Ethiopia in 2003

Written by: Sandra Joireman

1,133,882 sq km (437,794 sq mi)
(2003 est.): 66,558,000
Addis Ababa
President Girma Wolde-Giyorgis
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

Several natural disasters beset Ethiopia in 2003, the most notable of which was a drought, the worst in decades. The ensuing famine affected more than 15 million people in Ethiopia, most severely those living in the southeast and the northern highlands. The famine was expected to worsen if the drought continued. The government began a voluntary resettlement program, moving some peasants from the worst-affected regions in the north to areas in the south, and substantial international humanitarian contributions were received. A malaria epidemic and widespread incidence of waterborne illnesses compounded the suffering. Flooding in the south in May forced thousands to leave their homes and resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people.

The border demarcation that had been agreed upon at the conclusion of the border war with Eritrea in 2000 was delayed twice during 2003 as Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi protested the decision to place the town of Badme within Eritrea. It was expected that the border would not be formally established until sometime in 2004. A UN peacekeeping force numbering 1,500 troops remained deployed in the border area, and its mandate was extended until the border demarcation was completed. Relations with Eritrea remained strained; the two countries had not had face-to-face meetings over the border issue since the 2000 cessation of hostilities. Ethiopia’s relations with Somalia also continued to be tense, as the transitional government of Somalia accused Ethiopian troops of border violations. The U.S. forgave Ethiopia’s bilateral debt and was providing Ethiopian troops with antiterrorist and counterterrorist training. U.S. Special Forces set up a base in nearby Djibouti through which all counterterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa were being channeled. Ethiopia joined the U.S.-U.K. coalition in the war in Iraq.

The International Monetary Fund forecast Ethiopia’s 2003 economic growth rate at 6.7%, but the final figure would depend on the course of the drought. International coffee prices remained low, and it was likely that the drought would drive Ethiopia’s important coffee revenues lower still. In some areas farmers started to pull up their coffee plants and replace them with khat, a mildly narcotic, drought-resistant plant.

In domestic politics, the opposition focused on a new law that would allow the government to intervene in regional affairs in times of emergency and on a controversial new press law that was criticized as imposing excessive restrictions on media content. In both cases the opposition parties decried government attempts to centralize power. The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, led by Beyene Petros, was formed in September and was the largest opposition coalition.

An important fossil discovery in the Afar region in June provided exciting new evidence about the origins of Homo sapiens. The fossils, called Idaltu—“elder” in the Afar language—were estimated to be 160,000 years old and provided further evidence of man’s having evolved in Africa before migrating into Europe and Asia. (See Anthropology and Archaeology: Anthropology.)

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