Political situation in Addis
Since several people seemed to be concerned after hearing news that Ethiopia might get into a border war with Eritrea and that there has been large unrests in Addis and the rest of Ethiopia I thought it would be good to update you a bit and explain how far my experience has been. First of all, though a war would be a terrible move by any of the countries, the situation would hardly affect life in Addis Ababa, besides some shortages like fuel as the army would get priority in supplies. This based on the experience of several colleagues who were here during the previous war with Eritrea.
The protest though are much closer, but as a foreigner you experience much less the hardship that the Ethiopians themselves do, especially the poor families. The riots have closed many businesses for quite a while and police-forces have gone from house to house arresting youth as potential protesters. Though this week the police released around 4500 prisoners who they admitted had nothing to do with the protests, many are still held in custody including the main opposition leaders. The situation has now gone back to stable, but underground tension remains probably until the political situation is settled. But unfortunately there are no signs at all that a settlement would be reach soon.
Personally I have hardly bee affected by the situation. The closest to any protest I got was during the Meskel celebration in September. During the last protest, where around 40 people died, I mainly stayed within the compound of our house or the UN-compound, which both were very safe places to be.
It is a very strange experience to hear some gunshots and further read on Reuters and the BBC what is going on in your own city, while you are just enjoying yourself to kill time. Especially since afterwards you hear all the horrific stories of people being arrested, or shot since they refused to come with the police, and families who don’t know where their sons have gone.
On a more light perspective we handled the situation really calm. Stocked up a lot of drinks and food and enjoyed our time together. As many friends were staying in areas that were not as safe or they would be home alone we had several guests over. This resulted in a house packed with 7 people, sharing beds (don't worry I shared a bed with Jens), sleeping on the sofa or ground and cooking or browsing the Internet for news the whole day.
The protest though are much closer, but as a foreigner you experience much less the hardship that the Ethiopians themselves do, especially the poor families. The riots have closed many businesses for quite a while and police-forces have gone from house to house arresting youth as potential protesters. Though this week the police released around 4500 prisoners who they admitted had nothing to do with the protests, many are still held in custody including the main opposition leaders. The situation has now gone back to stable, but underground tension remains probably until the political situation is settled. But unfortunately there are no signs at all that a settlement would be reach soon.
Personally I have hardly bee affected by the situation. The closest to any protest I got was during the Meskel celebration in September. During the last protest, where around 40 people died, I mainly stayed within the compound of our house or the UN-compound, which both were very safe places to be.
It is a very strange experience to hear some gunshots and further read on Reuters and the BBC what is going on in your own city, while you are just enjoying yourself to kill time. Especially since afterwards you hear all the horrific stories of people being arrested, or shot since they refused to come with the police, and families who don’t know where their sons have gone.
On a more light perspective we handled the situation really calm. Stocked up a lot of drinks and food and enjoyed our time together. As many friends were staying in areas that were not as safe or they would be home alone we had several guests over. This resulted in a house packed with 7 people, sharing beds (don't worry I shared a bed with Jens), sleeping on the sofa or ground and cooking or browsing the Internet for news the whole day.
For now Addis seems back to normal, but nobody can say what will happen next. Protests might erupt tomorrow or in half a year again it all depends. But for now we are back to normal again and enjoying the greatness of this beautiful country, that deserves a better future.
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