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Africa

Ethiopians are largely known as conservatives, but  recent trends in urban areas reveal they are every thing but that

By Rose Mestika

Ethiopia, like many other countries in the world, is a land of diverse tradition, multiple languages and ethnic composition. It also prides itself of being the only country in the continent that has its own alphabets, and a unique calendar, and, of course, the only country that has “never been colonized.”

Regrettably, natural resource gifted continent in the world is also home to a staggering level of poverty and corruption

Alem C. 

It is a widely held belief both by economists and policy makers that extractive resources worldwide have dictated to a wider extent economic policies and outcomes of countries endowed by them. According to a 2002 World Bank report on mining in developing countries, extractive resources are the decisive economic factors to almost half of the world’s population.  

Mercifully, Addis Ababa has avoided having slums in many of its neighbourhoods; but that may be only so far

 Rose Mestika

 

In 2004-5, residents of Addis Ababa city woke up to a pleasing news when they were asked to register in their respective Kebeles for a new housing scheme that since then has come to be popularly known as condominium housing projects. For a city, which, by some conservative estimates, has 80% of its residents living under housing conditions that are not considered decent, the news that the government plans to build thousands of condominium houses for low income families was indeed a big one. Some people had their doubts about and voiced their concerns on whether such initiatives were not meant to win voters’ favour for an upcoming national election scheduled to take place in less than one year after the announcement of the program.  Others dubbed it too ambitions.