REB737 - Suffice it to say no one knows what the future will hold. Protesters with legitimate grievances are in fact a big deal, though moreso in the countryside than Addis itself. The government is attempting limited reforms to address their grievances. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether or not that will work, but I'd still apply for the job if I were you.
Background - When the communist dictatorship was overthrown, a big part of the fighting was done by the Tigrayan Revolutionary Front (or some such).
There are (more or less) four major ethnic groups in Ethiopia (and some smaller ones). The Somalis are generally in the east of the country and don't matter to this discussion. The Tigrayans are the smallest of the major ethnic groups, but also the most politically powerful. Many of the high-ranking politicians and army officers are Tigray. (Though not the current prime minister, an Oromo). The Amhara are, like the Tigray, from the north of the country. Together the Amhara and the Tigray are the two groups associated with the 2-thousand-year history of urban civilization (much of which is dominated by Christianity). The Oromo are the new kids on the block, ethnically speaking. They were an interior tribal people that conquered a bunch of territory in what is now southern Ethiopia a few hundred years ago and more-or-less assimilated to Ethiopian culture & helped the recent Ethiopian emperors conquer some more territory (especially along what is now the Sudanese/southern border).
Ethiopia is very much a federal state, with the various states corresponding to ethnic territories (think Scotland, Wales, etc. in the U.K.). There are two big complaints by the Oromo (and, less importantly, Amhara) against the government (aka Tigray). One is a lack of political freedom. Which is fair - who gets to participate in elections is very limited in Ethiopia. An individual Oromo isn't generally discriminated against in everyday life though. The second big criticism is that Addis Ababa's administrative area is being expanded by annexing Oromo farm land, and that in general the government awards large development projects to foreign companies by giving them rights to productive land in Oromo & Amhara regions.
Will this affect you? Probably not. There is some concern - the more destructive of the protests/riots have specifically targeted major foreign investments, which the airline could be seen as part of. But in general this seems to be more land disputes than a genuine anti-foreigner bias (even the few cases of foreign investments targeted, it's generally buildings being burnt down at night and NOT foreign employees being put at risk), and of course the airline isn't a big land-user. AKA, Tigrays are taking our traditional farmland and selling it to some big European company to enrich themselves leaving us with nothing, so we're mad. Again - not a problem with the airline.
Could a war break out in the country? Possibly, if ethnic tensions get worked up - the Oromo are the largest of the ethnic groups in Ethiopia. But it's a real long-shot, I consider that highly unlikely. Not least because this has NOT been a problem over the last few generations, so there is no ready-made Oromo militia or source of arms.
Is religious extremism a problem? There are a lot of Muslims (and Christians...) in Ethiopia, but religious tensions aren't generally part of the current political landscape, nor are extremist groups. Somalis tend to be Muslim, Oromo roughly split Christian-Muslim, and Tigray and Amhara tend to be Christian. Christianity will dominate in Addis.
Personally, I would NOT let this worry stop me from taking the job. Ethiopia has strong, centralized government without a lot of corruption problems. There has been violence, but it is not widespread and not generally in Addis (and has generally been the result of the government being harsh on protesters). It's not a traditional African conflict. I'd see this as similar to/having elements of the Basque separatist conflict in Spain (but less assassinations), fights over land in Brazil, or even the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (again, with a LOT less violence). You'd still be willing to take a job in Barcelona or Bilbao, and personally I'd prefer a job in Addis than in Rio or Tel Aviv.
Suggested precautions - live close to the airport/city center in Addis. There's no real hostility to the historic parts of the city, just the new developments on the outskirts. Those I'd avoid. P.S. I wouldn't take a job there if I was gay though. Despite having a very different flavor of Christianity than the rest of Africa, it's still a pretty hostile country to homosexuals.
Last edited by MisterFred; 6th Nov 2016 at 19:14.