Episode six: Ethiopia: Transition To What?

The podcast series “African Voices, African Arguments” features African scholars, writers, policy makers and activists on issues of peace, justice and democracy, and is produced by World Peace Foundation and presented in partnership with African Arguments and The Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University.

In this podcast, Alex de Waal speaks with Mulugeta Gebrehiwot, Ethiopian revolutionary, scholar and expert on peace and security in the Horn of Africa. Mulugeta is the author of Laying the Past to Rest: The EPRDF and the Challanges of Ethiopian State Building, and co-author of the forthcoming article, ‘Nationalism and self-determination in contemporary Ethiopia,’ Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe and Fiseha Haftetsion Gebresilassie, Nations and Nationalism (December 2020).

”…I have this understanding that, well, some controversies will not end, they will continue…but we need to have a basic consensus on the fundamentals of our histories.”

 

Listen to Episode six: Ethiopia: Transition To What?

 

Mulugeta Gebrehiwot is a WPF as a Senior Fellow. He served as the director of the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of Addis Ababa University from 2009-2011. He holds an MA in Public administration from Harvard Kennedy School, an MBA from the Open University of London, a BA degree in International Management from the Amsterdam School of Business. Mulugeta was a member of the military and political leadership of the Tigray’s People Liberation Front where he contributed to the victory over the Military Junta led by Mengistu Hailemariam, and was in charge of demobilizing over 300,000 combatants. Mulugeta has more than 20 years of experience as a senior manager in the Ethiopian public and private sectors. As an expert in Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution with a focus on East Africa he has consulted with different international organizations including AU, DFID, DANIDA, ECOWAS, GIZ, IGAD, UNMIS, UNAMID, and UNDPA.

 

Alex de Waal is the Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Considered one of the foremost experts on Sudan and the Horn of Africa, his scholarly work and practice has also probed humanitarian crisis and response, human rights, HIV/AIDS and governance in Africa, and conflict and peace-building.