EDITOR’S NOTE: In the past 16 years, the Meles parasitic regime led Ethiopia into more poverty, more war, more disease and more misery. For Ethiopia to be on the path of development, greedy, homicidal, lawless dictators like Meles must never be allowed to come to power. Ethiopia can be a prosperous nation in just one generation under a good governance. The following is taken from the Woyanne-owned Walta Information Center.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has recently given an interview on socio-economic and political developments of the country. The full text of the interview, which was published in The Ethiopian Herald in three parts, is presented as follow:

Question: The Ethiopian Millennium has been celebrated for the past 15 months and now we are almost at the concluding phase of the celebrations. This period marks the beginning of the Ethiopian Hedasse. How do you define and describe the Amharic word Hedasse?

PM Meles: The Amharic word Hedase means “renaissance” in English. It is to be recalled that the civilization of Rome and Greek prevailed for hundreds of years in the European history. Due to various social and political factors, the golden civilization era demised and gave its way to a period historically known as “The Dark Ages”. After the end of this epoch European civilization recuperated and the Europeans called this special juncture in their history the time of “Renaissance”.

When we relate the word “Renaissance” with the Ethiopian context, we remember that civilization reigned in every corner of Ethiopia for centuries. Gradually, this marked state of socio-economic progress began to deteriorate and Ethiopia finally ended up under the category of poor countries. Like what happened in Europe, that great era of Ethiopian civilization was replaced by the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages of Ethiopia is over and we are now in the beginning of Ethiopia’s Renaissance.

Question: What are the foundations and challenges of Ethiopia’s Renaissance?

PM Meles: Ethiopia’s Renaissance bases itself on several core foundations. The major ones are mapping out feasible development agenda, creating a common platform where all stakeholders jointly work for the realization of the development goal as well as forging and facilitating favourable conditions for national consensus among the public on the principles of development and good governance. Building the execution capacity and raising capital are crucial to make this state of common national consensus pragmatic and viable.

Viewed from the point of Ethiopia’s long history, our renaissance is at its infancy stage. As starters, we faced several challenges in our journey towards ensuring Ethiopia’s Renaissance. Devising the right development and good governance direction were a challenge in itself. After we mapped out our path of development at the EPRDF organizational conference, we had to struggle stiffly to make the development agenda acceptable and comprehendible among the public at large. We passed all the challenges that we faced in our journey and managed to register record-high development achievements over the past consecutive five years. Thus, the renaissance overcame the daunting challenges and is now moving forward with stability. This does not mean that the renaissance will not encounter other forms of challenges in the future. However, it is inevitable that it will succeed finally, once it beats all impediments ahead of it.

Question: It is to be known that Ethiopia envisages being among middle-income countries in the new millennium. To what extent is the international condition conducive to realize this national vision? What do you think are the major challenges in this regard?

PM Meles: The new millennium covers the next one thousand years. In the coming hundred years Ethiopia should be categorized not only under middle-income countries but should join the group of developed nations. The country will be among middle-income states within the next 20 to 30 years.

Under this era of globalization, there could, in fact, be some challenges to be extricated from abject poverty and become a middle-income country. We are not still a major actor in the international market. We are simply hopefuls. The international market is like an ocean rocked by violent waves. The current international fuel and food price hike is part of this wave. One has to be cautious, farsighted and vigilant while crossing this turbulent ocean.

Question: How do you view the current state of development in rural parts of the country? Is there an enabling environment to press ahead with the development endeavours? What will be the government’s focus of attention in this regard?

PM Meles: We believe that a development-oriented politico-economy has been created in the rural areas of the country. This means farmers in the rural localities have already realized that they should use modern technologies, work day in and day out, and raise their agricultural productivity in a bid to improve their standard of living. In other words, the farmer came to know well that the only way out of the quagmire of poverty is speeding up the ongoing development activities. They are also aware of the fact that they should fully engage themselves in market-led development endeavours promoting the culture of using select-seed and other modern farming technologies.

The farmers are achieving a major attitudinal change and are convinced that they can move fast from a hand-to-mouth production to a higher standard of living. Apart from attitudinal change, the farmers made significant improvement in terms of development-oriented political economy. It is now the successful farmers who are molding and guiding the attitude of the public in rural localities. Farmers with success in development are also assuming the leadership in several rural Kebeles. Other farmers are following suit. The attitude and the leadership have changed. Development infrastructures are expanding fast. Due to these and other reasons, there is already conducive development atmosphere in rural parts of the country.

I would say that we are not even near to the growth that we intend to achieve in the area of agriculture. Concerning wheat production, for instance, some farmers produce over 60 quintals of wheat per hectare. However, the average production is 20 quintals. Thus, following the methods employed by successful farmers we need to scale up the average wheat production to 40 – 50 per hectare. Using modern technologies and best practices as well as implementing the scaling up strategy we can expedite agricultural production growth.

Question: How do you describe the results of the efforts exerted to address the basic development demands of people in the urban areas? What are the similarities and the differences between the development activities in the rural and urban areas as well as the degree of benefit drawn from the development efforts?

PM Meles: Encouraging development activities are being witnessed in urban areas over the past few years. However, there are some differing aspects when compared to the objective reality in rural parts. As I mentioned earlier, we have created a development-oriented political economy in rural areas that is instrumental in bringing about swift development. There is also a change of attitude and leadership. The development infrastructure is well facilitated in rural localities.

On the contrary, developmental attitude is beginning to materialize a little late. We cannot say that the concept of development is adequately instilled in every segment of the urbanites. This is one of the reasons for the yawning gap in the results. In fact, the infrastructure in the urban areas is better. The difference is that developmental attitude and leadership have not yet been sufficiently prevailed in urban areas. These problems should be addressed effectively. We don’t dare to say that such kind of attitude was in place even in rural areas when we conducted the reformation conference of our organization. Such attitude for development expanded and gathered pace over the past three and four years. We believe that the expansion of micro- and small-scale institutions would enable many urbanites to have role models, whom they would want to emulate. From our experience during the past few years, we can say that the urban society will move towards attaining developmental attitude. Conditions will, for sure, be created whereby the urban people would be zealously inspired and committed for development. I don’t think the task will be as such daunting.

Question: It is known that our country is registering rapid economic stride. However, a severe form of inflation is affecting especially low-income segments of the society. How do you describe the results of the measures taken by the government to curb the ever rising inflation?

PM Meles: The major cause of the current inflation and price hike has a global dimension. The second has to do with the constraints in the marketing system of our country. It is rather difficult to overcome the pressure of the international market. The government has been taking long- and short-term measures, which it believes would address the situation.

The long-run solutions also apply in tackling the problem in the middle term. The short-term solutions could not be taken as sustainable remedies. One of the middle-term solutions is regulating monetary circulation in the economy. Such steps are bearing fruits and the monetary circulation is being controlled. Its impact on the inflation would be quite visible in the coming Ethiopian year.

Taking radical measure against the second cause of inflation, i.e., constraints in the marketing system, takes some time. One of the measures that we took in this regard is importing wheat and distributing the product to the local market in sufficient quantity. Some 1.5 million quintals of wheat is being transported to the country. The wheat is being sold at several towns. Currently, at least the price of wheat is decreasing. According to the prediction, the prices of other food grains such as maize will also decline. An additional 1.5 million quintal of wheat is purchased and is expected to arrive at the port after 10 days. This makes the total purchased wheat three million quintals. The purchase of the wheat will go on up until the price is stabilized and we manage to keep the excess in our reserves. We do hope that the planned procurement measures will adequately stabilize the prices of food grains.

Question: The Ethiopian defence Forces are in Somalia to help the Somalia government ensure sustainable peace and stability. What are the achievements in this regard? When will Ethiopia withdraw its army from Somalia?

PM Meles: Our army had two major missions in Somalia. The first one was to deal with extremist groups there, who cause clear and present danger to Ethiopia and overtly declared a holy war (Jihad) against our country. This mission of our army was accomplished within few weeks.

The second mission was supporting the Somalia government to ensure lasting peace and stability in that country. In addition, the Ethiopian army shouldered a lofty responsibility of building durable peace in Ethiopia and the Horn as a whole by shuttering the backbone of the subversive groups in Somalia. We were not alone in breaking the backbone of extremists. We had allies and partners. The Somalia transitional government and its allies were with us. We cannot say “goodbye” to these allies leaving them alone without helping them to be self-sufficient in taking care of their problems. This is not only the question of morality, but it also sends a bad signal to other allies not to take us as trustworthy partners in the future. Thus, we had to support our allies in our capacity.

International organizations including the African Union (AU) as well as the people of Somalia had wholeheartedly supported our intervention in Somalia. Especially AU’s unreserved support in this regard should not be taken lightly. Both AU and the United Nations told us not to withdraw our army hastily risking the safety and security of Somalia and its people. They asked us to stay there until they send their peacekeeping missions to Somalia. We could not turn a deaf ear to such requests of the AU, which always stands by the noble causes of Ethiopia. We stayed in Somalia up to now for the aforementioned three major reasons.

Only staying in Somalia does not bring about the desired result. We don’t also believe that war is the sole option. We have three strategies to ensure sustainable peace and stability in Somalia.

The first strategy is political solution both inside and outside Somalia. By inside solution, I mean solving clan disputes in every locality of Somalia. The Somali people themselves held a national conference in Mogadishu to solve clan-based conflicts at a national level. They moved encouraging stride in this regard. Resolving disputes among clans residing in the outskirts of Mogadishu is a key to ensure durable peace in the City. Thus, we have put in place a clear strategy that promotes peace talks, negotiations and reconciliation among the various Somali clans. On the other hand, there are jihadists under the umbrella of the so-called Union of Islamic Courts outside Somalia. There are also devotee religious groups that could jeopardize the security of the Horn. Distinguishing the pious groups from the jihadists and drawing them to the peace track is part of our strategy. Hence, we had been exerting efforts to ensure peace inside Somalia and in the neighborhood.

The second strategy was rebuilding the Somali government. By the time we intervened in Somalia, the government had not even a police force and an effective army. There was not a legally established tax collecting institute. It was the thugs who were gathering taxes. Thus, we had to rebuild Somalia’s army, police force and tax collecting organizations to enable the Somalis be self-reliant in ensuring their own peace and security.

Our third strategy is exerting utmost efforts to convince the international community to back up the decision of the African Union and take over the responsibility of bringing peace and stability in Somalia through the United Nations.

Our three strategies achieved various results. If we take, for instance, the case of negotiations, currently the Mogadishu negotiation has moved an encouraging distance. The negotiation envisaged to be held in Kisemayu has failed. Concerning peace negotiations held outside Somalia, several factions that split from the self-styled Al-Shebab terrorist group have already started peace talks with the transitional government and signed a first round agreement. This, indeed, is a huge stride.

With regard to rebuilding the Somalia transitional government, we trained a significant number of members of the Somali police and defence forces. They are building their capacity step-by-step. But, we cannot say that the task of rebuilding the Somalia transitional government has gone with the required pace.

Successful diplomatic activities were also undertaken to convincing the international community to take over the responsibility of bringing peace and stability in Somalia. Peacekeeping troops of Burundi and Uganda are already in Somalia. However, the required number of peacekeepers that should be deployed to Somalia is 8,000. The contingent deployed so far is not more than 1/4th of the required number. The United Nations is extending support to Somalia in various forms including relief assistance.

As to when the Ethiopian troops leave Somalia, first we had to foil the Jihad launched against Ethiopia. We accomplished this within three weeks. The reason that we stayed in Somalia, after we accomplished this mission has to do with ensuring durable peace in Somalia and the Horn in general. Staying there is not a must. We can pull out our army anytime we like and station it along the border to protect ourselves. But, as I mentioned earlier we have several commitments. We are responsible to the African Union and the United Nations. We are responsible to the people of Somalia. We should beat the challenges and show in practice to our Somalia allies that we are there for them in time of need. We will evaluate the pros and cons of staying in Somalia regularly. Our decision for withdrawal will be based on such evaluations. We can’t set abrupt deadline now. Our decision will take into account existing objective realities.

Question: Some international media exaggerate minor problems in Somalia and present distorted news stories. What is your comment on this issue?

PM Meles: The problem is not only exaggerated reporting. Exaggeration could be made only on existent phenomena. For example, reporting the death of two people as the massacre of 20 could be labeled as an exaggeration. But, reporting the death of 40 people in a situation where a single shot has not been fired is not exaggeration. It is rather fabrication. When we examine why some Western media are engaged in fabrication, the answer is that they don’t have a reporter on the spot. In such situations, these media resort to depend on the extremists and their spokespersons as a source of information and simply put the news on air without bothering to filter it out and check for its accuracy. On the other hand, there are some media outlets which have a hidden political agenda behind such fabrications. These are elements that hate to see the stabilization of the Horn following Ethiopia’s intervention. One of these groups is the Eritrean regime, which is publicly involved in such defamation activities against Ethiopia. There are also other groups that are covertly working and wishing for the destabilization of the region. These elements are now using their media as a tool to realize their hidden political agenda.

Question: Many predicted that war was imminent between Ethiopia and Eritrea after the withdrawal of the United Nations peacekeeping mission from the Ethio-Eritrea border areas. Why did not the Eritrean government launch a war of aggression against Ethiopia after the pull-out of the peacekeepers?

PM Meles: Because it can’t! On the first place, war did not occur along the Ethio-Eritrean border line for two reasons. The first is that the Eritrean government clearly knows the deadly reprisal if it tries to invade Ethiopia again. It is well aware that it does not have the capacity to go ahead with its intention of invasion. That is why Eritrea did not launch a war of aggression. On the Ethiopian side, although we are capable of doing it, we are not interested in it. We want peace. In short, war did not flare up because the Ethiopian defence force is not interested and the Eritrean army is not capable. If this status quo goes on and unless the Eritrean army brings about a radical change overnight, I don’t think there will be war in the region. What Eritrea chose in this regard is a proxy war. We have a strategy to thwart such destabilizing approaches.

Question: EPRDF is expected to hold its organizational conference soon. What contribution will the conference have to speed up the country’s ongoing renaissance efforts?

PM Meles: I think the conference will have a paramount importance in this regard. If we take the 4th EPRDF conference, it was a historical milestone in that it clearly defined the development and democratic reformation journey of the country. I would say the 4th EPRDF conference was the greatest organizational conferences held so far. In the 5th conference, EPRDF designed the right peace, development and democratization direction and made a commitment to putting this into practice and achieve huge success. In fact, the country registered a rapid development in the two years after this conference.

In the 6thEPRDF Organizational Conference held in 2007, we resolved ourselves to ensure the continuity of the country’s economic development in the ensuing three years. We managed to realize this over the past two years. The 7th EPRDF Organizational Conference [underway in Hawassa] will devise viable mechanisms instrumental in keeping the pace of the economic growth rate and making it over 10% on the one hand; and, overcoming the current inflation up until next year on the other.

Therefore, the EPRDF organizational conferences held so far have had immense importance in changing the living standard of our people for the better as well as accelerating the country’s development, democratization and good governance efforts. I do believe that the present conference will be equally important.

Question: Rumors of drought are being widely spread at a time when the country is fully embarked on extensive efforts to ensure the continuity of its economic development. What is the real situation in this regard?

PM Meles: There is a threat of drought in some parts of the country, especially in Somali regional state, which is prone to recurrent shortage of rain. As it is known, the region is inhabited by a pastoralist society and we cannot say that successful development activities have been undertaken as it is done in the majority of other rural areas. As a result, the region is affected by drought for two years in a row and there was a toll on the livestock.

In the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ State, excess rainfall damaged standing crops. Although there are two farming seasons in the region, due to shortage of ‘belg’ (small rainy season) rains, production has declined. Notwithstanding the aforementioned instances, there is a bumper harvest in most parts of the country. Thus, the magnitude of the drought is limited and our economy has not stopped from thriving.

However, some parties have tried to exaggerate the extent of the drought and use the situation as smoke-screen to further their agenda. Some of them oppose the government’s land policy and use every loophole to tarnish the government’s policy. Others are not happy with draft proclamations such as the recent bill related to non-governmental organizations and grab every opportunity to taint the reputation of the country.

In fact, there is shortage of rain in some areas like Konso in the South and some localities of East Amhara and Tigray regional states. However, in most parts of the country there is adequate distribution of rainfall. Given the current distribution of rain, we believe that there will be an increase in agricultural production. We are supporting in various ways citizens affected by shortage of rain.

Question: Educational facilities are being widely expanded all over the country. What measures are being taken to maintain the quality of education?

PM Meles: Concerted efforts have been exerted over the past few years to maintain the quality of education. Concerning primary and secondary schools, education quality upgrading programme has been formulated and is being implemented step-by-step. The program incorporates such components as maintaining the standard of teachers, supply of various teaching materials and communications technologies. In fact, the programme is not implemented equally in every parts of the country. The execution of the programme is encouraging in some areas while it is delayed in others. Education expansion strategy involves customization and application of best practices and experiences from areas with success in other localities. This strategy is being implemented in the education, health and agricultural sectors.

In this regard, we are trying to use the vast experience and expertise of the Germans. Efforts are being made to revise the technical and vocational training strategy. Some technical and vocational training institutes have undertaken commendable and exemplary jobs. Activities are being undertaken to bring those at the back to the forefront. Reform measures are also being taken to upgrade the quality of education offered by institutes of higher learning. In a bid to train more high school teachers, efforts are underway to intensify 2nd and 3rd degree programmes in collaboration with foreign universities. To this effect, agreements have been signed with best universities in India and South Africa. According to the agreements, Indian intellectuals will train our teachers in information and communications technology. Efforts are being made to involve academicians in South Africa, too. Thus, the education quality upgrading strategy encompasses the levels starting from primary education up to third degree level.

Question: How do you describe the status of good governance in urban and rural areas? Is there a difference in its implementation? If so, where does the difference emanate from?

PM Meles: The level of good governance differs in urban and rural areas. The basis of good governance is development-oriented political economy. There is favorable development-induced politico-economy in rural areas. This means the areas are also enjoying enabling environment for good governance. In fact, good governance is an ever-continuing and improving task. There is no such thing as “once and for all” as far as the process of good governance is concerned. Good governance is done by human beings and every human endeavor has its own limitations. The limitations are always open for improvement. There is a fertile ground in rural areas to bring about a radical change in good governance due to the above stated factors.

In urban areas, the change in political economy is moving with slower pace. The move itself started only few years ago. On the other hand, good governance is a complicated issue in urban areas. It is not as easy as in rural areas. Thus, it is believed that the task of ensuring good governance in urban areas will be a tougher one. However, I do believe that within the next two and three years a marked change will be witnessed in urban areas in respect of good governance. Question: What should be the role of the public in the enhancement of good governance?

PM Meles: Good governance means public participation. It could not be conceived in other context without public involvement. We are saying there is favorable condition in rural areas for good governance because the people there are actively participating in an organized manner in development efforts and good governance activities as well.

In fact, the interest of the urban people to involve in good governance endeavors is encouraging. Even the people of Addis Ababa, who had various reservations against EPRDF previously, practically proved that they were willing to be part of the solutions to the problems of good governance. In this regard, the government is expected to organize and coordinate the public so that they would be able to seek solution to their problems. Taking the vast experience of rural areas and Addis Ababa’s limited experience into account, we are planning to ensure the full participation of the urban people of other towns in good governance efforts in the next two years.

Question: A new press and information law has recently been approved and put into effect. Some people say the law would affect the multi-party system of the country. What is your comment in this regard?

PM Meles: This law has been formulated based on best international experiences and practices. All concerned bodies and stakeholders have deliberated at length on the draft law before it was endorsed and enacted. The draft law has been enriched by comments and suggestions of various professionals. It was also debated on different forums.

The basic objective of the press law is not dismantling the multi-party system. Rather, it is designed in such a way that it could share its contribution in the efforts geared to enhance and further bolster the multi-party structure. So long as its major objective is ensuring multilateralism, the existence of some rhetoric prone to several interpretations is not as such a pressing problem. We can adjust some minor flaws here and there during the course of the law’s implementation.

Question: Conflicts are being witnessed in some regions along border areas. What are the causes for the repeated occurrences of such border disputes? What is the government’s intention to settle this problem in a sustainable manner?

PM Meles: The major cause behind such disputes is not the issue of border; rather it is mainly related to development problems. Such conflicts usually happen when there is a better development activity in one side of the border, and absent on the other side. Such brawls could also arise when there is imbalance between the population and the available inhabitable area on the one side of the border and people in the overcrowded area migrate to the other side of the border. Competition to get access to pasture and water for cattle could also be one source of conflict.

Although the underlying cause for the brawls is related to development, there are also administrative and leadership drawbacks that exacerbate the situation. A marked limitation of capacity was observed in several contentious areas to effectively settle the conflicts. There are also certain instances of lack of commitment to ensure the rule of law. Therefore, ensuring sustainable development is a key solution to resolve conflicts in border areas. Building conflict resolution capacity of administrative bodies, taking legal measures against administrative malpractices and unwillingness to abide by law could also be used as short-term remedies.

(The Ethiopian Herald)
Translated by Mulualem Dembegna from Addis Zemen, Amharic Daily, issue of September 11