Ethiopia that ended the tradition of military dictatorship in 1991 has over the years emerged as a “role model” for most of the African countries, like Sudan and Somalia, which are coping with internal violence for years. On 23 May this year, it created history when the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Republic Democratic Front (EPRDF) won a landslide victory in an election, registering no incident of violence from any part of the country, a rare feat in the history of the Afro-Asian world. The victory is the fourth in succession as the Alliance government won the earlier elections in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010. What could be the reason for such a peaceful election in an African country? The Consul General of Ethiopia in Jeddah, Ambassador Tekleab Kebede, has several reasons to correlate the mantra with the outcome of the elections that took place on 23 May this year. “The ruling party considers poverty as enemy of development and hence is working hard on the eradication of poverty, besides giving the other basic needs of the people.” “Since 85 percent of the people reside in the rural areas, our government policy is to focus on ground realities like agriculture, which in the globalization era, has got a drubbing in many countries,” he said. As against the harsh conditions under which the farmers are living in other countries like India where farmers are committing suicide, the Ethiopian policy focuses on its agriculture. This is changing the agriculture landscape in the country with much succor to the rural people. The diplomat, who was until recently the Dean of the African Council, said: “This people-friendly approach of the government has earned the full support of the farmers. The only need for any successful government is to change the attitude and see the result on the ground.” Also, for a good economy, the CG said the government considers education as the basic condition. “Education can indeed change the people for the better. And therefore, it leads the government to give priority to this area too,” he said. His claim is supported by facts: Ethiopia has moved “from two universities in 1995 to 23 universities today with several more in the pipeline.” The student enrolment too has gone up to 90 percent from 19 percent. “That is one reason why the country is maintaining a double-digit GDP for the last seven years,” he said. It's a visionary government, whose future plans is to elevate the status of the country to a middle-income level country in the next 20 years. “All this is not possible if you don't have good governance and your people are satisfied. The present government did and is still doing everything to give a smooth administration that include, for instance, relaxing of government procedures, which has been reduced from six months down to four hours for any government-related procedure like procuring license,” he said. All this optimistic picture of the country however does not blur the fact that Ethiopia has some five million people (three percent) living below poverty level and who depend on outside aid. But he said: “The level of poverty line is decreasing every year, because our economy is improving. Over the past five to six years the average growth in GDP was over 11 percent and in recognition of these facts Ethiopia has been chosen for the Good Governance Award by the Corporate Council on Africa at a workshop held in Virginia, USA.” The EPRDF is an amalgamation of four major groups that pulled down the military dictatorship in 1991. But, the government is not without blemishes. In the 2005 elections, it had to fire on anti-government protesters, killing some 36 people, which earned it the epithet of dictator. Kebede said, “In 2005, influenced by Color Revolutions in Central Asian countries, the opposition parties, despite winning a good number of seats, instigated people to revolt against the winning EPRDF government, which backfired. The government had to resort to firing that killed some people, which in any case was unfortunate.” Replying to a question on whether ethnic politics is currently stalking the political scene in the country, Kebede cited the Amhara community as an example that ruled power for 100 years and which is not a ruling community now. Yet, he said, they voted the ruling alliance substantially. With the opposition floored in the recent elections, and the ruling party firmly in the saddle, it will be observed how the government deals with the opposition, which is the major building block of democracy. Kebede said: “The PM in his message to the nation has clearly said that he was ready to work together with the opposition, and on major national issue, the government can sit with the opposition. According to him, Ethiopia has given a clear mandate and “we can't afford to relax. It's a big responsibility.” But what about Birtukan Mideksa, the charismatic young leader of Ethiopia's Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, who has been put in jail for life Kebeda shrugged the idea of her being charismatic. “She is new in politics. Only one year old. She is not charismatic.” As against the charges of vote rigging, the Consul General denied any such incidents. “The African Union deployed some 60 observers to monitor the elections and has commented that the national elections were free and fair and that AU found no evidence of intimidation or misuse of state resources for ruling party campaigns.” Fast emerging as oasis of peace in Africa, how Ethiopia could let the air of peace spread on to the neighboring countries? “Ethiopia is heading for a sound democracy in a peaceful manner. Neighbors are watching this, especially Somalia. I am sure, the people of Somalia will get lesson from Ethiopia.” He said that culture of the people does not accommodate extremist feeling. “They have their own values.” But what's so special about the Ethiopian culture that refuses to ignite any communal or sectarian feelings among the people, who consist of different religions, cultures and ethnicity, he said: “In our country, it all starts with the family. Family values are very strong in Ethiopia. They fear God. If they promise they keep it. Fearing God is important.”
