Ethiopia’s Political Crisis and its Uncertain Future Berhanu Nega
Honorable chair, and distinguished members of the European parliament Ladies and Gentlemen:
Let me first thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts about the political crisis in Ethiopia and its uncertain but potentially disastrous future. I will also briefly comment on what the EU can do to avert this potential disaster.
In the last few years, whenever I had the opportunity to address this forum (the most recent one was last May some 6 months ago) and the international community at large, I repeatedly stressed on the importance of dealing with the ever worsening political impasse (crisis) in Ethiopia as soon as possible before things get out of hand. I warned then that the political crisis is slowly but surely moving to a potential armed conflict with very uncertain consequences.
I warned that Ethiopia is a deeply unstable country and without an urgent and meaningful political settlement that leads to genuine democratization, the country could slip into dangerous instability. I was told at the time by some of the EU experts (particularly those working at Devco) that this was an exaggeration on my part and that according to the reliable in country data they get from the DAC group inside the country and other intelligence sources, despite some noticeable governance related problems, Ethiopia is a stable, rapidly growing and well managed country that serves as a shining example in terms of the effectiveness of development cooperation to the rest of the continent. In short it was an all out feel good story that heavily relied on the rosy narrative that emanates from the well calibrated propaganda coming from the government.
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