By DPA
Addis Ababa : Ethiopia rang in its third millennium Wednesday as residents of the capital Addis Ababa, decked in their red, yellow and green national colours, poured onto the streets to celebrate the year 2000.
Ethiopia, which follows a 13-month Coptic calendar that was discarded by the church in the sixth century AD, is set to ring in the year 2000, seven years after the rest of the world.
“I think it will be a bright millennium,” said Yosef Tassrew, a 25-year-old engineering student. “The future looks bright.”
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government, racked by charges of human rights violations and war crimes in a remote eastern region, is hoping the extravagant parties and concerts will shed a positive light on the country best known for its devastating 1984 famine.
Thousands of homeless people were forced out of the capital and scores of stray dogs killed to make sure the capital’s image wasn’t soiled, but smatterings of both could be found around town.
At the main millennium event Tuesday, held at a $10 million temporary hall that resembled an airport hangar, Meles told the nation the millennium would mark the beginning of the Ethiopian renaissance.
“A thousand years from now, when Ethiopians gather to welcome the fourth millennium, they shall say that the eve of the third millennium was the beginning of the end of the dark ages in Ethiopia,” he said, speaking by a glass-encased podium to some 3,000 people.
Hoots and yells erupted from the crowd when Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union, shouted out, “Long live Ethiopia! Long live Africa!”
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir as well as his Somali, Kenyan and Rwandan counterparts attended the event, which saw American hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas take to the stage alongside local Ethiopian artistes.
For those who couldn’t afford the $165 ticket, the concert was simulcast at two locations in the capital. Addis Ababa residents took their party to the streets, weaving through traffic, singing songs and spilling out of restaurants.
“I celebrated the year 2000 seven years ago, but this is the real 2000,” said Amen Girma, an Ethiopian who settled in Wilhelmshaven, northern Germany, 17 years ago, where he runs a Greek restaurant.
The central Meskel Square, draped with the national colours and posters depicting Ethiopian culture, was packed with people throughout the day Tuesday. Earlier, mostly unemployed young men voiced hope for the millennium but complained they remained poor.
“I am happy for the millennium, but there is still no work in Ethiopia,” said Melkamu Girma, 18.
The year-long celebrations, touted as Africa’s millennium, will also see a national tree planting campaign as well as the opening of a coffee museum.