By Kinfe
On the morning of May 28th, I was walking towards Meskel Square. Before 7:00 A.M. Haile Gebresillasie road was quite and not many pedestrians and cars were seen on the street. Between 8:00 to 9:00 A.M. situations changed. Many people started pouring in to the center. Many of them were waving the Ethiopian flag. Different banners were held signifying the day’s messages. Of these, most talked about the importance of the day and also conveyed about Abay River. I liked the one that read “were ajendachine ayideleme” which can be translated as “rumor is not our agenda.”
I sat at the back of the center that was located near the front of the National Expo’s entrance. Initially there was space that people can easily pass through, but gradually, all the space was occupied, and at 9:30, almost all parts of the center was covered by inhabitants of Addis.
Seeing the gathering, I started recalling what used to take place there during the Dergue regime. I was in my early teens back then, there was the same crowd in that specific center on each and every September 12th. I tried to compare the spirit of the people of the past with this one. Back then the leadership’s total effort was directed on winning the war (against the then “rebels”) and preserving its political power with arms. This time the present political leadership has declared war against an enemy, but the foe currently is poverty and the struggle is towards national dignity. Thus, the Ethiopian people have focused their energy towards achieving better life, ahead. The contrasts went beyond the spirit and slogans of the different times.
On the morning of May 28th, I sat down and listened to the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s speech that was short and precise. The main theme of his speech was on a promise of his government to improve the economic conditions of the masses of the Ethiopian people. What actually grabbed my attention and the attention of the millions who were in attendance is when the Prime Minister stated that the Grand Millennium Dam will be built by our own finances, by our own engineers, by our own labor and efforts. Twenty years ago, this same Meskel Square was a place where the previous leader used to give speeches that lasted for hours and focused mostly on wars and more wars. How times have changed in Ethiopia?
Those of us who have been teens on the verge of the collapse of the Dergue regime knew what the situation back then was like. The slogan was “hulu negere wede tore ginbar”, ( “everything to the war front”). It was a time when going to school and coming back home safely used to be considered as a sign of good luck. Big trucks and vans of different sizes were not trusted by the youth back then as they used to kidnap people and transport them to the military training camps. This time around, I strolled down the streets and saw how the youth walked relaxed. It is not to argue that life has become a flower bed now, it has its own challenges like inflation and unemployment, but it is not by any means comparable to the unpredictable captivity to military training camps.
During the Dergue time, there was a time when I was told not to go out from my house as there was “afesa” a term used for unwilling confinement. May 28, is a turning point in our lives. It has not only overthrown the tyrant Dergue regime, but also has brought peace of mind and a new way of solving problems with peaceful methods. I believe all of us would agree that our country, Ethiopia, is becoming one of the main anchors of economic development in Africa and a peaceful island in a region of high turmoil.
Using the spirit of May 28th victory, hopefully, our children’s future is becoming bright as our enemy (poverty) would be beaten by our strong dedication on development. This is a historical call where all of us should stand together with our government in the crafting of our future. This is a time when all of us should stop finger pointing at each other and work towards achieving our visions for a better future of building a nation that would make all of her citizens proud.