Addis Ababa (Comment) — The Food and Agriculture Organisiation (FAO) awarded Agricola Award to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed. Last nigh, Channel 4 reported that more than “400,000 people starved to death in Northern Ethiopia”. The Peace Accord between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government has not reduced the suffering encountered by people in Tigray.
Ethiopia has a long history of manmade famines – in 1974 and 1984, the last manmade famine remembered for the We Are the World concert.
The situation in Amhara region is equally dire. The Ethiopian government indiscriminately targets civilian-populated areas it deems to be sympathetic to the FANO fighters. The narrative of the Ethiopia as a country that registstred spectacular economic growth in sub-Saharan African has been replaced by a narrative based on a manmade famine. The timing of FAO to give Agricola Award to Abiy Ahmed reflects the organisation’s insensitivity to the victims of the famine in Ethiopia. The FAO Director General QU Dongyu described Abiy Ahmed “as the great leader of Ethiopia”.
Abiy Ahmed abandoned the developmental state in favour his new form of voodoo economics known in Amharic as Medemer. Ethiopia is the homeland of many ethnicities. Th e only way to prevent the coercive power of the state from victimising Ethiopian citizens is to move away from the mono-ethnic-based, militaristic rule that form the basis of the Ethiopian polity. Why more than 400,000 people starved to death in Northern Ethiopia under the reign of Abiy Ahmed is an unanswered question. Are people in Northern Ethiopia being denied resources necessary to rebuild lives after a devastating civil war in Tigray?
One answer to this question, if Abiy Ahmed is given the benefit of doubt, is that his government is too incompetent to make Ethiopian citizens less vulnerable to a manmade famines. The 2024 Agricola Award awarded to Abiy Ahmed marks a farcical moment in the history of FAO whose accomplishments have now been tarnished by a politicised choice to please Abiy Ahmed, who accepted an award he does not deserve.
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