Readings on Ethiopia: It’s difficult to find any single worthwhile reading on Ethiopia that delivers a good overview of its political structure, background on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and an explanation of the current unrest. That’s why we’ve decided to present three readings, with a separate article each focusing on these subjects. Three readings? We can only imagine your reaction.

For background on Ethiopia’s modern history and political structure, told through the story of an Ethiopian professor who has oddly enough decided to take up arms with Eritrean rebels against the Ethiopian government, see the excellent NYT profile on former Bucknell University professor Berhanu Nega, which we noted in last Friday’s Weekend Edition. “In the mid-1980s, the Derg dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, blocked food supplies to the region, creating a devastating famine in which one mn people died. Photographs of starving children, disseminated by the news media, catalyzed an international relief effort, Live Aid, and inspired the pop hit ‘We Are the World.’” As we noted almost a year ago, most of the USD 140 mn raised by Live Aid instead went to the Ethiopian military to buy weapons for their civil war. (Read Once a Bucknell professor, now the commander of an Ethiopian rebel army)

For background on the GERD, including its sources of funding and eventual objectives, see William Davison’s May 2015 piece for Bloomberg. Contrary to popular wisdom in Egypt, the GERD is not funded by Israel, but rather through government bonds and a lottery. As for what Ethiopia plans to do with all that electricity: “Ethiopia wants to export 1,200 megawatts to Sudan and 2,000 megawatts to Egypt.” (Read Ethiopians rally Olympic-style, chip in on bonds for dam)

As for the roots of the current unrest, see Jeffrey Gettleman’s piece for the New York Times last month. “Many… feel Ethiopia is unfairly dominated by members of the Tigrayan ethnic group, which makes up about 6 percent of the population and dominates the military, the intelligence services, commerce and politics.”(Read ‘A generation is protesting’ in Ethiopia, long a US ally)