Addis Ababa Is Not Apologizing for Making Strides

By Henok Tadele HAILE

Addis Ababa, October 3, 2025 (ENA) -- I read Jane Flanagan’s article on The Times, “Addis Ababa takes a bulldozer to its past in bid to be ‘Dubai of Africa,’” and my heart clenched. It was written as though Ethiopia’s dream of building a modern capital is a crime. As though Africans are destined to remain trapped in dust and decay so that some Western eyes can keep their favorite picture of us- poor, shabby, nostalgic, pitiable.

But Africa is rising, and we will not apologize!

Our Heritage Is Not Pétanque

The article begins with the image of elderly men playing pétanque, a French game brought here by railway workers. It is a quaint picture. Some Western writers lament the possible loss of pétanque — a French pastime brought by colonial-era engineers, now played by only a handful of elderly railway workers, out of 130 million Ethiopians who are in need of modern facilities. Ethiopians do not measure heritage in borrowed games. But should our entire story be reduced to this borrowed pastime? No! Ethiopia’s heritage is not measured in boules on a dusty railway yard.

Mr. Jane Flanagan, no bulldozer has touched our heritage. On the contrary, Ethiopia has been restoring it with care. Ethiopian Heritage Authority's Director General Abebaw Ayalew is one of the respected historians, entrusted with safeguarding heritage before any new project begins. In Ethiopia’s corridor development project, old palaces have been refurbished, churches preserved, mosques protected.

Meskel Square, the long beating heart of Addis Ababa, was modernized without erasing its history. The story is not one of eliminating, but of rebirth.

Cleaning Our Rivers, Greening River Banks

 

I grew up knowing what Addis Ababa rivers were like: black and poisoned streams. Factories used to dispose their waste into them, and sewage poured from homes. Children were cautioned against going near the rivers.

Today, those same riversides have been cleaned. Families walk on shaded paths, children ride bicycles, couples sit watching waters once so dreaded for their  pollution. This is not “prestige for some elite” — it is life restored. When London tried to clean the Thames river, it was called progress. When Paris healed the Seine river for the Olympic, it was praised. Why then is Addis Ababa’s renovation work deliberately skewed? Why are Africans not allowed the dignity of clean, neat environment and green parks?

The myth of False Claim

The Times repeats a false claim that 4,000 families were displaced for the Meskel Square project. It is simply not true. It was only refurbished--the area was not a residential site; it did not need families to be relocated. Because nobody lives at the popular square, Mr Flanagan, do you have to defile and smear it for nothing? But that place is really improved with modern parking, underground shops and terminals.

But in other places in Addis, what is true is that many Ethiopians lived for decades in slums without clean water, without playgrounds, without safety. Poverty is not picturesque. It is not heritage. It is an indignity. The communities deserve housing facilities and they were accordingly resettled.

 

To replace collapsing shacks with safe housing, with wide sidewalks, with free sports fields and public squares — that is not cruelty. It is justice. When neighborhoods in London were recently gentrified places such as for the Olympic park, and Paris recently gentrified neighborhoods, driven by projects like the Grand Paris Express, it is called progress and modernity. Why must Africa alone be condemned for modernizing?

Built With Own Hands

Here is what the article does not say: Addis Ababa’s transformation or cities' renovation in the entire nation was not imposed by outsiders. It was built mostly with Ethiopian hands, Ethiopian brains, and Ethiopian budgets. Young people earned jobs, women found livelihoods, and engineers proved their skills. For once, it was not dictated by donors.

Perhaps that is what unsettled some - that Africa is proving it can build without begging, that Addis Ababa’s skyline is not a gift from outside but the work of its own people.

A Pan-African Capital

Addis Ababa is not just Ethiopia’s capital. It is the seat of the African Union, the city where Pan-Africanism resonates. When Nigerians, Ghanaians, Kenyans, or South Africans, generally Africans arrive, they are not guests — they are coming to their continental capital. They deserve to see a city that reflects pride; that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world, without shame.

To suggest Addis must stay shabby to remain “authentic” is to say Africans do not deserve beauty and progress. That our children must forever grow up in broken streets, while others enjoy glittering cities. This is an insult and must be bulldozed.

Beyond the Skyline, the Human Story

Addis Ababa is changing. The glass towers rise, the roads widen, the skyline glitters brighter each year. Visitors marvel at the transformation, comparing it to Dubai, Beijing, or even Paris. But for us Africans, the story of Addis cannot be told only through skyscrapers or state prestige. It is a city of flesh and blood, of mothers, fathers, workers, dreamers — a place where every stone carries memory and every street hums with resilience.

So, what Africans and African Americans alike should feel proud of — Addis Ababa is rewriting its own future. One shining example is the Addis Ababa River and Corridor Development Project, known as the Sheger Beautifying Project, launched in 2019. The beauty, green spaces, walking sides, and service standards of Addis Ababa have increased by leaps and bounds.

 

The rivers of Addis once ran as open sewers, polluted and forgotten. Today, through the project, they are being cleaned and reborn. Riverbeds are being dredged, waste channels redirected, water treated. Along the river banks rise new parks, gardens, and tree-lined corridors that breathe life back into the city. Friendship Park, built on reclaimed land, has become a gathering place for important events, families, couples, elders, and youth — a place where nature, community, and dignity meet.

But the project is not only about beauty, it is about survival and opportunity. The green spaces absorb floods that once devastated neighborhoods. The shaded walkways cool the air in a city growing hotter each year. New playgrounds, sports fields, and public toilets bring dignity to areas long neglected. Bicycle paths and pedestrian lanes ease the burden of traffic and give people healthier, safer ways to move through the city.

Most importantly, the project has created massive job opportunities. Thousands of youth have been employed in river cleaning, construction, landscaping, and maintenance. Local small businesses — from cafes to bike rentals are bringing modern life to the city. Tourism is expected to grow, bringing income not just to investors, but to ordinary street vendors, artisans, and workers who are the backbone of Addis. For young Africans looking for hope in their own soil, this is proof that development can mean jobs, not just buildings.

What matters is that Addis Ababa is not being remade in the image of others, but in its own. It is a city of renovation, experimenting, always moving forward.

Addis is more than a capital. It is the beating heart of Africa — headquarters of  the African Union, the meeting place of our leaders, the seat of our shared future. When its rivers are cleaned, when its skyline rises, when its public spaces welcome the ordinary African to sit with dignity — it sends a message: we are capable, we are resilient, we are writing our own story.

Let them see the Sheger Beautifying Project not as an imitation of foreign models, but as an African renaissance rooted in the soil of Addis. The city is not losing its soul — it is expanding it. And for Black people everywhere — in Africa, in the Americas, in the Caribbean — Addis Ababa should stand as a reminder- our heritage is alive, our future is ours to build, and our story will never again be told for us by others.

Africa Will Rise

Ethiopia is no longer the hungry poster child of the 1980s. It is a member of BRICS nations, Africa’s fifth-largest economy, a producer of energy, fertilizer, and ambition. The Grand Renaissance Dam lights our homes, our farmers feed our nation, and our cities must match this future.

Addis Ababa is not mimicking to be another city. It is trying to be Addis — modern, proud, rooted in its own soil. We are building, not to copy others but to honor ourselves.

So let the world understand- we are not bulldozing our past. We are transforming for the better; building upon it a future where our children deserve. We will not apologize for wanting playgrounds instead of slums, clean rivers instead of open sewers, restored palaces instead of ruins.

Africa is not rising against anyone. We are rising for ourselves, for our dignity, for our children, for our history. And rise we shall.