Far from the Ethiopian capital, change remains a distant dream

HARAR, Ethiopia – Bring the bloody identity card and post-mortem certificate of his younger brother, the exaltation of Abedir Jamal in front of the huge changes underway in Ethiopia, is tempered by his fear of not reaching Abedir, 25, and legions of unemployed graduates like him hold their breath, hoping that the new prime minister Abiy Ahmed will succeed in dismantling the status quo

. Abiy has stormed Ethiopia and the entire Horn of Africa since he took office in April by doing the unthinkable.

In just three months, he got peace with the Eritrean enemy. terrorist "banning opposition groups and is committed to open key sectors of the economy to foreign investment.

Given the mentality obsessed with security and the Marxist-Leninist Roots of the ruling EPRDF coalition that it's hard to say that Abiy does not move at the speed of lightning.

But for Abedir, whose brother was slaughtered at a protest near his hometown last year, it is not fast enough. Since 2015, security forces have used live ammunition to quell the unrest that has rocked small towns and some cities, including Harar, an ancient fortified town 500 km east of Addis

.There were no counterterrorism laws. crisis, this led to the resignation of the predecessor of Abiy in February.

"We avon I need his promises come true now, "said Abedir about Abiy, while his friends – also graduates and unemployed – nodded in agreement. .

These views point to one of the Prime Minister's greatest challenges. promises across a vast country overseen by a sclerotic and stifling bureaucracy.

Despite euphoria to wind changes sweeping the corridors of power in Addis Ababa, there are few signs of change up here in places like Harar.

"The government, the security forces, the judiciary, they have all been against us," said Abedir. "We need Dr. Abiy to know our problems, we do not feel the reforms here again."

DEGREE IN BRICK-PORTANT

He also wants justice for his brother, Obsa – in particular a thorough investigation into his death and a public trial. 19659004] Obsa was one of many young people who took to the streets last year against what they thought was the marginalization suffered by the largest Ethiopian ethnic group at the hands of the Tiger Clique who has dominated the EPRDF since she took power from a military junta.

The coalition, which holds all seats in parliament, includes four ethnically-based parties, but Oromo protesters in Harar and elsewhere have accused it of focusing on the interests of the party. Tiger's elite.

denied any bias. But many Oromos are hoping to see a real change now that Abiy, one of their own, is in charge

That would always leave one of Ethiopia's biggest problems: joblessness , especially in the hinterland.

Graduates claim that the economy is largely dominated by the state and that ethnic prejudices do not promote the recruitment of coveted public jobs.

One-quarter of Ethiopians live before the international poverty line of $ 1.90 a day, according to Bank, which said in a 2016 report that unemployment, even among relatively educated people, was high.

"You do not know how disheartening it is to work only to eat and not to use my mind," says Elias Mohammed. He is a graduate in accounting but, like most graduates he knows, he does odd jobs like carrying bricks.

The new government says that one of the main reasons to attract more foreign investors is that the state can not provide

Public spending on infrastructure, including industrial parks for the garment sector, have fueled annual growth of nearly 10% over the past decade and, over the last three months, the black market. evaporated, suggesting an increase in investor confidence.

But this optimism is in the shorter supply beyond the capital, where people complain of high inflation and ubiquitous unemployment. "There may be a gap in the fact that people's expectations are huge," said Mohammed Aman Ogeto, professor of economics at Harameya University, in the Oromiya region, at the Harar border. "It is difficult to perform all the expected changes."