁሉም ዘርፍ መቻቻል ያስፈልጋል፡፡ ከዚህ እንነሳና የኛ ባህል የኛን ሀይማኖት የኛን ፖለቲካና የአኗኗር ዘዴዎች እንፈትሻቸው፡፡ መቻቻል ምን ያህል ዘልቆ ገብቶባቸዋል? አለበለዚያ አደጋ ላይ ነን ጎበዝ ከጎረቤት አገር መማር ነው!!


አዜብ ዛሬም ገነ ከምግባር ጋር ብትሆን ሲሄድ ብትሄድ ሲታመም ብትታመም እንደው የሆነውን ሁሉ ብትሆን ትመርጣለች፡፡ሴት ጓደኞቿ ስለእርሱ አጥላልተውም ሆነ አድንቀው እንዲያወሩ አትፈቅድላቸውም፡፡ ሲያጥላሉት በንዴት ትበግናለች፡፡ ሲያደንቁት የሚነጥቋት ይመስላትና ውስጥ ውስጡን በቅናት ትጨሳለች፡፡ ደስ የሚላት ወንዶች ብቻ ሲያደንቁት ነው፡፡ ይሄኔ ልቧ በኩራት ይሞላል፡፡ ከሱ ጋር ስትሆን የሚሰማትን ያህል ደስ ይላታል፡፡ መቼም ከሱ ጋር ስትሆን የተለየ ዓለም ውስጥ የገባች ነው የሚመስላት፡፡ከእርሱ ጋር ስትሆን የምትደሰተውን ያህል የምትከፋበት የአልፎ አልፎ ጊዜም አያጣትም፡፡ ይሄ ታዲያ ሁሌም አንድ ዝም የሚያሰኝ ጉዳይ ምግባርን ሲገጥመው ነው፡፡ ምግባር እንዲህ አይነቱ ጉዳይ አንዴ ከህሊናው ውስጥ ዘው ካለ መመለሻ የለውም፡፡ የሷን ከአጠገቡ መኖር እስኪረሳ ድረስ በዚያው ሀሳብ ይነጉዳል፡፡ ዝም!---ዝምታው ‹‹የወንድ ድምፅ ነው!›› የምትለውን ጎርፍና ድምፁንና ጣፋጭ አንደበቱን ይሰርቅባታል፡፡ በጫወታ መካከል ብልጭ ሲል የሚያስደስታትን ፍንጭቱን ያሸሽባታል፡፡ ክብልል የሚሉ የትላልቅ አይኖቹን ውበት ያጠፋባታል፡፡ ይበልጥ የሚያስከፋትና በዝምታ አስሮ የሚይዛት ግን ሌላ ጉዳይ ነው፡፡ ያኔ ልቡ ለሌላሴት የቆመ፤ ሌላ ሴት የሚያስብ ይመስላትና እሷም ዝም! እየተብሰለሰለች፡፡… በእርግጥ በዚህ ሰዐት ገልመጥ-መለስ ገልመጥ መለስ … እያለች መመልከቷ አይቀርም፡፡ ንዴቷ እየጨመረ ሲሄድና ትዕግስቷ ሲያበቃ ግን አራስ ነብር ሆና ትናገረዋለች፡፡‹‹የት ሄድክ?!... ›› ትለዋለች ---እየጦፈች፡፡ ምግባር ዝም፡፡‹‹ስማ አንተን እኮ ነው!?...›› ክንዱን ወይ ትከሻውን ይዛ ትነቀንቀዋለች፡፡‹‹ኡፍ!...ቆይኝ አንዴ ባክሽ!...›› እያላት ከሄደበት ዓለም ላለመመለስ ይታገላል፡፡ እንዲህ ሲላት ደግሞ አትወድም፡፡‹‹እኔ እዚሁ እያለሁ ሌላ ሴት ጋ ትሄዳለህ? ሌላ ሴት ታስባለህ? …ወይ አንደኛውን አልወድሽም-- አልፈልግሽም በለኝ! … ተው --ተው--ተው! … ተው ምግባር --ተው እባክህ!...›› ትለዋለች --ከጠይም ረዘም ያለ ፊቷ ላይ ጥልቅ የሆነ ቅሬታ እየተነበበባት፡፡ ---* * * እለቱ እሁድ ነው --ጠዋት፡፡ የሰፈሩን ማቲዎች አስሮ የሚይዛቸው ት/ቤት እንኳ እረፍት ነው፡፡ በአዋጅ ‹‹ውጡ ተብላችኋል!›› የተባሉ ይመስል አንዳቸውም ሳይቀሩ ከውጭ ሲንጫጩና ሲጯጯሁ ይሰማሉ፡፡…የምግባር መኖሪያ አንድ ክፍል ናት፡፡ እቃ ቤት፣ ማድ ቤት ፣ ሳሎን፣ መፃህፍት ቤት… የሌላት፡፡ ከዚያው አንድ ክፍል ውስጥ ከበሩ ፊት ለፊት ያለውን ግድግዳ ተጠግቶ የቆመ

ው ሰፊና ረዘም ያለ ጠረጴዛ ከመደርደሪያው የተረፉ ብዛት ያላቸውን ቁልል መፃህፍትና ክምር ወረቀቶች ፊት ለፊ የተለያየ መልክ ያላቸው ያለቁና ያላለቁ በእሮች፣ የተቀረፁ ረዣዥም እርሳሶች እንደተሰኩ ቆመዋል፡፡ ወዲህ ከጠረጴዛው ዳርና ዳር የሚቀጣጠሉ ሁለት ሻማዎች ይታያሉ፡፡ ከቁልል መፃህፍቱ አናት ላይ የተቀመጠው የጠረጴዛ ሰዐት ከጠዋቱ አራት ሰዐት ከሃያ ደቂቃዎችን ያስነብባል፡፡የክፍሉ መቶ ሻማ አግዳሚ መብራት ገና ከጧቱ በርቶ ያ ጠባብ ክፍልና የክፍሉ እቃ ሁሉ ፏ!... ብሎ ይታያል፡፡ ደራሲው ምግባር እኒያን ሁለት ሻማዎች ያቀጣጠላቸው ለክፍሉ ተጨማሪ ብርሃን እንዲሰጡት ሳይሆን ለመጻፍ ከመቀመጡ በፊት ሻማዎችን ማቀጣጠል ለምዶበት ነው፡፡ ‹‹ እነሱ ሲቀጣጠሉ በእነሱ መካከል የተያዘ ሀሳብ በእነሱ ስሜት እንደ እነሱው እየተቀጣጠለ -- እየተያያዘ ይወርዳል›› የሚል የግል እምነት አለው፡፡ የስነ ፅሁፍ ‹‹አምላክ›› ቀርቦት ጧትም፣ ቀንም፣ ማታም፣ መቼም ቢፅፍ ሁለት ሻማዎችን ከግራና ከቀኝ ይተክልና ይሰየማል፤ ፅሁፉ እንደሻማዎቹ ይቀጣጠላል፡፡---ምግባር በስምንት ሰዐት ከአዜብ ጋር ቀጠሮ እንዳለው አላስታወሰም፡፡ ባለፈው ጊዜ ‹‹እሁድ በስምንት ሰዐት ደውዬልሽ እንወጣለን›› ብሏት ነበር፡፡ ሻማው እየተቀጣጠለ መንቦግቦግ ሲጀምር ከጠረጴዛው መካከል ካለው የዘወትር ወንበሩ ላይ ተቀመጠ፡፡ሙሉ ሀሳቡ ፅፎ ካልጨረሰው ረዥም ልቦለድ አስራስድስተኛ ምዕራፍ ላይ ነው፡፡ ከፊት ለፊቱ ያፈጠጠው ሌጣ ነጭ ወረቀት የህሊናውን ጭነት ተቀብሎ ሊገላግለው እጆቹን ዘርግቶ ይጠባበቀዋል፡፡ የምእራፉን ታሪክ መጀመሪያ፣ መካከልና መጨረሻ ካለፉት ምዕራፎች ጋር አያይዞና ለሚቀጥሉት ምእራፎች መሸጋገሪያ አድርጎ በሀሳቡ ይዞታል፡፡ የአሁኑ ግብ --- ግቡና የወረቀት ላይ ፍጥጫው ግን ታሪኩን በምን ዓይነት ቃላት እንደሚያሰፍረው ነው፡፡አንድም ቃል ከወረቀቱ ላይ አላሰፈረም፡፡ ቃላት እያነሳ ቃላት ይጥላል፡፡ አንዱን ቃል ከሌላው ፣ ሌላውን ከሌላው ይመርጠዋል፡፡ ከቃላት ጋር ጦርነት ነው -- ጦርነት!...በእንዲሁ እንዳለ ከቤቱ ቆርቆሮ ላይ አንድ ነገር ‹‹ኳ! …›› ብሎ ሲወድቅ ከተቀመጠበት ነዘረው፡፡ እጅግ አስደንጋጭ ነበር፡፡‹‹ሆ!... ጥሏታል!...ጥሏታል!...›› የሚል ድምፅ ተከታትሎ መጣ፡፡ የሰፈሩ ማቲዎች ወፍ ለመግደል የወረወሩት ድንጋይ ኖሯል፡፡ ድንጋጤው አለቀቀውም፡፡ የምዕራፉ መጀመሪያ፣ መካከልና መጨረሻ ተደበላለቁበት፡፡ የእርግማን ናዳውን ካወረደባቸው በኋላ እራሱን አረጋግቶ እንደገና ለመፃፍ ቢሞክርም አልያዝ --አልጨበጥ አለው፡፡ አፍጥጦበት ከነበረው ሌጣ ነጭ ወረቀት ላይ ብእሩን የመወርወር ያህል

ጥሎት ተነሳ፡፡ የንዴቱን ያህል እጆቹን እያወናጨፈ ከተንጎራደደ በኋላ ከክፍሉ አንድ ጥግ ወዳለችው ታጣፊ አልጋው ሄዶ በደረቱ ተዘረጋ፤ ፀጥ --- ሀሳብ!...ከአእምሮው ውስጥ ተከማችቶ የነበረው የረዥም ልቦለድ አስራ ስድስተኛ ምዕራፍ ታሪክ በዚሁ ቅፅበት እንደተሰረቀበት አንድ ነገር ከህሊናው ጠፍቶ ቀረ፡፡ በሰሞኑ የፃፈው አጭር ልቦለድ ትዝ ሲለው የባህር ያህል ሰፍቶ ከሰመጠበት ሀሳቡ ውስጥ ወጣ፡፡ ከሰፊው ጠረጴዛ ዳርና ዳር የተተከሉት ሁለት ሻማዎች አሁንም ይቀጣጠላሉ፡፡ የጠረጴዛው ሰዐት ቀጭ!... ቀጭ!...ቀጭ!... እያለ ይሮጣል፡፡ ጠረጴዛው ላይ ካሉት መፃህፍት ስር የአጭር ልቦለዱን ረቂቅ ስቦ አወጣው፡፡…አዜብ ለስምንት ሰዐት እሩብ ጉዳይ ሲሆን ለባብሳ ተኳኩላለች፡፡ ቦርሳዋ ተሰናድቷል፡፡ ከአንድ ጥግ ከአንዲት ትንሽ ክብ ጠረጴዛ ላይ ዳንቴል ተሸፍኖ የተቀመጠው ስልክ ስምንት ሰዐት ላይ እንደተደወለ ለመውጣት ዝግጁ ናት፡፡ ጉንጯን ከእጅ መደፏ ላይ አስተኝታው ዘንበል ያለችበት ደረቅ ወንበር ላይ ነች፡፡ ጥሪውን በአይኗ የምታዳምጥ ይመስል ደግሞ ትክ ብላ ትመለከተዋለች-- ስልኩን፡፡ የእጅ ሰዐቷንም እየቆየች --- እየቆየች እንዲሁ ነው፡፡ስምንት ሰዐት ከአስር --- ስምንት ሰዐት ከሃያ --- ስምንት ሰዐት ከሰላሳ አምስት --- ስምንት ሰዐት ከሃምሳ --- ሰከንድ ቆጣሪው አሁንም ይሄዳል --- ምግባር እንኳን የሷን ቀጠሮና እራሱንም ረስቷል፤ የት እንዳለ አያውቅም፡፡ ባደረ አፉ ሙሉ ልቡን ለሌላኛዋ ፍቅረኛው ሰጥቶ፤ በእሷ፣ ለእሷ የሚኖር ይመስል ሙሉ አካሉን፣ ሙሉ ሀሳቡን ለሷ ብቻ አስገዝቶ ይላፋታል፡፡ አጭር ልቦለዱን ይፅፈዋል-- ያነበዋል --- ያነበዋል--- ይፅፈዋል---አዜብ ሰዐቷን ስትመለከት ዘጠኝ ሰዐት ከሩብ ሆኗል፡፡ ከቀጠሮው ሰዐት በኋላ ያለፉት ሰባ አምስት ደቂቃዎች እያንዳንዳቸው የጭንቅ የመከራና ውስጧን የረበሿት ነበሩ፡፡ የመጀመሪያዎቹ ሃያ ደቂቃዎች ‹‹ምን ሆኖ ይሆን?...›› እያሰኙ ሲያሳስቧት ቆይተው፣ ተከታዮቹ ደግሞ ‹‹የት? …ከማን ጋር?...›› በማሰኘት ያቅበጠብጧታል፡፡ በዚህ ጊዜ ውስጥ በፊት ከነበረችበት ቦታ የተነሳችው አንድ ጊዜ ብቻ ነበር፡፡ አሁንም እልህ የያዛት ይመስል እዛው ቦታ ተመልሳ ተቀምጣለች፡፡ከዛው ሆና ሩቅ በሄደ ልቧ ምግባርን ከሴት ጋር ታገኘዋለች፡፡ እሱን እንጂ ሴቷን አትለያትም፤ ወዲያው ደግሞ ከምትስማማው ጋር የምታገናኘው ይመስል ያየቻትን ትታ ሌላኛዋን … ሌላኛዋን… ሌላኛዋን… ልፊያ …መዳራት …እርር … ሥራ ሥሮቿ ተግተርትረዋል፡፡ የግራና የቀኝ ጉንጮቿ፣ ቀዳዳዎቹ ገልበጥ ብለው እንዲታዩ ወደ ላይ ቀና ያለው የአፍንጫዋ ጫፍና አይኖቿ ብስል እንጆሪ መስለዋል፡፡ ሌላው ገፅታዋ ከቁጣ በመነጨ ላብ ወርዝቷ

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ከኪዳነማርያም

ሥነ-ጥበብ


ል፡፡ ውስጧም እንዲሁ ነው፡፡ ጨጓራዋ አንዳች ፈሳሽ ፍ--ጪ--ጪ--ጭ እያደረገ ሲያመነጭ እየተሰማት ቶሎ --ቶሎ ትተነፍሳለች፡፡ ፍቅር … ቅናት… ስቃይ… ቃጣሎ ነው፡፡ግራ ገባት፡፡ ስልክ እንዳትደውልለት ስልክ የለውም፡፡ ቤቱ በቀጥታ እንዳትሄድ ምናልባት ደውሎ ያጣታል፤ ብስጭትጭት እያለች ከሳሎን ወደ ክፍሏ፣ ከክፍሏ ወደ ሳሎን ተመላለሰች፡፡ በእረፍት ቀን ቤተሰቡ ከሚሰበሰብበት ከትልቁ ቤት በስተጀርባ ካለው ሰፊ ክፍል ሄዳ እንደለመደባት ህፃናቶቹን እንዳትኮረኩም አባቷ አሉ፡፡ አቅበጠበጣት፡፡ አልቅሺ -- አልቅሺ እያላት መኝታዋ ላይ ወጣች፡፡ እርር--እር--ር-ር-ር እያለች ስትገለባበጥ ቆይታ ስልኩ ጮኽ፡፡ ፈጥና ወርዳ ሳሎን ሮጠች፡፡ ከስልኩ አጠገብ ስትደርስ ሰዐቷን ብትመለከት አስር ሰዐት ከአስር ይላል፡፡ የስድብ ናዳዋን ልታወርድበት ተቻኩላለች፡፡‹‹ማን ልበል!? …››‹‹አንቺ አባትሽ አለ?›› የተቻኮለ አይነት ጥያቄ ነበር፡፡‹‹የለም!›› ብላ እንደመለሰች ሁሉም ነገር ፀጥ አለ፡፡ አባቷ እያሉ አንድ ቃሏን ተናግራ ስልኩን ከጆሮአቸው ላይ የዘጋችባቸው አጎቷ ነበሩ፡፡ ምግባርን አግኝታው እልኋን የተወጣችበት ይመስል በአሸናፊነት ስሜት እክፍሏ ተመልሳ ከአልጋዋ ጫፍ ተቀመጠች፤ ሁኔታውን እንደገና ስታስበው ዝም…ጭጭ… አደረጋት ፤ ከፊተኛው ይበልጥ ተናደደች፡፡ በለወጠችው የቤት ልብሷ ወደ ምግባር መኖሪያ ቤት ሄደች እየከነፈች፡፡ …* * * ምግባር አሁንም አጭር ልቦለዱ ላይ ነው፤ ደጋግሞ ካረመው በኋላ ጥቃቅን ስህተቶች እንኳ ቢኖሩ መገንዘብ ይችል ዘንድ በጥንቃቄ ማንበብ ጀመረ፡፡…ከጥቂት የዝምታ ንባቡ በኋላ በአጭር ልቦለድ ውስጥ የሚገኙትን ባህርያት ንግግር፣ የድምፃቸውን አነሳስና አወዳደቅ ለመለየት በመጠኑ ጮክ ብሎ ማንበብ ቀጠለ፡፡…ጭለማውን እየሰነጠቁ ከሚያቋርጡት ኳስ ሜዳ ላይ ምንም ነገር የለም፤ ከአክሊሉና ከመክብብ ድምፅ በቀር አየሩ እንኳ ረግቷል፡፡‹‹አክሊሉ!... ፅዮንና ምንተስኖት ግን እንዴት ናቸው?›› አለው መክብብ፡፡‹‹እንዴት ስትል ከምን አንፃር?›› ሲል ጥያቄውን በጥያቄ መለሰለት፡፡‹‹ፍቅረኛው ነች?›› አክሊሉ መልስ አልሰጠውም፡፡ ዝም አለ… ‹‹ምነው ዝም አልክሳ?...››‹‹ምን ፍቅረኛው ነች ብለህ ትጠይቀኛለህ?... ምንተስኖትን አታውቀውምና ነው!?›› አለው -- እንደመናደድ እያለ፡፡‹‹አታውቀውም ስትል…?››‹‹እባክህ መክብብ ተወኝ!... እሱ ጅል ነው!››‹‹እንዴት አክሊሉ?...››‹‹ምን እንዴት አለ? ፅዮን በጣም ትወደዋለች፤ እሱ ግን ፍቅር የሚሉትን ጉዳይ ጭራሽ አያውቀውም ፤ እሷ ብቻውን ልታገኘው ትፈልጋለች፤ እሱ ደግሞ ‹‹እነሱ ካልመጡ ሞቼ እገኛለሁ!›› ይላታል፡፡ ጅል ነው አልኩህ! … አሁን በዚህ ሰዐት ለምን ‹‹ኑ›› ብላ እንደላከችብን ይገባሃል? … ሁለቱ ብቻቸውን ስለሆኑ ‹‹እሄዳለሁ!›› ብሏት ይሆናል፤ ጅል!››‹‹ከሴት ጋር ተገናኝቶ አያውቅም?››‹‹እንኳንስ ከሴት ጋር ሊገናኝ ስለ ሴት ሲያወራ ሰምቼው አላውቅም፡፡ ከመጣ ግን ሁለት አመቱ ነው፡፡›› ሲል በብሽቀት መለሰለት፡፡ በእህትነት የሚወዷት ፅዮን ምላሽ ላታገኝ ለ

ዚህ እንከፍ የፍቅር ዱዳ መውደቋ አሳዘናቸው፡፡ ዝም -- ዝም ተባባሉ… ሜዳውን ጨርሰው ከነፅዮን ቤት እስኪደርሱም ትካዜ እንደተጫናቸው ነበሩ፡፡ ቤት ከገቡ በኋላ እንኳ አልተለወጡም፡፡ እንዳውም ምንተስኖትን ሲመለከቱ የባሰባቸው ይመስሉ ነበር፡፡ ለአስራሁለተኛ ክፍል መልቀቂያ ፈተና በጋራ የሚያደርጉትን ዝግጅት ከወትሮአቸው በተለየ መልክ የተያያዙትም ለዚህ ነበር፡፡ከሁለት ሰዐት የብሽቀት ጥናት በኋላ አክሊሉና መክብብ ትምህርት ነክ ነገር ላይ የሚወያዩ ይመስል ወረቀት ላይ እየፃፃፉ ተነጋግረው ለምን ተስኖት መተኛት እንደሚፈልጉ ነገሩት፡፡ ሌላ ጊዜ ምድርና ሰማይ ሲገናኝ ከወረቀት የሚለያዩ ሰዎች ገና ከምሽቱ በስድስት ሰዐት ‹‹እንተኛለን›› ማለታቸው እያናደደው መንጋጭላውን አጣሞ ‹‹ ሂዱና ተኙ!›› አላቸው፡፡ ምንም ጊዜ አላጠፉም፡፡ ሁለቱን እዛው ትተዋቸው ከወዲያኛው ግድግዳ ጥግ በመጋረጃ ብጤ ወደተጋረደው አልጋ አለፉ…ምንተስኖት በድፍረት ‹‹ሂዱና ተኙ!›› ያላለውን ያህል እነ አክሊሉ ከመተኛታቸው ፍርሃትና ሀሳብ ጠመዱት ከጥቂት ጊዜ በኋላ ደግሞ ፅዮን ጥያቄ -- በጥያቄ አደረገችው፡፡ ታዲያ ምንተስኖትን ምን ይሳነዋል? ጥያቄው ፍርሀቱን ገሸሽ አድርጎለት በዚያ ቀጭን ድምፁ ይተነትንላት ገባ፡፡ …‹‹ገባሽ?››‹‹አልገባኝም!›› በተለያየ ምሳሌ ደግሞ ደጋግሞ ያብራራላታል፡፡‹‹ገባሽ?›› ‹‹አልገባኝም…››‹‹እንዴት አልገባሽም?››እኔ እንጃ! እህ!...እህ!...እህ!...››‹‹ምን ሆንሽ ደግሞ? …›› አይኖቹ ፈጠጡ፡፡‹‹እኔ እንጃ!... አሞኛል ደግፈህ ያዘኝ!...›› ደግፎ ያዛት፡፡‹‹ጡቴን ጭብጥ አድርገህ ያዝልኝ…›› ምንተስኖት ሲሸሸው የነበረው ሀሳብና ፍርሃት እንደ ተዋጊ ቀንዳም በሬ ከፊት ለፊቱ መጣበት፡፡ አንቀጠቀጠው…‹‹ጡቴን ጭብጥ አድርገህ ያዝልኝ እኮ ነው የምልህ!›› አለችው ---በሲቃ ድምፅ ደግማ፡፡ ምንተስኖት ደግፎ ይዟት የነበረውን ትቶ ወደ በፊት ቦታው ገሸሽ አለ፡፡‹‹አንተ ራስህ አይገባህም!›› አለችው -- ስሜቷን ሳያጤነው የቀረ መስሏት፡፡ ይንቀጠቀጣል … ፍዝዝ ብላ ተመለከተችው፡፡‹‹እኔ እኮ እወድሃለሁ! መውደድ -- ማፍቀር እኮ ነው አይገባህም የምልህ …›› አለችው የልመና ያህል፡፡ የሚያንቀጠቅጠው አሁንም አልተወውም፡፡ መልስ እስኪሰጣት እንደፈዘዘች ትመለከተዋለች፡፡ ዝም!...ቀረብ ብላው በርከክ እንዳለች እጆቿን ከግራና ቀኝ ትከሻው ላይ አኖረቻቸው፡፡ የፍቅር አይኖቿ ከአይኖቹ ላይ እንደ ፈዘዙ ናቸው፡፡ ‹‹ ምን ተስኖትዬ … እወድሃለሁ ነው እኮ የምልህ!...›› ብላ ከጉልበቱ ላይ ደፋ አለች፡፡መንቀጥቀጡ ውጫዊ አካሉን ትቶት ህሊናውን ያዘው፡፡ ፅዮን እንደምታፈቅረው ካወቀ ዘመን የለውም፤ እሱም ቢሆን ወዷት ነበር፡፡ ግን ምን ሊያደርጋት ---ምን ሊያደርግላት ይችላል? ሀዘን ልቡን ሰበረው፡፡ ‹‹ምን ልበላት? … ‹‹ሌላ ምን ምክንያት አለ?... እንዴት እንዲህ ብየ እነግራታለሁ? …›› አለና እድልና ህይወቱ እንዲህ አሳዛኝ ሆና ልታልቅ የወንድነት መለያው ወደ ተሰለበበት ወደዚያች ቀን ትዕይንት በህሊናው ሸመጠጠ … ‹‹ህቅ!...ህቅ!...ህቅ!...›› ከፅዮን ጀርባ ላይ ተደፍቶ በት

ኩስ ወፍራም እንባው አረሰረሳት፡፡የጮክታ ንባቡን ሲጨርስ በታሪኩ አዝኖ ይሁን በሽቆ፣ ፊቱን አጨፈገገው፡፡ አስራ አራት ገፅ ያለውን ይህንኑ ረቂቅ ፅሁፍ አስተካክሎ ከፊት ለፊቱ ካስቀመጠው በኋላ ህሊናውን ቀስፎ ወደያዘው ወደዚሁ አጭር ልቦለድ ርዕስ ደግሞ ዞረ፡፡ የበፊተኛው ርዕስ አልጣመውም፡፡ ‹‹የአንድ ፅሁፍ ርዕስ ከፍሬ ነገሩ ጋር ሊያያዝ የሚገባው ቢሆንም፣ ገና ሲታይ የሚያጓጓ፣ ‹‹ምን ይሆን? የሚያሰኝና ለንባብ የሚጋብዝ አይነት መሆን ይገባዋል›› የሚል እምነት አለው፡፡ርዕስ ጥሎ ርዕስ እያነሳ በአርእስት መካከል ሲሽከረከር ሳያውቀው ከፅሁፉ እምብርት ዥው ብሎ ገባ --ጭልጥ! …* * * አዜብ ገርበብ ያለውን በር ብርግድ አድርጋው ከመግባቷ ምግባርን ከበስተጀርባው ተመለከተችው፤ ዘለሽ እነቂ--እነቂው አሰኛት፡፡ የክፍሉን ግራና ቀኝ ቃኘች፤ ሌላ ምንም የለም፡፡ ተስፈንጥራ በመሄድና ትከሻውን በመያዝ ነቀነቀችው፡፡ ፀሎት እንደሚያደርግ ሰው የሁለት እጆቹን መዳፎች እንደገጣጠማቸውና ጣቶቹን በአፍንጫው ትይዩ እንዳቆማቸው ዞር ብሎ ሲመለከታት ህሊናው በጣእር እንደተያዘ ነበር፡፡ ቃል ሳይተነፍስ ፊቱንም ሀሳቡንም እንደገና መለሰባት፡፡ ብልጭ አለባት፡፡ በአንድ እጇ ጭብርር ያለ ፀጉሩን ይዛ ስትነቀንቀው በሌላኛው እጇ ከፊት ለፊቱ ተስተካክለው የተቀመጡትነ ወረቀቶች አነሳቻቸው፡፡በሁለት እጆቿ እየቀደደች --እየቀደደች ብዙ ትንንሽ ካደረገቻቸው በኋላ ወለሉ ላይ በትናለት ወጣች…እንደቦጫጨቀችው ወረቀት በጫጭቆ ሊጥላት እንደጦር የመወርወር ያህል ተነስቶ በሩ ላይ ከደረሰ በኋላ አንዳች ነገር የያዘው ይመስል ቆመ፡፡ አዜብ የልቧን አድርሳ ትከንፋለች፡፡ ፊቱን-- አንዴ ወደተቀደደው ፅሁፍ ፣ አንዴ ደግሞ ወደምትወደውና ወደሚወዳት አዜብ እየመላለሰ በየተራ ተመከታቸው፡፡ አዜብ እየራቀች --እየራቀች ሄዳ ሰታንስበት ተመልሶ ገባ፡፡ወለሉ በደሙ እንጥብጣቢ የተሞላ መስሎ ታየው፡፡ በንዴት አዜብን እያስተዋላት የተበተነውን ወረቀት ለመሰብሰብ ጎንበስ ካለ በኋላ ትቶት ቀና አለ፡፡ የሚሰበሰብ አይነት አልነበረም፡፡‹‹ምንስ ብበድላት እንዴት እንዲህ ታደርገኛለች?...‹ካላንተ መኖር አልችልም፤ የመጀመሪያዬም የመጨረሻዬም አንተው ነህ!› ስትለኝ ከርማ?... እኔስ ብሆን የልቤን ቁልፍ እንደሰጠኋት ካለ እሷ ማንም ሊገባበት እንደማይችል አልገለፅኩላትም?... እሺ! አሁን እንዲህ የሚያደርጋት ምን ነገር ተፈጠረ? ሙያዬ ብቻ ጣውንት ሆነችባት? … ለሷ ስል ከምወዳት ሥነፅሁፍ መፋታት አለብኝ ማለት ነው? … በቃ እንዲህ ነው?›› አለና ፀጥ አለ፡፡ የሚወደው ገፅታዋ እንደገና መጣበት፡፡ ትላልቅ አይኖቹ እሷን ባሻገር የሚያዩ ይመስል ፈጠዋል፡፡ ሰፊ ግንባሩ ቁጥር --ፈታ ሲል ደግሞ በእልህ የሚያስብ ይመስላል፡፡‹‹ከምንምና ከማንም በላይ ልታፈቅረው የሚገባህ ነገር ቢኖር ህዝብና ብእርህን ነው፤ እውነት ብእርህን ልታፈቅረው የሚገባህ ደግሞ ለህዝብ ጥቅም ሲውል ብቻ ነው›› የሚለው የደራሲ ጓደኛው አባባል ፈጥኖ ተሰማው፡፡ በረዥሙ ተንፍሶ ሲያበቃ ጠረጴዛውን ተመለከተው፡፡ የለኮሰው ሻማ ገና አላለቀም፡፡ይቀጣጠላል፡፡…

መምህር ተስፋዬ ሸዋዬ ይባላሉ፡፡ የአጋዕዝተ አለም ሥላሴ መካነ ፈውስ እንዲሁም የአብርሃም ወሣራ ቤተሰብ ደህንነት ማህበር መስራች እና መ] ናቸው፡፡ በሀገራችን የልደተ እግዚእነ ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ክብረ በዓል ኢትዮጵያዊ ገፅታውን አጥቶ በሳንታ ክላውስ (የገና አባት) በገና ዛፍ እየተከበረ ያለበትን ሁኔታ ፣ የግብረሰዶማዊነትን በሀገራችን መስፋፋትና ሌሎች ጉዳዮችን በማንሳት አወያይተናቸዋል፡፡ እነኋችሁ!

›=ƒÄåÁ ¨ÃU uS”ðd© eÁT@ “GÑ[ �Ó²=›wN?`” �¾}vK‹

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