Ethiopia and India

Abstract

IntroductionThe relationship between Ethiopia and India is characterised by close cultural affinity, economic complimentarity and cordial political ties. Ethiopia is home to a mosaic of nations, nationalities and people with more than 80 different spoken languages. The vast majority of the languages are the Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic. Semitic language speakers live predominantly in the highlands and lowlands of the south-central region as well as in the north-central area. Omotic language speakers live predominantly in the south. The Nilo-Saharan super languages family accounts for about 2 percent of the population, and these languages are spoken near the Sudanese border. Amharic is used as a working language for the last 150 years and English is used as medium of instruction in secondary schools and universities (Embassy of Ethiopia, New Delhi, 2011).Ethiopia has some of the earliest hominid populations and possibly the region where Homo erectus evolved and expanded out of Africa. The most notable pale anthropological find in the country was 'Lucky' a female Australopithecus aphaeresis discovered in 1974 and referred to as Dinqnesh (you are marvelous) by Ethiopians. The Country is one of the oldest civilizations with a rich diversity of its people and culture which includes the unique letter of the alphabet, calendar and clock. Ethiopia was ruled by successive kings, emperors until 1974 where the military took over. In 1991, the military rule was ousted by the struggle of the Ethiopian people; hence in 1994 Ethiopia ratified a new constitution and declared a Federal Democratic Republic (Pankhurst, 1997).The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is composed of nine Regional States that are; Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella and Harari; and two City Administration council of Dire Dawa and Addis Ababa. The regional states and city administrations are subdivided into 817 administrative Woredas (districts). A Woreda/District is the basic decentralised administrative unit and has an administrative council composed of elected members. Following a democratic system, election is held every 5 years thus, the fourth election was held in May 2011. There are more than 50 National and Regional Political Parties as well as private media that enhances the democratisation process that is under way.As both Ethiopia and India are old civilizations with 3,000 and 5,000 years of history respectively, their relations go back to thousands of years. During the Aksumite Kingdom of Ethiopia, Indian traders used to bring to Abesenia (the former name of Ethiopia) spices and silk and take back gold and ivory (Ethiopian Embassy, UK, 2011). The present Ethiopia has embraced upon a development effort to eradicate poverty and democratise its society. In so doing it has recorded tremendous achievements in economic and social development as witnessed by the 2010 human development index.According to the 2010 Human Development Report (HDR), Ethiopia is rated among the 'top movers' at rank 11 out of the 135 which registered improvement in Human Development Index that stretched between 1970 and 2010. The achievement status of Ethiopia indicates that life expectancy at birth increased by almost 5 years, GNI per capita increased by 75 percent, expected years of schooling increased by 4 years. This progress would have been difficult if not impossible without the assistance and cooperation of friendly countries like India.RELATIONS BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND INDIA - TODAYAccording to some historians, Indians came into direct contact with Ethiopia and exchange commodities between the two countries in ancient times. In 16th century, Indian technicians came to Ethiopia from Goa with Portuguese missionaries and contributed much in the fields of construction and craft. The influence of Indian Architecture is visible in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia (Rashidi, 2007). …