Cyber Ethiopia

Jijiga is almost the end of the road in Eastern Ethiopia. The 640 km drive from Addis takes you within 60 km of the Somaliland border, a ‘country’ not officially recognized by anyone. Past Jijiga the roads are rough – although they are improving as traffic increases from this former no man’s land. Last year food trucks started moving from the port of Berbera in Somaliland, and now traffic is regular to the ‘capital’ of Somaliland – Hargeisa. Jijiga is the capital of the ‘wild East’. It is thoroughly described in the Penguin book ‘Notes from a Hyena’s Belly’. The author, Nega Mezlakia, entertainingly recounts the adventures of growing up in Jijiga in the 1960’s and 70’s. Jijiga is a dusty little village from which the

Empire of Haile Selassie exercised their loose control over the fractious Somali Region. Nega and his friends cowered behind fences at night as hyenas ruled the streets. He tells the story of practical jokes on teachers and the superstitions and oddities of the day. It turns more serious when the Emperor is overthrown and the invasion from Somalia over-runs Jijiga as Nega and other residents flee to Harar. The remains from the one year occupation of Somalia still affects life around Jijiga. The beautiful Karamara hills to the west of the city were thoroughly mined, and there are still dangerous areas off limits. Nega is a symbol of the reality of Jijiga – it was founded by the Empire amongst the pastoral peoples of Somali – at a reliable water source traditionally used by nomads. Most of the settlers were from other parts of Ethiopia, mainly highland Amharas brought as government officials for the Empire. Nega grew up in Jijiga, the son of a minor Amhara government official. The character of Jijiga has evolved, and now the government is dominated by Somali officials, and the ethnic character of the city is increasingly Somali. Population is estimated at around 100,000, stretching over a wide area with mostly traditional mud and stick houses extending from the stone and cement buildings at the centre of town for miles. Buying things in Jijiga is surprisingly easy and cheap. This is mostly because the border with nearby Somaliland, a ‘country’ which has a government officially recognized by no other country in the world, is highly porous. Mixed in with the tin pots and plastic buckets in the Jijiga market, is a warren of small shops which sell imported carpets, clothing and electronic goods. It is a surprising shoppers paradise. One of the big surprises I found in Jijiga was the presence of some very large pigs in a dry riverbed with a large and convenient (for the pigs) supply of garbage. Why was there a bunch of pigs running wild in a heavily Moslem area? As Ethiopian Orthodox Christians also don’t eat pigs, they are an extremely rare sight in Ethiopia. I queried about the origin of the pig family, and the best answer I got was that they were left by Cuban troops after they withdrew from their support for Ethiopia against Somalia. Over 20,000 (perhaps 40,000?) Cuban troops were stationed in Somali region from 1977 until they dribbled away in the 1980’s, part of ‘socialist solidarity’ with the Derg regime of the time. I became aware that Cubans had been a big presence in Jijiga on my first visit there. Instead of children calling out to me ‘ferengi, ferengi’, they called out ‘Cubano, Cubano’. The main lasting impression that Cubans seem to have left is about their eating habits. Apart from the legacy of pigs, there is always a story about the Cubans eating donkey. Donkeys are considered about the filthiest animal possible to eat in Ethiopia. Any self respecting Ethiopian would far rather starve to death than eat a donkey (correct me if I’m wrong!). The cautionary tale told about the Cubans is that a group of soldiers invite some Ethiopian military friends over for supper. After enjoying their meat, the Cubans reveal to the Ethiopians, as a joke, that they served them donkey! The tale always ends the same inevitable way – the Ethiopian soldiers kill the Cubans. The drive to Jijiga from Harar is very nice – winding down from the highlands into the middle highlands of Jijiga. The scenic drive includes mountains, vast vistas, and great river valleys stretching to the north and south. The most beautiful area is around the town of Babile. There are marvelous rock formations, carved out by erosion, including some large rocks precariously balanced on smaller rocks. Although Babile is a pretty unspectacular roadside town, there was one thing I really appreciated. It is the only place in Ethiopia I can remember having street vendors come up and sell you peanuts. Another little village called Bombas is found on the same road. There is a roadblock in town designed to stop smugglers. Looking at the vast wilderness around the village, it is easy to see why the roadblock is futile. A few camels can be loaded on one side and unloaded on the other for an easy bypass. Security on this road is not good – we officially only travel down it in the mornings. Although there are threats of attacks from bandits or rebels, the chief danger on this road is the chat trucks which hurdle recklessly down this road in the morning. These 3 ton trucks pick up chat from the markets around Harar, and rush it to Jijiga to be sold as fresh as possible in the local market, or driven or flown to different parts of Somali Region and neighbouring Somaliland. Speed is of the essence, which means that the careening trucks, normally with plenty of passengers precariously perched on top, often crash and kill many, and unfortunate innocent travelers far too often. There is also an Elephant Reserve marked conspicuously on the tourist maps stretching south of the road. Unfortunately seeing elephants is a rarity here. I was ironically heartened to hear that poachers were arrested for killing elephants here a while ago, which encouraged me to believe there were some left (unless the poachers got the last one). Going the other way from Jijiga, to the East, is also fascinating. You descend into the desert like lowlands next to the border, which is scenic in a dry sort of way. The interesting part is that you can go down to a border and stare across into an area which has a government not recognized by anyone in the world. How many places on the globe can you do that? The other interesting thing about the border area is the great markets. The ‘refugee camp’ of Hartishek has the most incredible collection of goods, from t-shirts to satellite dishes, at very reasonable prices. Again, it is stuff which has fallen off the back of a boat in the Red Sea, and made it’s way across Somaliland. Overall, the trip to Jijiga and environs is not something that normal tourists would do. I go there for work, and this has led me to a fascination with the place. It’s a great place off the beaten track!