ETHOPIA

Affect on developments of Ethiopia due to Conflicts

Affect on development of Ethiopia due to Conflicts

Introduction

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a population of around 67 million. Ethiopia is the land of contrast, and has a long history of mosaic peoples and diverse cultures (Ababa, 2002, pp. 1). The country enriched with reasonably good resources potential for the development of agriculture, water resources, minerals, biodiversity, etc. However, Ethiopia faced with complex issues, which include poverty, health and education. These problems are deep, broad and structural into the roots of economy. The major problem for Ethiopia is poverty, and proportion of the population that is below the poverty line is 44 percent. Thus, the central agenda for the Government of Ethiopia is to eradicate poverty and work for the development activities (Ababa, 2002, pp. 1). The era of 1980s marked as the state of crisis for Ethiopia, which resulted in absolute disaster for the economy and civilians. However, by the turn of 1990s the economy of Ethiopia considered as the weak economy because of the economic policies and management under the command economic system, extended civil war and recurring drought. The growth for Ethiopia plunged to lowest ever in her history. This conflicts and natural calamities resulted in loss of productive capacity, competitiveness, and increased food insecurity. Two major armed conflicts occurred between 1980 and 2007 in the regions. The border dispute in 1998 between Ethiopia and Eritrea was the greatest conflict. The conflict in Ethiopia is the Oromo independence movement, which is the second serious incident. Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) one of the foundations in Ethiopia initiated the conflicts that have been ongoing and affecting the developmental activities of the country, since the insurgent group commences an armed struggle for independence in 1973 (Wrong, 2005, pp. 350). Ethiopia is also experiencing with periods of food insecurity and famine for past 40 years, due to inconsistency and conflicts in the country. Many researches' have been done to identify various, environmental, economic, and social explanation for this issue. Ethiopia has exceptionally elevated rates of persistent under-nourishment. It requires assistance in the area of Humanitarian to feed at least 8 percent of the population each year, and the country had experienced ten serious droughts in last 45 years. Other than that, severe macroeconomic disparity and volatility, and social crisis left millions of people homeless and unemployed (Ababa, 2002, pp. 2). This paper will assess how these conflicts have affected the development in Ethiopia.

Discussion

The children and families in Ethiopia faced with numerous challenges in early childhood and beyond. The developmental activities in term of children development badly affected by conflicts in 1980 and 2007 (World Bank, 2005). According to UNESCO and World Bank, the children in Ethiopia consistently reported low scores on the range of child outcomes and development indicators (World Bank & UNESCO, 2010). The development indicators for education in Ethiopia is lowest in the world, with only 20% of youth, and 36% of adults are literate (UNESCO, ...