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By Tsegaye Tadesse and Barry Malone
11 September, 2007
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 11 (Reuters Life!) - Soldiers stood guard, partygoers changed into national costume, and goats were slaughtered in the countdown to Ethiopia's celebrations to ring in the new Millennium seven years after the rest of the world.
Security forces in blue uniforms patrolled Addis Ababa in trucks and by foot, blocking some roads and snarling traffic as Ethiopia, which follows a different calendar to the West, prepared to become the last country to greet the 21st century.
The red, green and gold of the Ethiopian flag fluttered from most hotels and government buildings.
Office workers rushed home early to change into traditional dress of white cotton and gold trim for New Year's Eve.
Goats and sheep, slung over their owners' shoulders, bleated before being slaughtered for a host of family feasts.
The government hopes the third Millennium will spark a renaissance for a country that, from the 1980s, became for many in the outside world a byword for poverty, hunger and conflict.
"Some people are expecting a miracle, but nothing will change overnight," said 23-year-old architect Helawi Sewnet.
"It could be a new beginning, a new chapter. I see hope."
PEPPER PRICES UP
With the afternoon sun waning, labourers hammered away at a brand new $10 million temporary exhibition hall where U.S. hip hop band Black Eyed Peas were due to get the party started.
Organisers may not have rustled up the hundred of thousands of visitors they were hoping for, but many in the diaspora -- mostly from North America -- have returned home to swell the numbers of local revellers.
However, some in the capital Addis Ababa, an opposition stronghold, view the festivities as a government project and are planning to hold private celebrations.
To the delight of Kebede Solomon, a shoe-shine boy, and to the chagrin of most other residents, prices have soared.
The cost of hot peppers -- essential to any Ethiopian meal -- has almost doubled, prompting many to call this "the pepperless Millennium".
"The Millennium is good because I've made some money from the Americans at the Hilton," said Kebede, 15, whose New Year wish is to get richer.
"I'm working here to pay for my studies."
Ethiopians are wondering what drama the future may hold after a last century that has seen a king deposed, the ouster of a military dictator whose "Red Terror" purges terrorised a nation, and a troubled experiment with democracy.
Criticised by the international community for an opposition crackdown after disputed 2005 polls, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was expected to send a message of tolerance in a live broadcast to the country's 81 million people later on Tuesday.
In a gesture of reconciliation, the government released nearly 18,000 prisoners across the country this week.
Several regional leaders, including Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, Kenya's Mwai Kibaki and Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir were due to attend the festivities culminating in a firework display over Addis Ababa's main Meskel Square.