36 THENEWYORKER,OCTOBER3, 2022
would run them as concessions, and
to use them as hubs to develop the
countryside.
Over dinner, at a long table by a
swimming pool, we listened as Abiy
spoke about how Ethiopia could be
useful to its allies. For one thing, he
suggested, Ethiopia could “fight their
wars” for them. He had noticed that
Westerners no longer seemed eager to
send their sons into combat, but Ethi-
opians were good fighters, he said, and
did not have the same qualms.
The Emiratis mostly kept to them-
selves, but an amiable man named
Fahad Abdulrahman bin Sultan in-
troduced himself as the head of the
U.A.E. Red Crescent Society. Bin Sul-
tan told me that Ethiopia could be-
come a tourist hub, if it was developed
properly. It has abundant water, and
it is convenient to the Arabian Pen-
insula (“really hot at this time of year”).
Abiy, he said, was a visionary: “If he
can have ten years in power, Ethiopia
will be transformed, like Egypt was
with Sisi.” He didn’t seem bothered
by Sisi’s fierce repression of his polit-
ical opponents.
In Ethiopia, the Emiratis are a
less significant presence than the Chi-
nese, who have been in the country
for more than a decade. In Addis, Chi-
nese laborers in overalls are ubiquitous:
expanding the international airport;
working around the clock on the park-
land known as Friendship Square and
on the spaceship-like planetarium;
finishing up the Commercial Bank of
Ethiopia, an undulating spire that is
among the tallest buildings in Africa.
Roads and bridges are being constructed
throughout Ethiopia, and the Chinese
play a key role in almost all of them.
No country holds more of Ethiopia’s
external debt than China. “The Ethi-
opians still haven’t figured out how
they’re going to pay down the debt,
which is a problem,” a U.S. diplomat
with extensive experience in the Horn
of Africa told me.
Abiy occasionally fretted over how
much money he was borrowing. “If you
are a really good person,” he told me,
“pray for me for just one thing—that I
can manage our debt.” He told me that
he would like to work more with West-
ern companies, but that the Chinese
had been useful. “The Americans should
step up their role here,” he said. “But,
if they don’t come, there are others, you
know, who are interested.”E
thiopia’s relationship with the
United States was a preoccupation
for Abiy. During a helicopter trip
through the countryside, he turned away
from the view and declared how much
he “loved” the U.S. “Really,” he said.
“America is a beautiful country. And
the Americans are very good people.
And I know the country, maybe better
than some Americans! I’ve driven from
Washington all the way to California.”
In the mid-two-thousands, Ethiopia
became a regional ally of the U.S., send-
ing troops to invade Somalia to fight
Al Shabaab, an insurgent group linked
to Al Qaeda. After Abiy’s time in the
military, he worked for the government
in cybersecurity and intelligence and
spent some time in U.S. training pro-
grams. “In the Iraq War, I fought with
them,” he said. “I was the one who would
send intelligence from this part of the
world to the N.S.A., on Sudan and
Yemen and Somalia. The N.S.A. knows
me. I would fight and die for America.”
Abiy gave a disgusted wave of his hand.“Then these guys came.” He was refer-
ring to the Biden Administration. “They
don’t know who their true friends are,”
he said. Since the war began, “they made
the mistake of talking publicly and down
to me. Samantha Power announced she
was coming to Ethiopia and was going
to meet me. Without even consulting me!
That’s not the way it’s done. So I didn’t
see her, and she left very upset. Now there
is a different approach—they know they
must behave respectfully.” (U.S. officials
have said that Abiy’s office ignored their
attempts to schedule a meeting.)
Even though Abiy was desperate for
American investment, he couldn’t bring
himself to be too reverent about its pol-
iticians. He told me that he had “taken
a big intake of breath” when he heard
that Joe Biden had fallen off his bicy-
cle. “I wish he acted his age,” he said.
He went on, “Obama was good at mak-
ing inspiring speeches, but he made
more promises than he could fulfill.”
Abiy grimaced when I asked about Don-
ald Trump. “He did a lot of damage to
America’s image. Let’s not even talk
about him in the same way as the oth-
ers.” Without discernible irony, Abiy
said that he was concerned by the tu-STUDY OFTWO FIGURES(MIDAS/ MARIGOLD)
Everything he touches turns yellow.We are meant to understand this as a form of death.Death is a wish to improve one’s surroundings.Which is to say, to be dissatisfied with one’s surroundings is a
form of death.To be dissatisfied with one’s child, to wish to improve one’s child,
is to wish its death.Her death.The dead child is unchanging, therefore beautiful.Which is why we say that death is the father of beauty.He created her.Then he created her again.His tears gild his gaze.