International Journal of Ethiopian Studies [XIV: 1&2]

Recent developments in Ethiopia are clear reminders that we live in extraordinary times requiring policy reorientation and strategic approaches.  We must avoid the business-as-usual procedures that we have followed for more than two and a half decades.  The political dispensation solely based on ethnicity has brought the nation to the brink of collapse.  A 2009 report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) on Ethiopia stated that “ethnic federalism has failed to resolve the national question.” It added, “some donors appear to consider food security more important than democracy in Ethiopia, but they neglect the increased ethnic awareness and tensions created by the regionalization policy and their potentially explosive consequences.”  What the ICG described as “potentially explosive consequences” a decade ago have become a reality in today’s Ethiopia. The horrific recurrent attacks based on identity, ethnic pogroms in various regional states, destruction of public and private property, inability of state or traditional institutions to protect the most vulnerable, etc., are more than sufficient reasons for reorienting Ethiopia’s nation-building approach.