The men in Addis Ababa

The Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa houses one the best Indian restaurants in East Africa. But its name is not necessarily associated with the quality of that excellent eating place. The hotel is above all known for its luxury environment and high cost accommodation.

Today the world could see some TV images taken at the hotel entrance, as the delegates that will negotiate the South Sudan´s peace agreement gathered for a marathon of discussions. These were tough men in soft set-up. Men of power in a setting of wealth and indulgence.

After that, we could watch a series of dramatic pictures taken outside Bor. The contrast could not be wider. These images gave us a quick synopsis of the suffering the people are going through. In this case, it was soft people, powerless men, women and children, in a setting of great dispossession. Their future is being played at the Addis Sheraton. But can we trust the players?

Spending time in Addis Ababa

I spent the last few days in Addis Ababa.

My last visit had been in the late years of the 90´s decade. Many things have changed since then. There is impressive economic growth and the city keeps transforming itself all the time. It has also been growing very fast. The country´s population growth rate is very high. Around two million people are added to Ethiopia´s population every year. When I visited Addis for the first time, in 1978, the total population figure was around 37 million, Eritrea included. Today, the Ethiopians are over 86 million, Eritrea not counted, as it has become another country.

These numbers carry major challenges. No country can move fast enough to respond to such a population pressure. Even if the economic growth rate is very high, as it is the case in today´s Ethiopia. And you have to add to it major social inequalities and the tensions that come from ethnic diversity and different strong religious identities.

The government has been able so far to manage these threats. It has kept a very heavy lid on this boiling pressure cooker. The state control is still very ubiquitous. However, the key question is now: how long can this control last as the young people become more and more numerous and urbanised?