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* The new Ethiopian prime minister overthrew the policy
* But the provincial towns still feel the wind of change
* Many Oromo ethnic groups felt excluded from the years
By Maggie Fick [19659002HARAREthiopiaJuly23(Reuters)-Theidentitycardandpost-mortemcertificateofhisyoungerbrotherAbedirJamalbloodyaretemperedbythefearofnotreachinghim
In 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 three months he got peace with the enemy, Eritrea, asked the parliament to lift the terrorist ban groups and pleaded Given the mentality obsessed with security and From the Marxist-Leninist roots of the ruling EPRDF coalition that he now heads, it's hard to say that Abiy does not move at the speed of lightning. But for Abedir, whose brother was shot at a protest near his hometown last year, it is not fast enough.
Filming has been one of many cases since 2015 when security forces used the unrest that shook small towns and some cities, including Harar, an ancient walled city 500 km away. 39, is from Addis.
The crackdown included the arrest of 30,000 people under anti-terrorism laws. When she failed to contain the crisis, she provoked the resignation of Abiy's predecessor in February
"We need him to go faster, we need his promises to materialize now," he said. Abedir about Abiy. Friends – also graduates and unemployed – nodded
. Such views underscore one of the greatest challenges facing the Prime Minister: realizing his promises in a vast country overseen by a stifled and stifling bureaucracy. euphoria wind changes that swept 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," Abedir said. "We need Dr. Abiy to know our problems, we do not feel the reforms here yet."
DEGREE OF BRICK
He also wants justice for his brother, Obsa – especially a thorough investigation into his death and a public trial
Obsa was one of the many young people who descended into the street last year against what they thought was the marginalization suffered by the largest Ethiopian ethnic group in the hands of the ethnic Tiger clique that has dominated the EPRDF since it seized [19659002] 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. 19659002] The government 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
That would leave one of the biggest problems in the world. Ethiopia: unemployment, especially in the hinterland.
According to a survey, graduates blame a largely state-dominated economy and ethnic bias for hiring coveted government jobs.
A quarter of Ethiopians live before the international poverty line of $ 1.90 a day, according to the World Bank, which said in a 2016 report that unemployment, even among relatively educated people, was high.
"You do not know how daunting it is to work only to eat and not use my mind," said Elias Mohammed. in accounting, but, like most graduates he knows, 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 jobs to 150,000 students Each year, government spending on infrastructure , including industrial parks for the nascent apparel sector, have fueled annual growth of nearly 10% over the past decade, and over the last three months the money market has evaporated. an increase in investor confidence.
But this optimism is shorter 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 border from Harar. "It is difficult to achieve all the expected changes." (Ed Cropley and Andrew Heavens)
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