Ethiopia is the land of Australopithecus afarensis, a.k.a, Dinknesh (or Lucy), the 3.2 million year-old homo sapien, the land of ancient civilization of the Axumite Empire, land of kings and princes who had kept its territorial integrity and independence. It is a country whose hospitality is not only a matter of courtesy or diplomatic feat, but culture. The nation is even mentioned in the Holy Bible over 38 times and mentioned by the Prophet Mohammed in the Holy Quran. It, therefore, feels proud and humbled to welcome and host with heartfelt pleasure, President Barack Obama, the first sitting American president to visit Ethiopia.
I, personally, have had encounters with an African-American in the person of William Shack (Prof.), the Ford families, the renowned columnist David A. Talbot and my Peace Corps colleagues at Ras Desta High School in Yirgalem where Tegegnework Getu (PhD), the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, was one of the brilliant students. The capital city, Addis Abeba, which is also the seat of the African Union (AU), a city where the historic OAU Charter was signed after an overnight marathon debate some 52 years ago, will certainly be in the limelight. Indeed, one can talk so much about Ethiopia.
President Obama just had an audience with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari before flying to Kenya, his father’s land. Many are so excited to see the President and cannot wait to hear his intonated presidential eloquence, after Martin Luther King, Jr.
The democratic election in the most populous West African nation, Nigeria, must have been blessed as a good example adopting fair and peaceful elections to serve as a role model for other African countries in all five regions of the continent.
The English proverb that says, “every dog has its day”, may not exactly reflect Nigeria’s old face of the days when Ken Saro-Wiwa, the legendary political activist, had to pay dearly with his life for the prevalence of free press and the right to criticise and tell the truth for his people.
According to big journals and newspapers in Washington, President Obama’s plan to drop in at Addis Abeba did not go well down their throats as it were. Many Ethiopians in the Diaspora, in particular, had scuffed off the plan as it would send wrong messages and endorsement of the fifth national and regional election that resulted, or so it seemed, in the EPRDF’s winning all 547 parliamentary seats.
Political bigwigs in the White House may smile in sarcasm thinking about where else in the world there could be such unanimous result. As if to reward the expert master-minding of the election, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn had selected the Vice President of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to head the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Who on earth would file any complaint about the election process anymore?
Controversy and protests aside, Alex Haley’s, “The Roots”, seems to have stuck in the mind of Obama, not to deter him from his father’s land Kenya. Oromos in the northern border of Kenya trace their roots from as far down as Madagascar, thus giving the word “Kenya” to mean “ours” in Oromiffa.
This is not to pull ropes of ascendance in the 21st century. But differences between Kenya and Ethiopia are only as thick as a strand of hair.
Both Ethiopians and Kenyans are active members of UN peace-keeping forces, fighting tooth and nail against the almost indelible forces, of the al-Shabaab, wavering left and right in the border areas of three neighbouring countries. Blood and bones are costing all three of them.
The American president would surely want to know the reports about the effects and results of his financial assistance, a fact that was never revealed to the military personnel who usually complain about the mishandling of the members of the fighting forces.
The President is expected to say a few political niceties of protocol, congratulating Ethiopia for hosting the Third Financing for Development (FfD) Conference that just ended last week. Ethiopia’s role was quite significant. Most likely, the Foreign Minister, Tedros Adhanom (PhD), as well as his boss, the Premier, will be well-dressed in black suits and white collars, waiting with big smiles at the Bole International Airport Red Carpet reception, deserving a pat on their shoulders for the contribution they made.
The season happens to ironically coincide with the season of intellectual achievements and the pursuing moments of celebrations. The President will be briefed about the rapid development strides the country has made. These facts are undeniable, except that some of these ties and accounts clad in protocol are bound to hide the truth.
Yes, there are high towering edifices and wider streets and boulevards that reflect the smiling face of Addis Abeba. But they hide the true slums and the folks displaced from their homes and habitats.
Similarly, the universities and their structures hide the true faces of the few Ethiopian Alexander Solzenitskyns, expelled for no reason other than telling the truth and standing for their academic rights and personal principles. The Minister of Education himself points his fingers to the sky and tells that unknown individuals reside in the dormitories on a monthly rent basis.
Decadence, which surges from time to time, is thriving in intellectual dishonesty and abject corruption. Tomorrow’s youth will be living under conditions of Biblical Babylon given the ethnic-based divisions prevalent now.
Although Ethiopia has in earnest done quite a lot by way of investing in the green economy, introducing clean and renewable energy-oriented projects like hydroelectric power, there cannot be anything more impressive to the American President than the upkeep and maintenance of peace and security in the sub-region.
But there cannot be full-fledged peace without bringing Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti to a negotiating table to broker peace and make the necessary inputs for genuine development. The American President is expected to use his leverage to help create conducive situations for peace.
Diplomatic rhetoric and cosmetic displays may not impress the President, or anybody for that matter, more than peaceful coexistence among neighbouring countries before matters get out of hand, making the future bleak.
The President will hardly have time to stay longer to discuss matters at length. But his money means he can speak louder and have more lasting impact. That is what countries like Ethiopia look for, after all.
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