The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia or "Ethiopia" for short, is a sovereign landlocked country located at the north-eastern part of Africa (the horn of Africa), covering a total land area of about 1,100,000 squared kilometers. Just about 15.1% of Ethiopia's total land area remains arable (land good for farming).
Although landlocked, Ethiopia is often referred to as the "water tower" of eastern Africa because of its many rivers and lakes. Ethiopia is blessed with more than 9 major rivers (including the Nile, the Omo river, the Baro river, Awash river, Tekeze river, Shebelle river, Angereb river, Mereb, etc.) and 12 huge lakes (including Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile).
Ethiopia borders the Republic of Kenya to the south, the Republic of Eritrea to the north (Eritrea's separation made Ethiopia a landlocked country), the Republic of Sudan to the west, and the Republics of Djibouti and Somalia to the east.
Ethiopia has an estimated population of 118 million people (which makes Ethiopia the second most populous country in Africa today) with the population growth rate hovering around 2.5%.
Ethiopia was able to survive the late 19th-century “Scramble for Africa” thanks to its uniquely successful military resistance. Ethiopia made history by becoming the only African country to defeat a European colonial power and retain its sovereignty. Also, Ethiopia was the first independent African member of the 20th-century League of Nations and the United Nations.
Ethiopia is blessed with abundance of natural resources including gold, potash, unexploited natural gas or methane, copper, platinum, etc.
Ethiopia has seen great improvements in several sectors of its economy (especially in the areas of infrastructure) these past couple of years thanks in part to the great Chinese investment in this part of Africa, and also to the intense government projects aimed at achieving its Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) of attaining middle income status by 2025. Between 2013 and 2014, Ethiopia's GDP growth was around 10.6%. Kenya grew only 4.8% this same period while Rwanda, which has been a very stellar performer, did only 7.9%. This is great news to investors and shows Ethiopia is on course. According to the World Bank Group's latest poverty assessment, poverty in Ethiopia fell from 44 percent in 2000 to 30 percent in 2011 which translated to a 33 percent reduction in the share of people living in poverty.
Despite these great achievements, at least 37 million Ethiopians continue to wallow in poverty and according to recent world bank statistics, the poorest in Ethiopia have become even poorer in the sense that, the high food prices that improves income for many farmers, also makes buying food more challenging for the poorest especially those in the rural areas. In other words, although more farmers are making good incomes from their farm produce, many people in Ethiopia today are unable to afford basic necessities like food due to the high prices.
Since Ethiopia's economy depends mostly on agriculture (about 45 to 50% of GDP), natural causes such as drought and sometimes unpredictable flooding put the entire economy of Ethiopia in a very bad shape and leave many starving.
Illiteracy is another major reason why a section of Ethiopia wallows in poverty. Ethiopian leaders today do not pay much attention to education. Ethiopia has a lliteracy rate of 49% with the female literacy rate hovering around 41%. This implies only about 41% of the total female population of Ethiopia above age 15 can read and write which is very bad compared to most other African countries.
Due to extreme poverty and hunger, most children of school going age are out of school and most are forced into child marriage, child labor, child trafficking and most recently, child prostitution. Most children in Ethiopia are forced into petty trading especially along the major streets of big cities such as Addis Ababa (the capital of Ethiopia with a population of about 5 million people), Dire Dawa, Adama or Nazret, Gondar, Dese or Dessie, Mek'ele, Jimma and Bahir Dar.
Coffee which is very critical to the Ethiopian economy (with exports around $400 million dollars a year) sometimes meet low prices on the international market which puts the entire Ethiopian economy in a very shaky state.
Environmental issues such as water pollution (as a result of agricultural and industrial runoffs, etc.), land degradation which often leads to desertification, poor climatic conditions (including severe droughts), etc. continue to threaten several lives in Ethiopia today.
Ethiopia's HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate hovers around 1.1%. In 2014, more than 730,000 people were officially living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia with about 20,000 HIV/AIDS deaths recorded in 2016. Besides the deadly HIV/AIDS, malaria, bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, typhoid fever, hepatitis A, dengue fever, rabies, etc. continue to threaten several lives in Ethiopia today.
Poor governance, rampant corruption, lawlessness, etc. remain some of the top issues facing Ethiopia today. Just like in most other African countries, political figures in Ethiopia today are very corrupt with little to no experience at all. The poor government policies, corruption, political instability, etc., unfortunately drive investors away.
Another major problem facing Ethiopia today is the systematic marginalization and persecution of certain ethnic groups caused mainly by poor government policies. The nationwide protests by the Oromo people, the single largest ethnic group in both Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, is a clear example of the atmosphere this systematic marginalization and failed government policies have created in Ethiopia today. Unfortunately, Ethiopia's corrupt government and the international community fail to acknowledge the simple fact that Ethiopia is facing a crisis of unprecedented magnitude.
Ethiopia's forgotten civil war (or the Tigray war) which started in November 2020 is perhaps the deadliest of the 21st century. According to the United Nations and other credible sources, the Tigray war killed over half a million people between November 2020, and November 2022. The European Union Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josef Borrell, stated that, the number of people killed (within the 2-year interval) was between 600,000 and 800,000 making it the deadlist war of the 21st century.
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Amhara claim that they have churches which possess religious articles descended from heaven to attract people lavishly gather money. Amhara has bombarded and killed thousands in the market using military force by plane. Amhara is always using its diasporas in the western countries to establish ties and gain the upper hand in the western media against Tigray people. Amhara is still asking asylum in US and EU claiming suppressed by Tiny Tigre while the liberators Tigrayans are behind bars by the dictator PM Abiy whose fans call him prophet and God's Messenger.
Majority or outnumbering others cannot be a justification to possess skills to lead a country as Amhara claims. Amhara cites consistently that outnumbering or surpassing others in number could be the only reason to hold power and control other ethnic groups. There are tribes even diasporas who are able to lead a country regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation. What matters is skill and wisdom!
What I still remember, Amhara leaders like Melaku Fenta, they were conducting mass murder locally called Red Terror, marked by the bloodshed of innocent Ethiopians. Besides, Melaku Tefera was torturing the bishop of Gondar just only the his garce said: May Almighty God safeguard you by His angel and protect you from the anger or wrath of the God by the hand of God. In Amharic the word his Angel is interpreted as Melaku and it was understood as the Bishop was sarcastically lashing out the governor of Gondar and that time who was Melaku. Amhara governor's stooge accused the bishop as if he was insulting and teasing the Amhara dictators. I cannot tell you all the savage acts of Amhara leaders against the innocent people including their own Amhara tribe members. Now, they want to turn Ethiopia into a bloody scene so as to hold power if not to kill all their political rivals just for the sake of satanic feedback, revenge.
I was against the independence of Eritrea as a part of Orthodox laity I believed that We should stay together and work for the unity of Ethiopia and national development. However, as I see it now as Amhara and other narrow-minded egoist people act savagely, we cannot continue to live with them giving our fathers, sisters and brothers as sacrifice to live with them being tortured and killed nonstop. With regard to this white man, these people always want to please and work with the winning party and maintain their national or bilateral interest. If we do not want to live together peacefully outsiders will not grant us peace unless they see something that took their attention.
Did Woyanee use ethnic federalism to liberate the minorities suppressed by Amhara for centuries, allow them to speak proudly and use their language both in and out of school? They were belittled and despised by Amhara. When someone speaks non-Amharic, Amharas used to deride and ridicule him or her. How on earth could Amhara suppress the whole countrymen? Amhara elites who continuously wage war and provoke violence should be brought to justice. They do not represent the hardworking and peaceful Amhara and the same goes to some Oromo bad eggs like Juwar Mahammed who could not be a representative of Oromo People. Amhara dictators destroyed Geez at the expense of imposing their language on the entire nation and preventing the other ethnic groups from using their own languages.
As Melese described Political parties are not aggregates of Angels, they could do something that pleases one and displeases the other. Look what the regrets of Obama admin and other powerful leaders elected by peaceful democratic elections. They always have something unpleasant even if they have well-educated and highly experienced staff behind them.
I do not believe Woyane followed ethnic federalism to create division among tribes, but it was to emancipate the so-called minorities who were suppressed and killed by dominant tribes.
We have no clear evidence to show to the world that TPLF caused damage to our unity. We cannot claim that the rest of nations and nationalities have to follow what was established by domineering government regulated by Amharas for centuries without giving opportunity to take part in leadership make use of their own languages, etc. This former PM had no chance to lead Ethiopia if he were during Amhara dominated regime during which many non-Amhara tribes were forcefully sent to military camp and targeted or tortured.
During Amhara regime you cannot even stare at police officers you can simply be beaten up and considered as spy for TPLF fighters and anti-govt. During TPLF administration, many of us could go to school and have a chance to apply for different job openings. Since many students failed high school test, had no chance to go to university or pursue their studies in another technical or vocational school. Many stay at the same career throughout their lifetime. Having BA degree was very rare but now we have many fellow citizens holding PHDs. This is due to the so-called minority TPLF ruling party. We have no political party in the world famed for its complete success throughout its mandate, administration period. Dominating a certain tribe or society in quantity or in number doesn't always imply that we have exclusive right to hold power over the others.
Thank you for you all
Believe me that no one will forget all what has been done for the past 27 years by TPLF and you will pay for it later or sooner. I understand that partly to coverup all of the brutal deeds of your leaders and partly by fact that you completely cease abusing the abundance of the country's resources for your personal/group needs. Any ways do not lose you energy and time by talking and attributing all evils for the Amhara ethnic group, all of the Ethiopian nations and nationalities and that of the international community knows that there is no one on earth as cruel and beast than TPLF, that exclusively destroyed, killed the country and exploited mercilessly its resources for building their region and empowering their group.
This is absolute lies! A story created by TPLF in the last 40 years. Amhara has never in history been divisive, rather medium for unity of Ethiopia. You and your lies will die away, and the truth will live forever. Don't try to confuse people between yourself TPLF and the Tigre people!!!!