“Soon come” as Jamaica’s Rastafarians say. In this case it applies to the end of the Ethiopian regime which is now in its terminal stage, in intensive care on life support and being kept alive only by an intravenous infusion of over $20 million a day in Western “aid.”
While the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, maintains an almost surreal appearance of a thriving economy, reports by those who have traveled outside the capital speak of a life for Ethiopia’s “other” 75 million people that has changed very little since medieval times.
With some 90% of the population existing on $1 a day, with a large majority having no electricity, little or no clean drinking water, with 70% having never seen the inside of a schoolroom and medical care inaccessible for almost all, the stark contrast between what journalists are allowed to see in the capital and what lives the people lead in the countryside could hardly be more dramatic.
With ethnic based insurgencies growing nationwide alongside near record levels in the price of food, which consumes most of what little income the average Ethiopian has, you could say the clock is ticking down towards the last days of a terminal regime.
The post Meles Zenawi leadership that now rules the country resembles a pack of hyenas circling its one non-hyena member, Meles’ handpicked low level technocrat “acting” P.M. Hailemariam Desalegn, who is not from the ruling cliques ethnic minority.
While all the hyenas in the ruling party’s elite hate Desalegn, they have to keep an eye on each other as well, for if one tries to charge in and grab Desalegn by the throat, they may find themselves being hamstrung from behind by their erstwhile pack members in jealousy.
Having spoken with several firsthand witnesses to the situation outside the capital, Addis Ababa, these past months since I last wrote about Ethiopia, it seems clear that an explosion is coming that will tear the Ethiopian empire, an empire sewn together by the British and French as a bulwark against the Italian incursion into East Africa over a century ago, apart at the seams.
With the natural gas rich Ogadenis in the southeast and the Anuak in the 1 billion barrel oil rich West already up in arms demanding independence, what the future holds for the remnants of the post Meles Zenawi regime presently on life support remains the 80-million person question.
“Soon come” is what the Jamaican ghetto born and bred Rastafarians are apt to say when asked when some major change will come about and “soon come” in 2013 for the expiration of the I.C.U bedded Ethiopian regime surviving on life support alone, mark my words.
What the response by the Western paymasters of the Ethiopian regime to its downfall will be remains to be seen but one thing is certain and that is one of the most strategically critical areas in the world will no longer be compliantly under the control of Pax Americana.
Thomas C. Mountain is the most widely distributed independent journalist in Africa, living and reporting from Eritrea since 2006. His interviews can be seen on RT and PressTV. He can be reached at thomascmountain_at_yahoo_dot_com.
