The Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway

The Guardian published on 14 May 2018 an article titled "In Ethiopia's Bushlands, Promised Riches of a Railway Boom Turn to Dust" by Tom Gardner, Addis Ababa correspondent for The Economist, and Charlie Rosser, filmmaker and photographer.

China financed and built the standard guage railway between Addis Ababa and Djibouti. The Chinese Railway Construction Corporation hired more than 20,000 Ethiopians and 5,000 Djiboutians during the construction process. China will manage the railway for 5 years. Ethiopia and Djibouti are expected to repay China for the cost of the original loan and management contract. The authors conclude the lesson of the railway is that top-down development breeds special resentment when grand promises are perceived to have been broken.