Addis Ababa, 01 December 2014 (WIC) - Mark Twain had once, on coming back to New York, made this famous observation: “It’s not quite what it used to be and it appears decidedly better than when I was here last.”
In true Twain honesty, he had wondered whether his going away had something to do with this progress as well.
I went to Addis Ababa last week after a gap of two years. I got reminded of Twain for understandable reasons. The airport was still an unholy mess. Large, rustic, disorganised and derelict. Yet, it was attempting to become the future aviation hub of the region and Africa.
And Ethiopian Airlines does fancy itself. Its branding makes people believe in its service and promises. A bit like the rest of the country really. It is, after all, Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country in numbers after Nigeria.
A history rich in culture and having a fairly unique status in Africa of never having been officially a colony does have its perks. By a sheer bit of diplomatic guile, it is also the host to the African Union HQ and hence, a natural destination for all African diplomatic efforts.
Ethiopia has etched itself as an African leader, a beacon of hope and a paragon of virtue. Yet, it’s essentially a fiefdom still; both at a political level and at a business level.
The key sectors remain in the hands of the government or are restricted (example banking) with stringent local ownership rules. But this is a proud country with proud people, albeit with a rather horrible legacy of famine and an even more horrible legacy of deposing its own monarch and then being ruled by the junta and its ‘red terror’ for many decades. So why do people love Ethiopia? (Forbes India)