The start of Ethiopia’s third millennium, which began on Wednesday, is set to be overshadowed in many Addis Ababa households by rampant inflation, which has put the ingredients of a New Year celebration beyond the reach of thousands of people.
The government of Meles Zenawi, the prime minister, has taken the arrival of the year 2000 – which comes now because Ethiopia uses the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar and its Orthodox Church calculates the birth of Christ differently – as a chance to promote a “renaissance” and quash the country’s association with the famine of 1984-85.
