Back in Ethiopia

It feels good to be back in Africa after a break of three months. The situation in the country has stabilised since the peace treaty between the federal government and the TPLF (Tigray People's Liberation Front) - the people of the northern region of Ethiopia, Tigray, felt dispossessed of political power triggering a brutal civil war where, according to some reports, around one million people lost their lives and many more are now on the point of starvation. The situation on the ground in the Horn of Africa is further compounded by recent severe droughts and a lack of grain imports due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

Ethiopia, like many African countries, is made up of regions of ethnic groups. The highlands to the north are predominantly inhabited by the Habesha peoples, Semitic language-speaking and generally Oriental Orthodox Christian. This includes the regions of Amhara and Tigray, until recently the main protagonists in the civil war. The predominant lowland group is Oromia, around 40 million people and the largest single ethnic group who are, allegedly, themselves instigating some regional violence with calls for independence from the Republic of Ethiopia. This could be consequential; the Oromo people are 8 times the size of Tigrayans although, at this point, they appear to lack coordination and leadership which was so effective for the Tigray uprising coming as close as it did to overthrowing the capital Addis Ababa.

We are spending a few days in Addis Ababa, which sits as an Amharic enclave in the middle of Oromia. At an altitude of almost 2,800 metres (around 9,000 feet) it takes a few days to acclimatise to the lower oxygen level, so we spend it hanging out with the diplomats, aid workers and other NGOs working so hard to prevent war and famine, to improve education for women and other essential services. Addis Ababa is also the centre for the African Union and other European Union organisations; as a result there are many embassies and NGOs located here.