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Hugging the bloody identity card and post mortem certificate of his younger brother, Abedir Jamal's exaltation at the enormous changes underway in Ethiopia is tempered by his fear of not reaching him.
Across the country of 100 million people, 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 Horn of Africa since taking office in April by doing the unthinkable.
In just three months, he got peace with the Eritrean enemy, asked the parliament to raise a "terrorist" Because of the obsessed mentality of security and Marxist-Leninist roots of the coalition in EPRDF power that he now directs, it is difficult to Abedir Jamal holds the identity card of his late brother Obsa Jemal, who was killed in anti-government demonstrations, during 39, a Reuters interview in Harar, Ethiopia, on July 22, 2018. [19659008AbedirJamacheholdstheartoftheidentityofthebrotherhoodObsaJemalwhowascaughtupinanti-governmentdemonstrationsduringaninterviewwithReutersinHararenEthiopiele22July2018
But for Abedir, whose brother was shot down The shooting was one of the many case since 2015 when security forces used live ammunition to quell the unrest that shook small towns and some cities, including Ha rar, an ancient fortified city. 500 km (300 miles) to the east of Addis
The crackdown included the arrest of 30,000 people under the anti-terrorism laws. When he fails to contain the crisis, he causes the resignation of Abiy's predecessor in February
"We need him to go faster, we need his promises to materialize now", said Abedir about Abiy. Friends – also graduates and unemployed – acquiesced with a nod.
Such views point to one of the greatest challenges facing the Prime Minister: realizing his promises in a vast country overseen by a sclerotic and stifling bureaucracy
Change spreads slowly
Despite euphoria to wind changes that swept the corridors of power in Addis Ababa, there are few signs of change up here in places like Harar.
forces, the judiciary, they were all against us, "said Abedir." We need Dr. Abiy to know our problems, we do not feel the reforms here. "
A woman prepares peanuts outside her house in a neighborhood where the Oromos live in Harar, Ethiopia, July 22, 2018.
He also wants justice for his brother, Obsa – specifically a thorough investigation into his death and a public trial
Obsa was one of many young people who They 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 ethnic Tiger clique that has dominated the EPRDF since that same year. she seized the military power. 27 years ago
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 Tigrayan elite
. The government has regularly denied any bias. But many Oromos hope that they will see a real change now that Abiy, one of their own, is in charge
Diploma in bricklaying
That would leave one of the biggest problems of Ethiopia: Unemployment, especially in the hinterland.
The fact of doing well at the university is not a guarantee of work, say the graduates, accusing a heavily state-dominated economy and ethnic bias of hiring coveted government jobs. According to the World Bank, the international poverty line is $ 1.90 a day, which indicates in a 2016 report that the unemployment rate is high even among the relatively educated people
"You do not know to which point he is demoralizing, "said Elias Mohammed, an accounting graduate, but, like most graduates he knows, he does odd jobs like carrying bricks.
The new government says that one of the main reasons it wants to attract more investors is because the state can not provide jobs to 150,000 university graduates. Ethiopians every year.
Government spending on infrastructure, including industrial parks for the emerging apparel sector, has fueled annual growth of nearly 10% over the last decade. The black market currency market has evaporated in recent months, suggesting increased investor confidence.
But this optimism is more limited 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's hard to make all the changes they expect."
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