Peace, famine and Ethiopia's 'Green Revolution'
By Abebe Gelaw
‘Money and friendship break the arms of justice’—Italian proverb

A few days ago, a dubious news story circulated among local and international news outlets. It says: “The Board of the Yara Foundation has chosen to award the first African Green Revolution Yara Prize, to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, for his contribution to improve food security and human nutrition in ways that also protect the environment.”

At first it appeared a hoax story that goes like: “Osama bin Laden has received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his extraordinarily outstanding contribution to world peace and stability.” Why not? Anything can happen these days!

Three years ago, the TPLF-comandeered public media had excitedly delivered another amazing story about a Korean inspired Christian peace council that heaped a mountain of accolade on Meles for “ending the Ethio-Eritrean conflict.” At a cermony held at the National Palace in Addis, the World Peace Prize Awarding Council Inc., presented a ‘global’ peace prize, accompanied by an “honorary doctoral degree”, from a Korean university, to one of Africa’s notorious despots. Known amongst his subjects as an openly atheistic archenemy of peace for nearly three decades, Meles must have been flabbergasted to be told that he was also honoured by the council with the position of a “roving ambassador for peace and human cultural assets.” However, through its motto the Council conveyed to him one of the most monumental and humbling messages, i.e. “Jesus Christ is the only King of Peace.”

Clad in Hannam University’s silk gown and proudly clutching his peace certificate, Meles delivered an angelic speech, though he failed to make a single reference or acknowledgement to Almighty God. "I am proud to state with clear conscience on behalf of our government that we have never let our people down and we have tried as much as humanly possible not to lose any opportunity for peace…. Making a choice between bullets and a loaf of bread for the hungry child, is not always that simple…. It is not enough for one to seek and desire peace in order to be able to achieve it. Peace requires partners for its achievement. The possibility for protecting and securing peace is made all the more difficult when, on top of not having partners for peace, those who have to make the painful decision discover that diplomacy is made to seek a false middle ground," he said, to the delight of his loyalists and worshippers who gathered at the opulent palace to witness the glorification of a peacemaker.

On the contrary, his speech did not strike a cord with reality in the ears of ordinary Ethiopians due to the fact that his track record depicts quite the opposite of what was claimed. Yet, looking at it from a different perspective, the WPPAC has discharged its Christian duty by trying to mellow and exorcise the spirit of violence that has possessed our atheistic leader for over three decades with the powerful spirit of peace. Even if it was not as effective as expected due to the relapse of PM’s violent mood and caprice, the effort was quite commendable.

At a time when Meles was desperately seeking uplifting stories in the aftermath of an overt and covert vote rigging scandal, the massacre of more than forty civilian protesters, the maiming of over one hundred fifty poor people and the mass arrests of over five thousand opposition supporters and sympathizers, another prize arrived with a tag of ‘Green Revolution.’ This time round the awarding body turned out to be a foundation formed and financed by a Norwegian multinational corporation called Yara International ASA, that sells over six billion dollars worth of fertilizers annually in over one hundred thirty countries including Ethiopia.

The chemical company shamelessly claimed that the first African Green Revolution Yara Prize 2005 is awarded to Meles Zenawi, for his dedication and inspirational leadership, for the results achieved in improving food security for his people, and for Ethiopia’s response to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s call for a uniquely African green revolution for the 21st Century. The praise and eulogy did not in any way match any of the dark records of Meles.

Nonetheless, the outrageous claim was quickly diminished by a commonplace news story from Ethiopia. It was reported the next day, 20th July 2005, by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that at least 18 million people are facing hunger in the greater Horn of Africa, with more than half of them in Ethiopia. The grim news overshadowed the excitement among his followers. How come all these people face the fangs of hunger in a green empire ruled by Yara’s first African king of the Green Revolution?

According to the World Food Summit, food security means that all people, at all
times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. UNICEF warned, less than a week before the announcement of the Yara Green Revolution award, that up to 170,000 children could die of severe malnutrition this year. "Severely acute malnutrition among Ethiopia's children has reached alarming levels across the country," said Bjorn Ljungqvist, Ethiopia representative of the U.N. Children's Fund. He said UNICEF urgently needed $42 million to quadruple the number of feeding centres it runs in Ethiopia, provide more vitamin A, de-worming and anti-measles care and food for 6.8 million children and extend emergency water and sanitation to 1.2 million people. "Emergency health and nutrition programmes have only 25 per cent of their funding," said Mr. Ljungqvist. Under such circumstances, Yara should have contributed the $200,000, which it allocated to glorify one of Africa’s merchants of hunger, to the efforts being undertaken by the unsung heroes—UNICEF and many under-funded charities, which are struggling hard to avert the hovering threat of humanitarian disaster.
In its 22nd November 2002 edition, The Economist published an article headlined, ‘Bad weather, and bad government’. It indicated that Ethiopia faced a famine worse than the catastrophe of 1984. “Bad weather is partly to blame. But, as elsewhere in Africa, so too is bad government,” it said.

Analyzing the chronic suffering that Ethiopians have been facing for far too long, The Economist blamed the government, referred by some as Africa’s merchants of hunger, for making political and financial capital out of the appalling disaster of starvation. “Bad weather is rarely enough, on its own, to kill large numbers of people. Famine usually requires bad government, too…. In Ethiopia, the food crisis has been aggravated by the legacy of a senseless border war with neighbouring Eritrea between 1998 and 2000. It killed tens of thousands, forced 350,000 to flee their homes, blasted both countries' infrastructure and prompted foreign donors to freeze a lot of aid. In all, it cost Ethiopia an estimated $2.9 billion—almost a whole year’s output for every farmer in a country where 80 per cent of the population lives on farms. Such a monumental man-made disaster has made it harder for the country to cope with a natural one.”

The conclusion of the article has not been different from that of numerous analysts and writers. Bad governance, as opposed to good governance, is the source of our misery. The main responsibility of any government is not to beg around for food aid, as merchants of hunger do. It is rather to mobilize the nation and resources at its disposal to produce enough food to feed the people. The duty of a government is not to declare to the whole world that Ethiopia is the bread basket and water tower of Africa without devising mechanisms to utilizing and harnessing our water resources to enable farmers to be less reliant on food aid and rain-fed agriculture. Because of bad governance, the most significance economic growth registered during the last decade and half is the increase in foreign aid, which now accounts to over 40 per cent of the Gross National Product (GDP). This is probably a potent piece of evidence that shows the incontrovertible failure of a government.

There is little doubt that the luxurious Ethio-Eritrean conflict, or rather the Meles-Isayas war, has brought disaster to both poor nations not only in terms of the huge human and financial cost, but also in aggravating famine and poverty. After Meles awarded Isayas a large chunk of land including all Ethiopia’s 1000-km long coastline, Meles claimed he caught Isayas stealing a tiny stony village. To restore the nation’s ‘honour’, a bloody war was fought over Badme, which a Financial Times reporter, Michela Wrong, referred to as, “the kind of one-hotel, two-bar village in which yellow-eyed goats wander through the front rooms.” The tragic war was fought with one of the most deadly and cruelest military tactics. Eritrean soldiers dug trenches and planted lethal mines along their stronghold areas while Ato Meles, ‘commander-in-chief’ of the Ethiopian army, decided to launch human wave assaults. Over 80,000 people perished in the senseless and unjust war. After paying such a cruelly high human cost, but to the relief of Isayas, Meles declared that he was much more worried about Eritrean sovereignty than a conclusive victory and pulled out the army from key strategic positions. The Algiers Peace Pact was signed by the co-authors of the war. In spite of all that and the decision of the boarder commission, the military standoff still continues costing both poor nations hundreds of millions of dollars annually while massive scale famine permanently looms over these earthly purgatories, where human suffering seems endless.

Drought is an unavoidable natural disaster and can happen anywhere in the world. However, in countries where leadership has failed, drought compounded by already existing civil strife and poverty, creates and perpetuates famine. According to Melaku Ayalew, an expert in disaster management, famine does not strike unexpectedly, but builds up slowly and provides a lead time before it occurs. The predictability of famine makes it possible to prevent it. If a food shortage develops to the scale of famine and mass starvation, it must be blamed on the failure of society in general and government in particular. In other words, famine is a man-made disaster that can be prevented by a responsible government.

It seems unnecessary to list down the inadequacies of the Meles regime to prove to Yara its well documented misdeeds and misguided policies. Unlike the Norwegian fertilizer giant, we Ethiopians know the grim realities facing our nation. We have never seen Meles planting any trees or flowers. If Meles is a green revolutionary for Yara, so be it. However, he may do justice if he shares the prize with Mengistu Hailemariam and Isayas Afeworki. The trio merchants of hunger and destruction have done a great deal of damage to affect every household in Ethiopia by scorching the earth with artillery shells and bombs while millions have starved to death. Why doesn’t Yara hail them collectively as ‘the great pioneers of Green Revolution in Africa?’

Come September, we will see whether Meles would share the prize money with anyone or import millions of seedlings to start a Yara-sponsored Green Revolution in Ethiopia where almost everything is at stake. I bet the Prime Minister will make a wonderful speech about peace, democracy, human rights, election, poverty alleviation, food security, green revolution and will laugh all his way to the bank, rather than wasting his time planting trees.

Dr. Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan pioneer of the ‘green belt movement’, an Africa-wide movement that empowered women, challenged corrupt officials and planted millions of trees in ravaged lands, including Ethiopia, deservedly received the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004, in Oslo, Norway. With Yara’s sponsorship Meles may even double his prize with the Nobel Peace Prize 2005, for his “exceptional contribution to peace and development not only in Ethiopia but also the world at large.” Nothing is impossible for him! A few weeks ago we saw Meles in disbelief on TV tucked behind leaders of the G8. Ethiopians who camped at Gleneagles to demand the G8 leaders to help them bring the tyrant to justice were bitterly disappointed to be ignored by the most powerful politicians on earth. After all, Blair and Bush prefer to condone his misdeeds simply because he is a key partner against “the war on terror,” and keeper of the balance of terror in the Horn of Africa. As an Italian proverb goes, “Money and friendship break the arms of justice.” Director of the United Nations Millennium Project, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, is expected to present the Yara prize to Meles in Oslo on 3rd September. For most Ethiopians the PM’s leadership is disastrous and depressive. Still we cannot wait for the great speeches that the first Yara’s African green revolutionary and his agents, promoters and sponsors will deliver at the awarding ceremony…. It will be a glorious day not only for Ethiopia but also for the whole of Africa. The hungry people of Africa are watching their ‘inspirational’ green revolutionary with great expectations!

Well argued!

The disaster will continue unless we remove Meles by hook or crook.

Yes!!!

Ibrahim or Gebre...you need to reply to this article, if you can?

Both Gebre...and Ibrahim are hidding. They don't reply to serious stuff!