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Ethiopian and Russian Prime Ministers Meles Zenawi
and Vladimir Putin (www.kremlin.ru)
Echoing the Ethiopian government’s recent call for food aid, British diplomat, Paddy Ashdown, has requested the international community’s urgent assistance in preventing a looming humanitarian crisis. Reuters reports that 160,000 tons of food are required if the devastating effects of poor rainfall are to be avoided. According to the Economist magazine, this year has seen the worst drought in East Africa since possibly 1991. Production of Kenya’s staple crop, maize, is expected to fall by a third, with subsistence farmers suffering the most. In several parts of the country, villagers are already dependent on monthly government rations of maize-meal and cooking oil. Somalia, faced with attrition from an escalating civil war, is now also considering the daunting prospect of supplying emergency food supplies to about 3.6 million hungry people. Yet, it is Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, that is most susceptible to climate change, and, confronting the specter of famine, will have to ask itself why it is once again in this perilous situation. Paddy Ashdown, speaking to Reuters about the possibility of 6.2 million Ethiopians starving to death, said, “We can prevent this situation getting to much worse proportions.”
Although the government’s appeal for aid coincides with the 25th anniversary of the 1984 famine, a tragedy that resulted in the deaths of over 1million Ethiopians, Ashdown claims such a doomsday scenario is less likely in the twenty-first century. “A number of factors are not in place that were in place then. There was a civil war, we didn't have the institutions we have now to deal with problems, and we reacted late.” Although agriculture remains the mainstay of Ethiopia’s economy, and most farmers continue to employ outmoded practices, the country is better prepared to avert famine than it was 25 years ago. And, thanks to the well-publicized Band Aid and USA for Africa campaigns in the 1980s, the world is much more aware. According to the U.S. State Department, agriculture is responsible for more than 80 percent of Ethiopia’s exports and provides jobs for 85 percent of its population. Coffee production is the country’s largest source of foreign reserves, and, unsurprisingly, is closely monitored by the government. Other important agricultural exports include animal skins, pulses, and “khat”, a 6-12 foot flowering shrub whose leaves are chewed for their mind-altering effects. Ethiopian farmers who survived the last famine are wary of losing their livelihoods, and indeed their lives, to the vagaries of climate change. You might even say they are paranoid. “We did not work night and day before…but we do now,” said Mesele Adhena, a farmer supporting six children, in an interview with the BBC. The government, for its part, is stockpiling grain, though it’s been reported these emergency rations will run out before the rural poor are given their share. There is also a food-for-work program that, if properly implemented, will keep famine from rearing its ugly head.
Things that obviously have not changed since 1984 include Africa’s misplaced priorities and its predilection for strongmen. The 18-year tenure of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is proof of this. Zenawi, who came to power in 1991, the year of the last major East African drought, has, through rain or shine, managed to keep a firm grip on power. And even though it’s been suggested that he’ll step down after next year’s elections, it is widely believed that, even if he does, he’ll stay on as chairman of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). According to the Economist, Zenawi isn’t concerned with such speculation, dismissing it as “boring.” However, a separate report by the Economist on the recent release from prison of popular reggae artist, Teddy Afro, shows the government is desperate to improve its image ahead of elections. Mr. Afro had been jailed on trumped-up charges, not, as might be expected, for possession of marijuana, but for a hit-and-run accident involving a homeless man in the capital, Addis Ababa. His fans believe he was locked away, like numerous other dissidents, including the young judge and opposition leader, Birtukan Mideksa, because he “compared Mr. Meles’s lot to a brutal junta.” Yet, securing Zenawi’s position as de facto emperor has called for more than a domestic clampdown; international concerns pose an equally destabilizing threat. Backed by the United States, with its anti al-Qaeda agenda, Ethiopia has, thus far, managed to keep intractable Eritrea and lawless Somalia at bay.
And still, food insecurity, like Zenawi’s reign, extends unchecked. It was the great famine of 1972, in fact, that led to Emperor Haile Selassie’s downfall. Selassie, a direct descendant of King Solomon of Israel, was as much renowned for fending off European occupation of Ethiopia as for his deification by Jamaican Rastafarians. He succumbed, some would say, to “the will of god” when, after 44 years in power, a global oil crisis coincided with climate change to turn his people against him.
Zenawi’s reign began with drought, and nearly two decades later, this same scourge dictates his country’s economic policy. The U.S. State Department believes Ethiopia has the potential to be both self-sufficient in grains and an exporter of numerous agricultural products, but “undeveloped water resources, and poor transport infrastructure”, among other things, have made it reliant on food aid. Far from restricted to withering crops, the current drought has caused whole herds of cattle and sheep, those “chewers of the cud” who’ve grazed East African plains for millennia, to drop dead. This, reports the Economist, will only increase tensions among feuding tribes in southern Ethiopia, while, in the east, secessionists of Somali ancestry are also expected to intensify their struggle. Within Somalia, where food aid is often used “to control the people”, Islamist militants will win even more recruits.
According to Oxfam, the international relief agency, drought doesn’t have to lead to famine. If a government invests in irrigation, grain warehouses, and wells, people will survive no matter how long the clouds withhold their precious supply of rain. But Ethiopia will not put to rest the threat of famine till it addresses its underlying causes. A report by Action Aid, entitled Who’s really fighting hunger?, states 1 billion people are unjustifiably going hungry in the world today. The report goes on to explain that hunger is a choice people make, and “not a force of nature.” Although hunger has its roots in inequalities between rich and poor, says the aid agency, it is exacerbated by policies that commoditize food instead of treating it as a right. “It is because of these policies that most developing countries no longer grow enough to feed themselves, and that their farmers are among the hungriest and poorest people in the world. Meanwhile, the rich world battles growing obesity.”
Meles Zenawi’s solution is to ask for more food aid, which, incidentally, is an industry in itself, one monopolized by Western companies. He also expects $40 billion a year in compensation to Africa for foreign-induced climate change, reports the Economist, and has openly blamed Europe for making the 1984 famine worse than it had to be. Zenawi will be representing Africa at the much-anticipated climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December, and one can only expect him to negotiate further concessions. His decision to appeal for aid on the 25th anniversary of the 1984 famine proves that he’s either a shameless opportunist, or that, after years of helping himself to the country’s dwindling supply of khat, is delusional enough to think the brokering of such deals with the West, without the consent of his people, can continue indefinitely. It will take more khat than he can chew to ever make that dream a reality, and more coffee than he can consume to keep him awake that long.
Comments
send al gore, and jimmah carter over there! gore can eradicate global warming, and carter can show 'em how to grow peanuts. anything to get these two out of the country.
There are people in Ethiopia who could show poor farmers how to grow food...if the government invests in it. Instead, all the money is used to protect the president and to keep everyone quiet.
Global warming is a subterfuge for the dictator, so he can fool the people and ignore their plight by blaming the West. Meles Zenawi is the worst dictator Africa has ever seen in terms of inflicting pain on his people, politically and economically. He thrives by his empty rethoric and by pitting one ethnic group against another. Thank you for an excelellent article. See also today's WSJ on a similar topic.
This p.m has been in power for long time but he did nothing to stop hunger in that country .Sad for Ethiopian
live meles alone he cares more to people than u do who use the suffering of ethiopian people for ur poltical agenda.
long live our great leader Meles who is standing at the for front against poverty in ethiopia
Hey business men and asylum seekers! In the near future, poverty will be history as long as Meles and his party are there. You better look for another means of livelihood than merchandizing poor peoples suffering due to natural causes. You like it or not we have the best (Smart, Visionary, dedicated to democracy, and uncorrupt) leader the country has ever had in its 3000 yrs of history. With his leadership, we will be clean of the mud that has been stacked to us for centuries.
Issac,
Motherfuckers like you have drained Ethiopia to its bone. You are the bloodsucking vampire that took what ever benefit you can from Ethiopia and fled the country. Then from your new place of comfort you savagely attack those who are doing good for the country.
Thank you for a wonderful article. The world needs to know the action of Meles. This man has head screwed and he goes to Europe for medical treatment because his head is messed up because of years of chewing Khat. Instead of encouraging farmers to grow coffee he is encouraging Khat grow. How can someone like him whose mind is irrational and delusional due to khat and hatred is expected to lead Ethiopia. This is the result. This is where we are, hungry than we have ever been.
God Bless Ethiopia
ALEM AND TULU what kind blind suporters or members of the party you are? please be broad minded person look my brothers I do't have any problem with aperson or a party. who ever governed the cauntry that body must do better to solve the broblem but now it has been 18 years the problem sitll geting worest you may be eate three times a day varity of food but look out side my this 6.2 million people those need emergency food aid bu to know the real setiution look araund forget your politics for a moment and think you are a human.I am Ethiopian like you but let me tell you that both eprdf and meles cannot solve the cauntry problem to solve the cauntry broblem we need a democraic government to do this difficult for eprdf because they gonna loose ther power.Do not blem the natural climate ok drought is not mean hunger Ok haw did egypt feed its people how be caus govern ment spend cauntry money on military development to make shure its existance haw much many we spend on war with ertria?
Tadboy,
Why don't you mind your starving Eritreans. We know who you are.
I do beileve tha this poroblem can be solved with only a democrasy but I don't think that eprdf is no redy to do very challenging task look gays all ethiopian leaders tring to compencet what the loosed form thire people by intrnational reptiution haileslasr did like this befor he did't cheer about its people so mr meles doing like that few selfish love him and suported him. At the matter of chance always dictators got and selfish and arrogant got the power to lead the cauntry.
bager wist yatutin tekebyinet kewichi makakas yetelmede new
As Meles has no shame, morality and ability to rule this rich country it seems that he is not by himself to play this cruel game.
The world or the food donors seem not to be in shocked and owe any more but wait and have aid readily available when Meles cries for handouts.
We don’t find any donor nation accusing Meles for his failures, ineptness and for the luck of democracy but to run fast to rescue him.
Mr quntanam you think I am eritrian? you just made a mistake I am a university student of agriculture I d't wanna tell you be cause you are blindy spay because I oppose eprdf you call me eritrian whay dont you call me OLF Or Onlf look belive or not the one you supportin is a fool of Tenkol and WARE ok do you think that 18 year is to small to make hunger history live alone the poverity...? <OH my God make me a posetive thinker d't make me blind like others> .
look loosers alaweys blem some thing or factor for thire disapointment the one you supporting is looser very looser so they are bleming the climate ....
Tadboy,
I am more convinced now that indeed you are a stinking shabia from the barren land.
QUMTANAM
Sima yene wendim Ene shabia aydelehum sinte lingerh ayigebahim bigebh noro maa eprdf atidegifm le meles tibikina atikomim be wunet I was in haramaya university in 1997 e.c graduated with bsc in agriculture yetekawemhin sew hullu ende telat atikuterrew
I do't incelt you like you inceltid me SIDIB yikribh kum neger inwura
yantew wendi tadboy
Quntan,
Why do you rush to denigrate Eritreans? You don't even have the patience to further research about the author. All you have to do is bash eritrea and Eritreans for all your misery.Just see how your response was:
"Motherfuckers like you have drained Ethiopia to its bone. You are the bloodsucking vampire that took what ever benefit you can from Ethiopia and fled the country. Then from your new place of comfort you savagely attack those who are doing good for the country".
For your info:
Isaac Oine Ugbabe is a Nigerian novelist who incorporates the turbulent African news scene into his world fiction. A Master’s thesis on the West African oil industry has bolstered his in-depth knowledge of the continent’s often-controversial current events. Isaac can be reached at yourpieceofafrica@gmail.com.
Shalom
her i'm sorry agin i mistekly spel the name quntan by quntanam honestly im so soo sorry for my misteks because i thought that it says qumtan bewunet betam yikirta befitinet new yanebebikut.
Tadboy,
Stop acting Ethiopian. Like the author of the above article, you are one stinking shabia from the desert land.
Qunta I think you d't wanna belive me you are free to say what ever you want Ok I'm Ethiopian
a well written aritcle with facts. if there was a good governance in ethiopia, there are enough resorces to feed their own people. it is about priority, first the government need to feed thier people, and then we think about other developments. Because, as the aouthor of this aritcle stated, food is a right to everyone.
Meles Zenawi is like any other politician. The escense of a politician is to make people fight either for or against a stupid cause while they remain in power. He is here to stay whether we like it or not. If ever there was a politician in the history of Ethiopia or Africa we would love to hate it is Meles Zenawi.
I think the writer is right in almost everything he has written. But he has to know also that after Meles has come to power, there seem to be some positive changes in the country for example roads being built for the so called economic purposes but the other use is so that troops and other logistics can be transported faster to an area of unrest.
A good government not only spends it's budget on the army but on education, health and infrastructure, more for the other three and less for the first. We don't see that with this government.
Melez uses the aid a money for the famine prevention and other social development to foment needless wars and organized violence within and against neighbors just like his former notorious ethiopian rulers used to do. It is vicious cycle with no end in sight.
To make ethiopia self seficent in food it is very simple it is just good gevenance that is all we have every thing what we don't have is good ledership,good gevernance
If you read his other stories, you can see how much a shabia he really is. God bless my people!
short live to your leader tulu, He just dont deserve those words, Come on man he has never stands for anything than for his own desire and ofcourse to his supporters. He is a jerk wating for the right time to dissapear from the country but i can asure u he will pay for the mess he done in this country. That time has just near!!!!!!!!!
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