Hi all. Thanks for your replies. Really helpful.

Most of the award tickets I would want to book are also on Ethiopian. I live in Hargeisa, so I always fly at least one segment on Ethiopian (to Addis) to get out, because the only airlines that currently fly here are Ethiopian, Air Djibouti, and one of the Saudi airlines -- not really interested in Djibouti or Saudi. FlyDubai used to fly here, but even if they come back, it doesn't help much, since Emirates doesn't offer much I want.

At least I think that's right. The main places I want to go are Geneva, Oslo, Nairobi and New Delhi; given that I have to fly to Addis on my first leg, there might be airlines with better connections from Addis to these places, but probably not that consistently.

So I really want to earn points on a Star Alliance carrier that I can use to book award tickets on Ethiopian. I think. But I'm open to alternative views.