In Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a shoe revolution is under way. The prime minister, Meles Zenawi, wants Ethiopia to produce shoes for the world. A cheap workforce is drawing Chinese and Turkish investors. One attraction is leather. Ethiopia has one of the largest livestock industries in Africa. Investors say they wish the tanneries were better. Ethiopia, with its present population of 82m people possibly doubling before 2040, may also become an attractive market.

Life for most Ethiopians is improving. Fewer people are hungry. The number of those deemed by the UN to depend on food handouts fell from 4.5m to 3.2m in 2011. The prime minister, in power since 1991, says that China has “rescued” Ethiopia with billion-dollar loans for roads, dams and other public infrastructure projects. He points to a Chinese railway being built from Djibouti, on the Red Sea, to Addis Ababa. It will replace an ancient Italian line. He delights in a new Chinese-built, skyscraping headquarters for the African Union, letting him dub the city the continent’s diplomatic capital. By the by, though conscious that Western aid has kept millions of his people from starving, he complains about the relative failure of Western investors to put their faith in Ethiopia’s economy.

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