JidbaaleMany lies have been told by Ethiopia, but the worst one is the proposition of an utterance that our population is 120 million, which is far from the truth. The population count in Ethiopia from the most recent census was done in 2007, and the recorded population stood at 58 million. As for the number of poor, it should be noted that the government greatly exaggerated this number to draw donors for the provision of humanitarian aid. But actually, the population of Ethiopia is not nearly as significant as the population of the last time Ethiopia did any census, and that was 17 years ago.
This country has had civil strife, and in the process, millions have been killed by compatriots. Many people have succumbed to disease and hunger, and many have fled the country. Their actual population is estimated to be 67 million.
It is politically immature to say that your large population requires access to the sea. Most of the states belong to the continental block, yet they do not demand a port and a coastline at the expense of their neighbors. The political leadership of Somalia needs to provide forceful and proactive leadership to the people of Somalia and do nothing in particular that gravitates the country toward appeasement. This entails not bowing to outrageous Ethiopian thugs who employ acts of violence and engage in bullying, and it also entails using the local tribal enclave “Somaliland” to leverage pressure on Somalia in order to make them surrender.
A truly Somali nationalist leader would not be bothered by Ethiopian problems and concerns but rather see them as unrelated to Somali affairs. The size of your population does not matter to Somalia; the direction of development that Ethiopia is heading has no meaning to Somalia since the nation has been able to prosper itself without trading with Ethiopia.
