Ethiopia: Where Do We Go (or not go) From Here?

Byalmariam

On the road to democracy and unity? For some time now, I have been heralding Ethiopia’s irreversible march from dictatorship to democracy. In April 2011, I wrote a commentary entitled, “The Bridge on the Road(map) to Democracy”. I suggested, We can conceive of the transition from dictatorship to democracy as a metaphorical journey on the…

Ethiopia: The Voodoo Economics of Meles Zenawi

Byalmariam

“There are lies, lies and implausible lies,” to quote Meles Zenawi, the dictator-cum-economic spinmeister of Ethiopia. Last week, Zenawi told a snickering Parliament a story that is the equivalent of the proverbial bull that gave birth to a calf (or in Amharic “bere welede”): “We will be seeing an economic growth rate of 10.1 percent…