Tibor Nagy, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia wrote:

Regarding the Houston Chronicle editorial about Ethiopia, “Do Better” (Page B7, July 29), while one can take a snapshot of Ethiopia’s current political, economic and social circumstances and find areas for serious criticism, it would be much fairer to view where Ethiopia is today in relation to where it has come from, and especially to where it is headed.

I served as a U.S. diplomat twice in Ethiopia, as a member of the U.S. embassy staff in the mid-1980s during the awful days of the Marxist dictatorship at the height of the “Great Famine,” and again as ambassador from 1999-2002.

I have also returned to the country a number of times since then to help facilitate educational exchanges between U.S. and Ethiopian universities. In my experience, for most Americans, “Ethiopia” still conjures up images more reminiscent of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse than today’s reality.

Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in Africa, made up of mostly dynamic young people experiencing unparalleled economic growth and incredible infrastructure development, with a realistic shot of becoming a middle-income country by 2025.

Along with economic development has come significant and rapid social progress in longevity, women’s education and HIV/AIDS reduction – and incredible growth in university education, with Ethiopia going from three to 38 national universities in just over a decade.

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