Germany’s Welt: Ethiopia is Broke – And Its Nobel Laureate PM is Building a Palace For Ten Billion Dollars

🛑 የጀርመኑ ‘ዲ ቬልት‘ ጋዜጣ፤ ኢትዮጵያ ከስራለች ፥ እና የኖቤል ተሸላሚው ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር በአሥር ቢሊየን ዶላር ቤተ መንግስት እየገነባ ነው

💭 የተመረጡ አንባቢ አስተያየቶች ከ ዲ ቬልት /Die Welt ጋዜጣ፡-

1. ይህ ትልቅ እብደት ነው፤ እርግጠኛ ነኝ ብዙ ሚሊዮን/ቢሊዮን ከጀርመን የተገኘ “የልማት ዕርዳታ” ለቤተ መንግስቱ ግንባታ ይውላል።
2. የኦላፍ ሾልስ ሙሉ በሙሉ ከመጠን በላይ የሆነ ቤተ መንግስት ምን ያህል ውድ ይሆናል? በዕቅድ መሠረት ስምንት መቶ/ 800 ሚሊዮን ዩሮ አካባቢ። ከፌዴራል ቻንስለር ጋር ያለው ትይዩ በአጋጣሚ የተከሰተ እንጂ ሆን ተብሎ የተደረገ አይደለም።
3. ቱርክ ከዚህ ቀደም አንድ/1 ቢሊዮን ዶላር የሚጠጋ የልማት ዕርዳታ አግኝታለችእና ፕሬዚደንቷ አቶ ኤርዶጋንም የራሱን ቤተ መንግስት ሠርቷል። በአፍሪካ ውስጥ አንድ ገዥ ተመሳሳይ ነገር ቢያደርግ አይገርምም!
4. ከእንደዚህ አይነት ከመጠን በላይ መበላሸት፣ ለኢትዮጵያ የሚደረግ ማንኛውም አይነት እርዳታ በመጀመሪያ መሰረዝ አለበት፤ ይህ ሰው በቤተ መንግሥቱ እየተዝናና እስከመቼ እንደሚቀጥል እናያለን
5. አስቂኝ እና አሳዛኝ ነው፤ ይህ ሰው ቤተ መንግስት እየገነባ ነው ሃማስ ደግሞ በገንዘባችን የጂሃድ ዋሻውን እየገነባ ነው። ዜሮ የመማር ችሎታ ነው ያለን
6. ቤተመንግስቶች፣ ፍልስጤማውያን፣ የፔሩ የብስክሌት መንገዶች፡ በቀላሉ ከንቱው ለሆነው ነገር ሁሉ የገንዘብ ድጋፍ እናደርጋለን
7. ይህ ለማሰብ እንኳን የሚከብድ ነው፤ እኛም የገንዘብ እርዳታ እናደርጋለን
8. ይህ ቅሌታማ ምሳሌ ልማታዊ ዕርዳታ ምን ያህል ዋጋ ቢስ እንደሆነ ያሳያል። በተግባራዊነቱ መቼም መዋል ላለበት ቦታ ላይ አይውልም፤ የበላይ የሆኑትን ጥቂት ሺዎች ኪስ ለመሙላት ብቻ ነው የሚያገለግለው
9. የአፍሪካ አህጉር በሙሉ በሙስና የተዘፈቀ ነው። የዓለማችን ትልቁ የማዕድን ሀብት ያለው በአፍሪካ ነው፣ ነገር ግን አሁንም በድንጋይ ዘመን እንዳሉ ይኖራሉ። አፍሪካ የጠፋች ይመስለኛል። ምናልባት የሚረዳት የራሷን አብዮት ማካሄድ ስትችል ብቻ ነው።
10. በአንደኛው የዓለም ጦርነት ማብቂያ ላይ ኢትዮጵያ ስምንት/8 ሚሊዮን ነዋሪዎች ነበሯት። አሁን፣ ልክ ከ100 ዓመታት በኋላ፣ መቶ ሃያ/120 ሚሊዮን። ይህ ሁሉንም ይናገራል! ደግሞ አሁን ግማሽ ያህሉ አስቸጋሪው ሙስሊም ነዋሪ ነው። ይህም የህዝብ ቁጥር ድሃ ነው፣ ነገር ግን ቁጥሩ በጣም እያደገ ነው!
11. ለዛም ነው ኢትዮጵያ ምንም አይነት ድጋፍ ማግኘት የሌለባት። ልክ እንደ 80 ዎቹ፣ ሕዝቧ በረሃብ ሲሰቃይ አገዛዙ ግን ከተመዘገበው ምርት ሙሉ በሙሉ በመሸጥ የእርዳታውን ገንዘብ የጦር መሳሪያ እና ጥይቶችን ይገዛበታል!
12. የዚች አሳሳቢ ሀገር የቀድሞ ጤና ጥበቃ ሚኒስትር ቴዎድሮስ አድሃኖም ገብረእየሱስ ደግሞ የዓለም ጤና ድርጅትን ይመራሉ። ተጨማሪ ጥያቄዎች?
14. ከአሁን በኋላ የልማት ዕርዳታ አይኖርም እና በጀርመን ውስጥ ያለ ሥራ-አጥ ኢትዮጵያዊ ሁሉ ከቤተሰቡ ጋር በአስቸኳይ ወደ ሀገሩ መጠረፍ አለበት። ሠራተኞች ያስፈልጓቸዋል!
15. አብይ አህመድ ከተመረጠ በኋላ የኖቤል ሽልማት ተሸልሟል። ከዚያም በትግራይ ኢትዮጵያ ጦርነት ተጀመረ። እና አሁን ለ አስር/10 ቢሊየን የሚከፈልበት ቤተ መንግስት የራሱን ሀውልት መገንባት ይፈልጋል፤ ጉድ ነው፣ በጣም ተስፋ የቆረጠች ደሃ ሀገር! ያሳዝናል! በእውነት አንዳንድ ፖለቲከኞች ስለ ሰው ተፈጥሮ ምንም ዓይነት ራዕይ ወይም እውቀት በጭራሽ የላቸውም።
16. የኖቤል የሰላም ሽልማት አሸናፊው ግሩም ምስል። ለመሆኑ ለምንድነው ሰውየው ሱፍ የለበሰው ፣ ያ የኢትዮጵያ ባህል ነውን? የተለመደው የሀገር ልብስ በዊኪፔዲያ/WIKI ውስጥ ይገኛል።
17. አቶ አህመድ በዚህ ሁኔታ ውስጥ ከገባ በቀጥታ ከ ዓለም ጤና ድርጅት/WHO መጀመር ይችላል። ለማንኛውም እሱ አስቀድሞ የዓለም ኤኮኖሚ መድረክ/WEF አባል ሳይሆን አይቀርም።
18. መንግስት ወደዚህ አህጉር የሚያስተላልፈው እያንዳንዱ ሳንቲም ሁሉ በከንቱ በመስኮት ይጣላል። በሚያሳዝን ሁኔታ፣ ሁሉም ከአንድ ሳንቲም በላይ ነው!
19. የሴቶች የውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር አናሌና ቤርቦክ እና የባህል እና የመገናኛ ብዙሃን ሚኒስትር ክላውዲያ ሮት ጥቂት የቅኝ ግዛት ቅርሶችን ለግድግዳ ጌጥ አድርገው እንዲያስረክቡ አሁንም የሚመለከታቸውን ቤተ መዘክሮች የጦር መሳሪያዎችን እያንጎራጎሩ ነው። ይህ እብደት ወደ ድንጋይ ተለውጧል!
20. በእርግጥ በቤተ መንግስት ውስጥ የሴትነት ስሜት የሚፈጥር ነገር ይኖር ይሆናል። ከዚያ ክፍያ ለመቀጠል ደስተኞች እንሆናለን። በፓርኪንግ እርዳታ ደግሞ ለሴቶች ብቻ የመኪና ማቆሚያ ቦታዎች ይሠሩላቸዋል።
21. ጤና ይስጥልኝ አናሌና ይህ ፓላዞ ፕሮዞ እንዲሠራ የገንዘቡን ሻንጣ በፍጥነት በአውሮፕላኑ አውርደህ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ ሂድ። ይህ በትክክል አረንጓዴዎች የሚያቀርቡት የልማት ዕርዳታ ነው። ይህ የማይረባ ነገር በመጨረሻ ማለቅ አለበት!
22. ጠቃሚ ምክር ለኢትዮጵያ ፖለቲከኞች፤ በቀላሉ በተቋሙ ዙርያ የዑደት መንገድ ያቅዱ፣ ከዚያ የኛ ግራ አረንጓዴ ፖለቲከኞች የልማት ዕርዳታ ባጀትዎን በ ሦስት መቶ/300 ሚሊዮን ያሳድጋል።
23. እብድ ብቻ። ለምን እነዚህ የእርዳታ ክፍያዎች ሊቆሙ አይችሉም? እብደት ነው!
24. ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትሩ የኖቤል የሰላም ሽልማት አሸናፊ አይደለምን? አዎን፣ እና እንዲሁም የብልጽግና ፓርቲ መስራች። ወቸው ጉድ!
25. አህመድ አይዞህ አትጨነቅ፣ ጀርመናዊው ሚሼል ይከፍልልሃል!
26. ደህና፤ ዋናው ነገር በ 2019 የኖቤል የሰላም ሽልማትን በእጁ ላይ መያዝ መቻሉ ነው። በትክክል ለምን? በእርግጥ ሌሎች የሚከፍሉት በቂ የመኖሪያ ቦታ አያስፈልግምን? ሙስና፣ ጉቦ፣ ጭቆና፣ ሁከትና ግድያ በምታዩት ነው። እና በእርግጥ የጀርመን የልማት ዕርዳታም መቆም የለበትም።

💭 From Die Welt, Germany, January 4, 2024

The country has long been considered an anchor of stability in the Horn of Africa. Now it is experiencing an economic crisis, fighting with militias and feuding with its neighbors. But Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wants to create an expensive monument for himself. Visit to a bizarre world.

Surrounded by a forest on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, 77-year-old Yimer Tamene sits in front of his mud hut, which stands in the way of what will soon be Africa’s most magnificent palace. For almost four decades he has lived on the property that was once given to him by his uncle when he fled famine in the Ethiopian capital. Tamene’s wife left him, then his uncle died. The hut and alms from the neighbors are all that the stooped man has left in his twilight years.

Now that too is in danger of being lost; Tamene is on the verge of expropriation. The government has informed hundreds of residents. “If I’m lucky, I can stay for a few more months,” he says, “then I’ll be left with nothing.” He will be uprooted by the end of 2024 at the latest. In his hands he holds an abridged copy of the Bible. He’s reading it particularly often right now.

Tamene, this stooped man, has to make way for an absurd prestige project by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, 47 . One of the most expensive palaces in the world is being built on an area that would fit 500 football fields. The “National Palace” will cost up to ten billion dollars, Abiy said in parliament. The politician, who is driven by regional power ambitions, said succinctly that it would be financed by private and international donations.

Ethiopia’s closest ally Gulf state, the United Arab Emirates , is considered one of the possible financiers of this less than transparent construction work. The palace would be one of the most expensive in the world; its value would be equivalent to two-thirds of the annual state budget.

But the calculation is not entirely correct, say construction workers. The absurdly high sum for the project, known as Chaka (forest), also includes the development of a small satellite town that will include high-end residential complexes and villas, a luxury hotel, conference halls, three artificial lakes surrounded by imported palm trees and a zoo.

The mammoth financial project is being built on the rubble of a battered economy, and the inflation rate of almost 30 percent is driving costs up further. The government says it needs about $20 billion to rebuild after the Tigray war , including $2 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

Heavily indebted Ethiopia failed to pay a $33 million bond coupon in mid-December and declared itself insolvent, as did Zambia and Ghana in recent years. This was accompanied by a downgrade to “default” by the rating agency “S&P Global”.

The country has also received billions in humanitarian aid from the United Nations and other aid organizations in recent years, while new sources of conflict continue to emerge. The Tigray war is over, but Eritrean troops continue to shape the scene in the north. And in the neighboring Amhara region, fighting continues between the Ethiopian army and local militias , particularly with Fano troops. Times could truly be more magnificent.

But that doesn’t stop Abiy from his prestige projects, which, in his view, befit a nation with 120 million inhabitants, the second largest population in Africa after Nigeria. He steadfastly stuck to the rapid filling of the GERD dam on the Nile, which will soon generate over 5,000 megawatts – more than any other on the continent.

The cost was over five billion dollars and was financed with additional taxes, and a campaign made the project a symbol of national pride. In Addis Ababa you can often see stickers saying: “I love GERD.” The dam is expected to double electricity production in Ethiopia.

This is also one reason why Abiy did not allow himself to be deterred by the recently renewed war rhetoric from Egypt, which still fears for its vital access to the Nile water – the country lies downstream. Ethiopia could literally cut off Egypt’s lifeline during the frequent droughts in the Horn of Africa.

In addition, the prime minister of the huge landlocked country irritated smaller neighboring countries on the Red Sea coast when he stated that a country like Ethiopia had a “natural right” to access the sea. Especially in Eritrea, which once fought for independence from Ethiopia with heavy losses, this was seen as an imperialist invasion threat. Ethiopia currently conducts most of its trade through its eastern neighbor Djibouti.

On New Year’s Day, Ethiopia finally announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland , which is intended to pave the way for guaranteed access to the port of Berbera. The breakaway region unilaterally declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991, but is still considered part of the crisis state under international law. It is likely that Ethiopia will be the first country to recognize Somaliland’s government and hopes to gain not only economic but also military access to the Red Sea.

Somalia’s government was correspondingly angry. Somali territory will be defended by “all lawful means” and will not be given up “an inch of land, sea or sky”. Mogadishu said it would appeal to international bodies such as the United Nations, the African Union and the Arab League to side with Somalia.

Unsurprisingly, Ethiopia’s major regional rival Egypt quickly followed this call. Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi emphasized his country’s “firm position” to support Somalia’s security and stability in a telephone conversation with Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The European Union, which had recently worked to improve relations with Ethiopia after critically monitoring the Tigray war, also criticized the agreement with Somaliland and called for respect for the “unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Somalia.

Attention to Abiy’s magnificent building is not welcome in the midst of this foreign and domestic policy chaos. Soldiers block cars on the first few meters of the newly built road. Only those who claim to be visitors to an old Orthodox church, halfway up the steep path to the palace, are allowed to pass through on foot. The hike to the church takes 45 minutes, after which the density of soldiers becomes too high to continue.

High compensation, but not enough

Break in a tent that serves as a makeshift restaurant for the construction workers. Two of them start chatting. Some of the larger farmers in the area were offered compensation, the equivalent of tens of thousands of euros, says one.

That may sound like a lot, “but they have a lot of children to look after and are losing their livelihood.” Then there won’t be much left. Others would be left in the dark, especially those who, like pensioner Tamene, cannot provide title deeds. Governments repeatedly take advantage of this fact when providing compensation for large-scale infrastructure construction on the continent.

The residents are disgusted away

“The government believes in development at any cost,” says the other engineer in the tent, “but I think the damage caused outweighs the damage.” In some areas, the drinking water supply has been cut off for over six months in order to literally disgust the residents. “That’s not fair,” said the road builder.

The project should be the future pride of Ethiopia. The man is a little ashamed to work on it.

💭 Selected Reader Comments from Die Welt news paper:

1. Living madness, I’m sure there are several million/billion in “development aid” from Germany in the palace.
2. How expensive will Olaf Scholz’s completely oversized chancellery actually be? According to planning, around 800 million Euros. Parallels to the Federal Chancellery are purely coincidental and not intentional
3. Turkey has also received almost $1 billion in development aid in the past and Mr. Erdogan has also built himself a palace. Why shouldn’t a ruler in Africa do the same?
4. With such excesses of decadence, any kind of help would first have to be canceled. Let’s see how long he can continue to enjoy his palace.
5. To laugh away. He is building a palace and Hamas is building the tunnels with our money. We have ZERO ability to learn.
6. Palaces, Palestinians, Peruvian bike paths: We simply finance everything and everyone who is not up to three
7. You can’t think of something like that and we’ll help finance it.
8. This absurd example shows how pointless development aid is. It practically never gets where it’s supposed to go and only serves to fill the pockets of the upper few thousand.
9. The entire African continent is corrupt. They have by far the largest mineral resources and still live like they are in the Stone Age. I think Africa is lost. The only thing that helps is its own revolution.
10. At the end of World War I, Ethiopia had 8 million inhabitants. Now, a good 100 years later, 120 million. That says it all! A good half of the population there is now Muslim. This population group is poor, but is growing the most.
11. And that’s why Ethiopia should NOT receive ANY support. Like back in the 80s, when everyone there suffered from hunger because the government completely sold off the record harvest and then used the aid money to buy weapons and ammunition.
12. And the former health minister of this serious country, Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, heads the even more serious WHO. Further questions?
13. No more development aid and every unemployed Ethiopian in Germany with their family should immediately flee back to their home country. Apparently workers are needed.
14. Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after he was selected. Then started the war in Tigray, Ethiopia. and now wants to build his own monument with a palace for 10 billion in a desperately poor country!!! It works !! Some politicians have no vision or knowledge of human nature at all.
15. Beautiful picture of the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Why is he actually wearing a suit, isn’t that cultural appropriation? The normal national costume can be found in WIKI.
16. If Mr. Ahmed goes through with this, he can then start directly at the WHO. He’s probably already a WEF member anyway.
17. Every cent that the government transfers to this continent is thrown out the window. Unfortunately, it’s more than a cent.
18. Feminist Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and The Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Claudia Roth, are certainly rummaging through the arsenals of the relevant museums again so that they can ruefully hand over a few colonial artifacts as wall decorations for the opening of this madness turned into stone.
19. Surely there is something feminist in the palace. Then we’ll be happy to continue paying. Feminist women parking spaces with parking assistance.
20. Hello Annalena, quickly get the suitcase of money on the plane and off to Ethiopia so that this Palazzo Prozzo can be built. This is exactly the kind of development aid the Greens offer. This nonsense must finally come to an end!
21. Tip for Ethiopian politicians: simply plan a cycle path around the facility, then our left-Greens will increase your development aid budget by 300 million.
22. Just crazy. Why can’t these payments be stopped? That’s crazy.
23. Isn’t the Prime Minister a Nobel Peace Prize winner? Yes, and also the founder of the Prosperity Party. Well done!
24. Don’t worry Ahmed, the German Michel will pay for it.
25. Well, the main thing is that he was able to pin the Nobel Peace Prize on his lapel in 2019. What exactly for?? Of course you need adequate living quarters that others pay for. Corruption, bribery, repression, violence and murder everywhere you look. And of course German development aid should not be missing either.

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