Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ethiopia Today
Political Change
The year 2012 will go down in modern Ethiopian history as a year of great change. On 20
August of that year it was announced that Meles Zenawi, the man who had led the country
since the overthrow of the Derg regime in 1991, had died. Zenawi had made economic
growth and development his number-one priority and during his 21-year rule the country
changed for the better, beyond all recognition of the Ethiopia Zenawi had inherited. Today,
a new man, Hailemariam Desalegn, stands at the helm as acting prime minister (the next
elections are scheduled for 2015). Though the governing Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) is solidly behind him, many observers wonder if he has the
political clout to hold together such a diverse country and one that, despite its progress, re-
mains blighted with problems and surrounded by such unstable neighbours as Eritrea,
Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.
Religious Change
The year 2012 wasn't just a year of political change for Ethiopia: it was also a year of reli-
gious change. Just four days before the death of Meles Zenawi, the Patriarch of the Ethiopi-
an Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos, died unexpectedly. Paulos had brought change to the
Ethiopian Church and was largely credited with modernising it. Ethiopia had never before
lost its political and spiritual leadership in such a short space of time. Paulos' successor,
chosen in 2013, will face the challenge of retaining the traditional power of the Church
while adapting to a country that, with a new political leader, may well change in unexpec-
ted ways.
