Youth unemployment behind unrest in Ethiopia: president

The photo shows a worker at Bole Lemi Industrial Park in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, April 6, 2017. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Youth unemployment is behind the unrest that rocked Ethiopia in 2016 and still simmers to this day, Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome said on Tuesday.

Answering to local and international reporters' questions at the National Palace in Addis Ababa, Mulatu acknowledged Ethiopia's youth who make up about 70 percent of Ethiopia's estimated 100 million population want a better standard of living and stable employment.

"The Ethiopian government has already invested 400 million U.S. dollars in a revolving fund which will be made available to budding young entrepreneurs and is building industrial parks to employ the hundreds of thousands of fresh graduates annually," he said.

Ethiopia is building or has commissioned more than a dozen industrial parks across the country which it hopes will give job opportunities to the youth while earning much needed foreign currency to the country from exports.

The president pointed out that the East African country already has around 50 private and state owned universities, graduating hundreds of thousands of graduates annually and has enrolled 30 million students at primary and secondary schools.

"In addition to the job opportunities the government is facilitating, it is also giving multifaceted assistance to Ethiopia's private sector to help ease Ethiopia's youth employment challenges," said Mulatu.

Ethiopia was rocked by unrest in 2016 in various parts of the country led mainly by disgruntled youth that led to the deaths of around 700 people.

Since then, the Ethiopian government has stressed improving governance and creating stable employment opportunities for the youth to answer their economic demands. Read more here