KEY POINTS:
In the Millennium Bazaar in the centre of Addis Ababa, everything is stamped "2000". From plastic bowls and key rings to packets of crisps and vases of plastic flowers, all are millennium specials.
Today is September 12, 2007. But in Ethiopia, which runs on a Coptic calendar, more than seven years behind the Gregorian calendar, it is a far more auspicious day: New Year's Eve, 1999.
Government officials hoped the opportunity to celebrate the dawn of a new millennium for a second time would persuade hundreds of thousands of tourists to descend. Tourism chiefs planned for up to 300,000 visitors, and encouraged those returning from Ethiopia's vast diaspora to stay with family so that the hotels could fit in all the visitors.
A massive concert in a brand new venue in Addis Ababa was planned for Millennium Eve with Beyonce, Janet Jackson and even Michael Jackson rumoured to be playing. A 10-day food fair was set to be held in Meskel Square, while Ethiopia's greatest long distance runner, Haile Gabriselasie, would lead off the runners at a special Great Ethiopian Run through the capital.
Government hoped that the celebrations would help throw off the image of a country with a poor human rights record and increasingly authoritarian rule.
But as the big day approached, just 25,000 tourists are thought to have made the trip. It was still possible yesterday morning to book a room at one of Addis Ababa's main hotels. The run and the food fair have been cancelled due to terrorist threats - a reminder of the volatile nature of the Horn of Africa region and of Ethiopia's poor relations with its neighbour Eritrea.
The main concert, headlined by the Black Eyed Peas, has been criticised for being too expensive. The cheapest tickets cost 1500 birr ($248) - twice the monthly salary of a civil servant.
Despite the problems, many are preparing to celebrate. At a women's clothes shop on Africa Ave, shoppers search for the perfect millennium outfit. According to Mehbuba Kedir, 19, a shop assistant, the past few days have been good for business. Yohannes Yimer, a 26-year-old accountant, is not so convinced. "If the millennium helps the country to grow it will be nice, but so far the people are not benefiting from it."
The Government, Yimer says, is keen to project a new image of Ethiopia. "But our image will only be changed if we change our culture. If after the millennium we have these problems, will that change the image of the country?"
A year of 13 months
The ancient Coptic calendar was abandoned by the West in the 16th century.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar widely used in the West, Ethiopia's version squeezes 13 months into every year - 12 months comprising 30 days each and a final month of five or six days depending on whether it is a leap year.
The dating system has roots in the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church which, like Orthodox churches throughout the world, ignored Pope Gregory XIII's decision to introduce the Gregorian calendar in 1582.
The Coptic Orthodox Church, founded in AD451, has more than 15 million members, mainly in Egypt.
It broke away from the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches following the Council of Chalcedon, when the Coptics took a different position on a doctrinal issue over the nature of Christ.
Coptics maintain Jesus has a purely divine nature and never became human.
- Independent
