Ethiopia, 1998
“After the Mediterranean, Cairo, the plane followed the Nile and then at night.
From Addis Ababa, we left due south, for Jimma, Kaffa province, the Ethiopian granary. This is the country of the Oromos, Muslim.
There are more than 30 million of them, more than half of the population. Ethnic groups marginalized by the Amahri and Tigrayan powers,
has survived every disaster.
Today, 15 years after the “green famine”, the Dimtu valley is harvesting, the claws are everywhere,
the plagues and the songs supported by the “milmil”, obstinate little 2-stroke mills.
In the North, deaf a dirty war with Eritrea. The government raises troops in the countryside.
Recruiters shout in their megaphones. Young people hide in the forests.
Trucks full of conscripts drive past in torrents. Flesh to flesh, they’ll go to de-mine Badme’s front line with their feet. »
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