Letters
Public responses
More of the same
D+C/E+Z 2013/09, p. 342 f., Eva-Maria Verfürth: "New spirit"
One asks oneself whether it really took a high-level panel in Accra to reach the conclusions you summarise. It is disappointing, moreover, that the real challenges such as bureaucratic red tape and corruption are not mentioned, not even in polite diplomatic language. One must expect that things will go on in Africa post-2015 the way they have been going on in the past five decades.
Werner Wallert, Göttingen, Germany
Ethiopia’s distorted image
D+C/E+Z 2013/10, p. 362, Monika Hellstern: "Overcoming stereotypes"
In German media, Ethiopia serves as a metaphor for poverty, drought, famine, war and so on. Accordingly, these words shape the German public’s idea of the country. Why is media coverage not more nuanced? Ethiopia is three times larger than Germany, and only some parts were or are affected by drought and violence. Do the German media, which only report negative things from Ethiopia, even know how many lakes and rivers there are in the country? Indeed, there are even rivers and lakes in drought-struck regions, but the water flows to neighbouring countries without being made use of. Why do German media write about drought but not about untapped resources? Unless journalism improves, Africa’s and Ethiopia’s image in Germany will never change.
Dr. Kiros Abeselom, Dilla, Ethiopia