ETHIOPIA’S LONGTIME LEADER DIES:

Sarah,

Last week, Meles Zenawi, who has ruled Ethiopia since 1991, passed away.  Here are four interesting details about him:

 

1. He Was a Close Ally of the United States:

Ethiopia is critically important to United States foreign policy because it is located in the least stable part of Africa.  It borders Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan.  Yemen is just across the Red Sea.  All four of these countries are fighting wars in some capacity and all four are threatened by Islamic groups that the United States considers terrorists.

Accordingly, the United States has supported Zenawi since the beginning.  He came to power because he was as a U.S. supported rebel that defeated a Soviet supported communist regime.  After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States changed its focus to fighting Islamic extremism.  Ethiopia, which is a majority Christian country, has proven to be a helpful ally.  Under Zenawi’s rule, Ethiopia invaded Somalia several times over the past decade with the purpose of dislodging Islamists from power.  Zenawi also allowed the U.S. to base its drones (robot fighter planes) in Ethiopia and to launch attacks on targets in Yemen and Somalia from Ethiopian territory.  In return, the United States gives Ethiopia billions of dollars in aid.

2.  He Was Arguably a Dictator:

When a ruler opposes the United States, he is usually called a dictator.  When a ruler supports the United States, he is called “a charismatic strongman”. (The LA Times called him a strongman)

By many definitions, Zenawi was a dictator.  It’s pretty hard to rule for 21 straight years without a degree of repression.  Zenawi killed political opponents and jailed reporters.  In a 2005 election, 195 political protesters were killed.  When the results of the election showed progress for the opposition, over 30,000 people were jailed. 

In Zenawi’s defense, he remained popular throughout his rule and may have been the legitimate winner in each presidential race.  However, this is hard to say definitively when opposition figures were jailed and killed.

3.  Ethiopia’s Economy Grew Quickly Under Zenawi’s Rule:

Dictator or not, Zenawi certainly improved Ethiopia’s economy.  Although the country remains desperately poor, Ethiopia’s economy grew at about 10% for most of the last decade. (The U.S. is currently struggling to grow above 2%.  China is growing at 7.5%) 

Much of this growth is due the Chinese and Indian investment in Ethiopia’s agriculture.  Ethiopia’s main exports of corn and coffee have grown dramatically.

4.  Zenawi Fought a Brutal War With Neighboring Eritrea:

This war will probably top the list of wars you have never heard of.  Between 1998 and 2000, these two impoverished countries fought an incredibly expensive war over a border dispute.  As many as 100,000 people were killed and hundreds of millions of dollars were spent.  The war resulted in very little change; the border moved only slightly.

Bottom line: Who won’t the United States give a couple billion dollars too?