Why Ethiopia Stayed Behind (Part II)

by Timothy Kalyegira
October 2, 2002

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But you ask a young person to roll up his sleeves and give a hand to cleaning up the streets of Addis Ababa, or do some manual work, rather than embarrass the country by begging visitors and tourists, and he will feel insulted about being told to do manual work.

You wonder: if he is willing to take enormous risks like facing artillery fire and land mines on the battlefield for his country, why is he unwilling to work to keep Addis Ababa's streets clean?

In May 2000, Ethiopia went to war with Eritrea. Many months later, most Ethiopians and Eritreans in Kampala would tell me: "That war was between Meles and Issias. The Ethiopian and Eritrean people have no problem with each other."

I asked that if this was so, why were so many young people, boys and girls, struggling to go to the war front? "Because they love their country!", would come the reply.

See a contrasting situation. In June 2000, just a few weeks into the Ethiopian-Eritrean war, Uganda and Rwanda ---- which like Ethiopia and Eritrea are neighbours and former close allies in the guerilla struggles ---- fought in the Congolese city of Kisangani.

Most Ugandans calmly went about their everyday business, saying, "That is a quarrel between President Museveni and Major General Paul Kagame [leader of Rwanda]. When they are tired of fighting, they will come back and talk."

No single Ugandan civilian went to the battlefront or volunteered to fight in a conflict that they felt was between two leaders. That's where we are different.

When the Israeli air force attacked Entebbe airport in that famous commando raid in July 1976, very few Ugandans came forward to volunteer to fight for President Idi Amin. We reasoned that it was he who had provoked the Israelis. And anyway, he was a dictator and deserved that beating.

When Tanzania invaded Uganda after Amin first attacked Tanzania in October 1978, again no Ugandans except for the army and air force bothered to come out to "fight for my country."

We supported the Tanzanians all the way, until they removed Amin from power.

Even though another country (Israel, Tanzania) invaded Uganda, Ugandans were able to separate their love for their country, from the fact that it was Uganda's leader who had provoked that country and therefore deserved what he got.

Since most Ethiopians find it hard to separate their emotions from their country, it is easy to lead Ethiopians into expensive and pointless wars and conflicts , when the fight might really be a personal quarrel between Ethiopia's Colonel Mengistu and Somalia's President, General Mohammed Siad Barre.

Things that Uganda would laugh off and let pass without any problem, will get Ethiopians so worked up and angry. You can meet a Ugandan and tell them you think Uganda is the greatest country in the world, and they will reply, "Well, thanks."

Then later you can tell the same Ugandan that you now think that Uganda is the most foolish and backward country in the world. To this, the Ugandan will calmly reply, "What makes you say that?" None of the two statements will cause the Ugandan to get over excited or angry.

While I was in Addis Ababa, a Rwandese living in Europe who had visited Uganda, wrote an article dismissing Uganda as one of the worst countries he has ever seen. He criticized the restaurants, nightclubs, taxis, roads, and the whole country.

The article was one of the most popular that week, I am told. People laughed about it and it was the topic in bars and offices. No matter how much you insult Uganda, you can't get any one annoyed over that. To begin with, Ugandans spend much of their time laughing at their country's silly mistakes and confused leaders.

This balanced thinking, this control of one's emotions cuts across almost every area of Ugandan society, from the leaders to the poorest of the poor.

To me, the admirable love for Ethiopia that almost all Ethiopians feel is also the most frightening thing about Ethiopia, and something I feel is the country's greatest danger.

It is this trait which, if not checked, will make Ethiopia take 10 steps forward in economic and political progress, only to suddenly plunge back 40 steps into war, ethnic tensions, and factional fighting within whichever government is in power.

Here is the paradox: how can people like Ethiopians, who love their country so much, be the same people who do the country its greatest harm, yet people like Kenyans and Tanzanians, who seem indifferent to their country, have actually helped their countries remain so stable for so long? Could it be that too much patriotism can be more harmful to a country than not caring about one's country?

Usually when an Ethiopian is not pleased by what you have said about Ethiopia, he gets so angry, and can even stop talking to you over that.

It happened to me in Addis Ababa. I also got a taste of it when some Ethiopians and Eritreans in America and Europe visited my Africa Almanac web site.

They disagreed with some of the content there regarding Ethiopia and Eritrea. This is a website which I launched in December 2000, long before I knew either of these two countries well. Of course I was bound to make a few errors, because as a human being, I did not know enough to get their complex histories correct.

But you should see the e-mail from these Ethiopians and Eritreans! "You are the most stupid man in the world!", read one.

I wrote back to them calmly asking that, even if they disagreed with what I had written, they did not have to lose their self-control and insult me. Should they not rather have informed me of the facts, instead of blowing up in anger?

Unable to reason this out, they wrote back to me with even more abusive words. I told them that this is the central crisis in their countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Before Ethiopians and Eritreans visited my web site, the letters from other Africans were gentlemanly, respectful, rational, and even when they disagreed with what the web site had said; they did so in a reasonable manner.

But as soon as the Ethiopians came in and began giving their comments, suddenly the tone became aggressive and unreasonable.

I reminded them that, even after spending so many years in America, these Ethiopians writing from the United States had still not developed the tolerance of other people's views that is required for democracy to flourish.

Many of the Ethiopians are in America as political exiles. They blame Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for all the problems in Ethiopia, saying he is crushing and suppressing all views opposed to his.

But I told them that, just from their abusive and angry e-mail to my web site, if they had even 10 percent of the power that Prime Minister Meles has, they would probably have ordered for my arrest or thrown a grenade at my house.

You are late for an appointment or for some reason you can't make it, and your Ethiopian friend gets so, so angry for a whole day. That is a dangerous national streak and character!

A girl who was staying at the National Hotel asked me to lend her a camera for a trip with some Ethiopian and American friends to Bahr Dar. I told her that I was using mine, but I would ask around for one from my friends. Two days later, after I failed to find one, she said impatiently, "I am going to stop talking to you because you didn't get me a camera!"

One girl in Kampala invited me to visit her at a time I was so busy. I kept trying to make it to her place but couldn't somehow find the time. One day when I think her patience was exhausted, she rang me at home and blasted me with the words, "What's wrong with you!" I tried to explain why I had failed to turn up, but by then, her temper was already in flames. Continued