Word: ethiopia
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...ever envision becoming so prolific a builder of latrines? -Ricardo Fernandez, Orland Park, Ill. [Laughs.] Ethiopia has one of the highest incidences of blind?ness on earth because of trachoma, which is caused by filthy eyes. To eliminate flies, we taught people how to build very simple latrines. Women have adopted building them as a kind of liberation movement - there had been a rigid taboo against a woman relieving herself in the daytime - so although we thought we'd have about 10,000 latrines, we've passed 340,000. Now instead of my being famous for negotiating peace between Israel...
...predictions be coming true? Extreme rains and floods have made for a very wet summer in Africa, and there is no end in sight to the downpours that are swallowing towns and forcing over a million to flee their homes in at least 20 countries. Since June, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya have had hundreds of thousands of people uprooted from their homes. Scores have died since. West Africa has seen its worst floods in years, with 300,000 fleeing the earth-colored waters of northern Ghana. Meanwhile, forecasts by African meteorologists say the rains have yet to peak. October...
...TIME: The U.S. sets great store by its good relations with Ethiopia. Why? Meles: We are African and a critical part of Africa. But we are close to the Middle East. And the three major religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism came to Ethiopia much earlier than much of Europe. So the Middle Eastern influence has historically been huge. And in view of the fact that much of the Middle East is currently in turmoil, the Gulf in particular, with all sorts of terrorist activities, we are susceptible to that influence too. But we are in the middle of Africa...
...TIME: Some people say you are America 's poodle. Meles: Our objective is to safeguard Ethiopia's interests. Ethiopia's interests at the moment fully coincide with America's security interests in the region, and therefore it's perfectly normal for us to work very closely with the U.S. We have not denied the fact that we are working very closely with the U.S. We have every reason to do so. We are not ashamed of it. If that makes us a poodle, if protecting one's national interest means being a poodle, then so be it, that...
...TIME: The U.S. warned against Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia but you went ahead. Was the invasion a success? Meles: It's been a tremendous success. Before we intervened, about a year ago now, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) were on the verge of collapse and the Islamic Courts Union were on the verge of taking complete and full control of Somalia. That is no longer on the cards. That is a tremendous change...