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The Scholars from Ethiopia and Zimbabwe Made Academic Reports in IWAAS
Time : 2019-05-13
On April 8, 2019, at the invitation of Center for African Studies of China Fund for International Studies and Chinese Asian and African Society, Yonas Adaye Adeto, Vice Professor of Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia and Founder of the Institute of Peace and Security, and Munetsi Madakufamba, Executive Director of Center for Southern African Studies and Documentation of Zimbabwe, made academic reports in the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies (IWAAS), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), entitled “The current changes in Ethiopia and the impact on the horn of Africa” and “The current changes in Zimbabwe and the impact on the development of southern Africa” respectively.   The report meeting was hosted by Shu Zhan, Former Chinese Ambassador to Eritrea and Rwanda.  Ai Ping, Vice President of China Association for International Exchange and Former Vice Minister of International Department, Central Committee of CPC, Liu Guijin, Former Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs, Xue Jinwei, Former Chinese Ambassador to Gabon and Cameroon, Guo Chongli, Former Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, Yang Lihua, Former Deputy Director of IWAAS, and more than forty other experts and scholars from International Department, Central Committee of CPC, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China Institute of International Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, Minzu University of China, Beijing Normal University, Tianjin University of Technology and Education and IWAAS, participated in the meeting and made the interaction and exchange with the two African scholars.

 
Yonas firstly introduced the political changes in the early 2018 and the situation development since the Abiy took office as Prime Minister of Ethiopia.  He indicated the current ethnic issues in Ethiopia had developed into extreme nationalism, and led to the increasing domestic social conflicts, political risks and security problems.  Since Abiy took office in 2018, the Abiy Administration took a number of measures to pursuing peace, security and development in Ethiopia, including releasing political prisoners, amending the relevant laws that violate the human rights, improving women’s political status, holding dialogues with the opposition party and developing reform in the military.  In effort to ease the security situation in the horn of Africa, the Abiy Administration improved the relationship with Eritrea substantially and gradually improved the relationships with Somalia and other neighbors.  These measures have all achieved some good results.  However, the Abiy Administration also faced many challenges, such as the extreme nationalism issue and the corruption problems.   In the end, Yonas gave some targeted suggestions on what measures should be taken by the Ethiopian government, the Ethiopian people and international community to solve the extreme nationalism issue in Ethiopia respectively.

Munetsi firstly made a brief introduction on Zimbabwean political shake-up in November 2017 and the presidential election in July 2018, and analyzed the land reform since 2000 and subsequently the sanctions against Zimbabwe from western countries.  Then, he introduced in detail the measures made by Mnangagwa Administration since Mnangagwa took office, including the adoption of a transitional economic stabilization plan, the implementation of fiscal and monetary policy reforms, the abolition of localization policies to promote foreign investment, and the pursuit of improving relations with western countries.  Regarding the relations between Zimbabwe and Southern African Development Community (SADC), Munetsi held the view that Zimbabwe played an important role in SADC and the success of Zimbabwe was the success of SADC, the same as the failure.  At present, the SADC is the staunch supporter of Zimbabwe and supports the cancel of sanctions against Zimbabwe.  At last, Munetsi pointed out Zimbabwe’s future depended on strong leadership, anti-corruption and creation of the more inclusive political and economic system.
 
After the reports of the two African scholars, Vice President Ai Ping, Ambassador Liu Guijin, Researcher Yang Lihua and other scholars made exchanges with them on the development approach, the administrative measures and the prospects of Ethiopia, China-Zimbabwe relations and China-Ethiopia relations, and the land reform in Zimbabwe.  The report meeting got a complete success.

Copyright: Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, CASS

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