Ethiopia is not Egypt

By Yared Ayicheh

President Hosni Mubarak has finally stepped down. Congratulations to Egyptians and glory to the hundreds of martyrs who paid with their lives to bring the 30 year old dictator to his knees. Egyptian military’s restraint to use force and not to undermine the voice of the people it serve’s has been superb, much respect to the Egyptian military – well done! As an Ethiopian, I must say, I feel jealous, very jealous of Egyptians. First they use the Nile River, while we sing about it. Second, they have a much better economy than Ethiopia – they don’t have food shortage or famine. And now, third, they have challenged and pressured their dictator to step down. I am very jealous—but in a good way.

It’s a fact that the initiating causes for the Egyptian uprising are also all present in Ethiopia. But Ethiopia is not Egypt. Egypt has its own history, geo-political importance, economic dynamics, and political background. It is simply irrational for Ethiopia to be like Egypt. Ethiopia needs its own custom tailored solution to its challenges.

History: Historically Egypt is seen as one of the oldest civilizations in the world—some estimate Ancient Egyptian history to be 5000 years old [1]. The Ancient Egyptians are in no way to be compared with the Ancient Ethiopians – the evidence for the Egyptian civilization is just insurmountable when compared with Ancient Ethiopian civilizations. We Ethiopians claim to be ‘civilized’, and yet the reality is we are anything but civilized. We are backward and uncivilized! Any Ethiopian that fails to accept this reality, I am willing to label, is brainwashed by propaganda or is delusional.

Geo-Political Importance: Egypt’s importance to the rest of the world can be witnessed by the recent interest of the global economic heavyweights, US, EU and others, who found themselves dumfounded by what took place in the past few weeks of the Egyptian uprising. Egypt’s importance has to do with the Suez Canal, oil and Egypt’s great influence in the Middle East – Egypt’s half a million army is also not desired to be under radical Islamist control or influence either [2]. As long as the world is addicted to oil, Egypt will continue to be more important than Ethiopia. If similar uprising takes place in Ethiopia, I don’t believe the global powers would give as much attention as they have to Egypt; all they care about is the stability of East Africa, not the political reforms much needed in Ethiopia.

Economic Dynamics: Even though Egypt and Ethiopia have close to 80 million population each, Egypt’s economy is much stronger with a GDP of half a trillion dollars [3], while Ethiopia’s GDP is a mere 85 billion dollars [4]. The Egyptian tourism industry by itself has, in 2009, “brought in $10.8 billion, according to Egyptian Tourism Ministry figures” [5]. When it comes to per capita income, Egypt’s is $6000, Ethiopia’s is $1000 [4],[5]. I think I have made my point here; Ethiopia is clearly economically weaker than Egypt.

Political Background: Recently, our Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, responding to a question in the Ethiopian Parliament [6], made an interesting point regarding the political background of Ethiopia and the necessity for all opposition parties to accept the constitution fully. Even though I have disagreements with our Prime Minister’s party, I agree 100% that Ethiopian opposition parties have to completely accept the constitution—no buts or ifs, this is not to say there is no room for amendments in the future. Ethiopia has its own ethnic, political and religious background; and all constitutions, including ours, are framed with consideration of each country’s background or history. Egypt only has three ethnic groups: Egyptian, Bedouin Arab, Nubian [7]; Ethiopia’s more than 70 ethnic groups make Ethiopia’s politics very complex and less maneuverable. The need for pluralism in Ethiopia’s politics supersedes that of Egypt’s. Ethiopia is not Egypt. Egypt may not need Article 39, but Ethiopia does.

Ethiopia’s opposition is also not the Egyptian opposition. Ethiopia’s opposition is not Muslim Brotherhood. Ethiopia does not need a Muslim Brotherhood because Ethiopian Muslims and Christians have been living harmoniously for centuries. What our opposition parties need is organizational maturity. Our opposition parties are fragmented, while coming across as being over saturated with too many chiefs or aba-worawoch; on the other hand we have a ruling party which has anointed itself as the political messiah of the Ethiopian peoples. Ethiopia’s problems need a solution much like an orchestra than a single man band.

Give-and-Take Politics (Seto Me’Qe’bel): Ruling and opposition parties must compromise and reach a common ground both can work with to loosen the tense political and economic situation Ethiopia is in. Ethiopia’s political dynamics needs reform not revolution. Dear Ethiopian politicians, here are points of compromise for the ruling and opposition parties to consider for initiating practical give-and-take politics: