I found out that Ethiopia was at one point a Marxist-Leninist country, due to the 1987 Constitution. In 1991, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front held elections, in which Meles Zenawi was sworn in as prime minister and made a new constitution. I learned about Zenawi's Foreign Policy, and how they played the middleman in border conflicts, with Somailia, Eritrea, Rwanda, and Yemen. Finally, an important thing I learned were some of Ethiopia's recent political activity. There had been protests in 2005, against Zenawi, in which Ethiopian police forces responded by shooting. In November 2005, Meles created a commission that would investigate whether or not the violence was too much or not. The latest update is December 24, 2006. Zenawi said that they had sent troops into Somalia to help fight against Islamic military that may be hurting the government.
Meanwhile, my curiosity led me to NationMaster.com, where I found that the per capita GDP was $159.61. I compared it to Luxembourg, who has the highest per capita GDP with $79,851.00 and the United States, who has $41,889.00, and Burundi, with the lowest GDP at $105.45. You can find the full list here. Now this fact is incredibly shocking. Especially because of the previous article I read. That article said that their per capita was at $600 in 2000. Why is it, that in five years, it has gone through a drastic change that has left it with 150.00? I believe that it might be because of the famine. There are definitely much less crops than before due to the ongoing famine. Many of those who do grow the crops end up exporting it, which means they get money - but not enough to sustain a lifestyle. Barely anything can come out of Ethiopia with the small amount of food, that is being given away, instead of being given to those who need it.
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