In June 2020,Abiy and the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) postponed parliamentary elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The postponement was criticised,especially from the opposition,[8][9] and raised questions about the delay's constitutional legitimacy.[10] An election was eventually held in 2021. The African Union described the election as an improvement compared to the 2015 election and positive overall,urging the government to continue the commitment to democracy.[11]
Abiy Ahmed was born in the small town of Beshasha,Ethiopia.[24][25][26][27] His deceased father,Ahmed Ali,was a Muslim Oromo.[28] Abiy's father was a typical Oromo farmer,speaking only Oromo.[29]
The ethnicity of Abiy's deceased mother,Tezeta Wolde,varies according to the sources. The New York Times,in a 2018 interview with Abiy,stated that his mother "was Amhara and Orthodox Christian" and "converted to Islam when she married"[28] and The Guardian in 2019 described Tezeta as Amhara.[30]The Ethiopian Reporter stated in 2019 that Tezeta was "a converted Christian".[31] In a 2021 Oromia Broadcasting Network interview redistributed on YouTube,Abiy stated that his parents were both Oromo,and asserted that "no one is giving or taking away my Oromummaa."[29] Tezeta was a fluent speaker of both Amharic and Oromo.[29]
Abiy is the 13th child of his father and the sixth and youngest child of his mother,the fourth of his father's four wives.[24] His childhood name was Abiyot (English:"Revolution"). The name was sometimes given to children in the aftermath of the Ethiopian Revolution in the mid-1970s.[24] The then Abiyot went to the local primary school and later continued his studies at secondary schools in Agaro town. Abiy,according to several personal reports,was always very interested in his own education and later in his life also encouraged others to learn and to improve.[24] Abiy married Zinash Tayachew,an Amhara woman from Gondar,[24][32] while both were serving in the Ethiopian National Defense Force.[33] They are the parents of three daughters and one adopted son.[33] Abiy speaks Oromo,Amharic,Tigrinya and English.[34] He is a fitness aficionado and frequents physical and gym activities in Addis Ababa.[33]
While serving in the Ethiopian National Defense Force,Abiy received his first degree,a Bachelor's degree in computer engineering[37] from the Microlink Information Technology College in Addis Ababa in 2009.[38]
Abiy,who had started his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) work as a regular student,[42] submitted his PhD thesis in 2016,[43] and defended it in 2017[44][45][46] at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies,Addis Ababa University. He did his PhD work on the Agaro constituency with the PhD thesis entitled "Social Capital and its Role in Traditional Conflict Resolution in Ethiopia:The Case of Inter-Religious Conflict In Jimma Zone State",supervised by Amr Abdallah[43]). In 2022,Alex de Waal described Abiy's PhD thesis as constituting an anecdote on an event in which an individual friendship between people of opposite sides augmented social capital and inspired the resolution of a local violent conflict in Jimma Zone. De Waal saw the thesis as "perhaps enough for an undergraduate paper",but not deep enough to cover social capital,background literature on armed conflict and resolution,or literature on "identity,nationalism and conflict".[44] In 2023,de Waal and colleagues recommended that Addis Ababa University re-examine Abiy's PhD thesis for plagiarism,based on their claim of the presence of plagiarism on every page of Chapter 2 of the thesis.[47]
At the age of 14,in early 1991,[48] he joined the armed struggle against the Marxist–Leninistregime of Mengistu Haile Mariam after the death of his oldest brother. He was a child soldier,affiliated to the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO),which at that time was a tiny organization of only around 200 fighters part of the large coalition army of the EPRDF which had over 100,000 fighters that resulted in the regime's fall later that year.[34][24][33] As there were only so few OPDO fighters in an army with its core of about 90,000 Tigrayans,Abiy quickly had to learn the Tigrinya language. As a speaker of Tigrinya in a security apparatus dominated by Tigrayans,he could move forward with his military career.[34]
Later on,Abiy was posted back to his home town of Beshasha,where he –as an officer of the Defense Forces –had to address a critical situation of inter-religious clashes between Muslims and Christians with a number of deaths.[34][51] He brought calm and peace in a situation of communal tensions accompanying the clashes.[34] In later years,following his election as an MP,he continued these efforts to bring about reconciliation between the religions through the creation of the Religious Forum for Peace.[50]
In 2006,Abiy was one of the co-founders of the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA),where he worked in different positions.[24] For two years,he was acting director of INSA due to the director's leave of absence.[24] In this capacity,he was board member of several government agencies working on information and communications,like Ethio telecom and Ethiopian Television. He attained the rank of Lieutenant colonel[46][34] before deciding in 2010 to leave the military and his post as deputy director of INSA (Information Network Security Agency) to become a politician.
Political career
Member of Parliament
Abiy started his political career as a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP).[52] The ODP has been the ruling party in Oromia Region since 1991 and also one of four coalition parties of the ruling coalition in Ethiopia,the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He became a member of the central committee of ODP and congress member of the executive committee of the EPRDF in quick succession.[34] In the 2010 national election,Abiy represented the district of Agaro and became an elected member of the House of Peoples' Representatives,the lower chamber of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Before and during his time of parliamentary service,there were several religious clashes among Muslims and Christians in Jimma Zone. Some of these confrontations turned violent and resulted in the loss of life and property. Abiy,as an elected member of parliament took a proactive role in working with several religious institutions and elders to bring about reconciliation in the zone. He helped set up a forum entitled "Religious Forum for Peace", an outcome of the need to devise a sustainable resolution mechanism to restore peaceful Muslim-Christian community interaction in the region.[46]
In 2014,during his time in parliament,Abiy became the director-general of a new and in 2011 founded Government Research Institute called Science and Technology Information Center (STIC).[24][53] The following year,Abiy became an executive member of ODP. The same year he was elected to the House of Peoples' Representatives for a second term,this time for his home woreda of Gomma.[54]
Rise to power
Starting from 2015,Abiy became one of the central figures in the violent fight against illegal land grabbing activities in Oromia Region and especially around Addis Ababa. Although the Addis Ababa Master Plan at the heart of the land-grabbing plans was stopped in 2016,the disputes continued for some time resulting in injuries and deaths.[55] It was this fight against land-grabbing,that finally boosted Abiy Ahmed's political career,brought him into the spotlight and allowed him to climb the political ladder.[34]
In October 2015,Abiy became the Ethiopian Minister of Science and Technology (MoST),a post which he left after only 12 months. From October 2016 on,Abiy served as Deputy President of Oromia Region as part of the team of Oromia Region's president Lemma Megersa while staying a member of the Ethiopian Federal House of Peoples' Representatives.[56][57] Abiy Ahmed also became the head of the Oromia Urban Development and Planning Office. In this role,Abiy was expected to be the major driving force behind Oromia Economic Revolution,Oromia Land and Investment reform,youth employment as well as resistance to widespread land grabbing in Oromia region.[58] As one of his duties in office,he took care of the one million displaced Oromo people displaced from the Somali Region from the 2017 unrest.[59]
As head of the ODP Secretariat from October 2017,Abiy facilitated the formation of a new alliance between the Oromo and Amhara groups,which together constitute two-thirds of the Ethiopian population.[60]
In early 2018,many political observers considered Abiy and Lemma Megersa as the most popular politicians within the Oromo community,as well as other Ethiopian communities.[61][62] This came after several years of unrest in Ethiopia. But despite this favourable rating for Abiy Ahmed and Lemma Megersa,young people from the Oromia region called for immediate action without delays to bring fundamental change and freedom to Oromia Region and Ethiopia –otherwise more unrest was to be expected.[55] According to Abiy himself,people are asking for a different rhetoric,with an open and respectful discussion in the political space to allow political progress and to win people for democracy instead of pushing them.[55]
Until early 2018,Abiy continued to serve as head of the ODP secretariat and of the Oromia Housing and Urban Development Office and as Deputy President of Oromia Region. He left all these posts after his election as the leader of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front.[63][56]
EPRDF leadership election
Following three years of protest and unrest,on 15 February 2018 the Ethiopian Prime Minister,Hailemariam Desalegn,announced his resignation –which included his resignation from the post of EPRDF chairman. With the EPRDF's large majority in Parliament,its EPRDF chairman was all but assured of becoming the next Prime Minister. The EPRDF chairman,on the other hand,is one of the heads of the four parties that make up the ruling coalition:Oromo Democratic Party (ODP),Amhara Democratic Party (ADP),Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM) and Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).[64]
Hailemariam's resignation triggered the first ever contested leadership election among EPRDF coalition members to replace him. A lot of political observers made Lemma Megersa (the ODP chairman) and Abiy Ahmed the front-runners to become the Leader of the ruling coalition and eventually Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Despite being the clear favorite for the general public,Lemma Megersa was not a member of the national parliament,a requirement to become Prime Minister as required by the Ethiopian constitution. Therefore,Lemma Megersa was excluded from the leadership race.[65] On 22 February 2018,Lemma Megersa's party,ODP,called for an emergency executive committee meeting and replaced him as Chairman of ODP with Abiy Ahmed,who was a member of parliament. Some observers saw that as a strategic move by the ODP to retain its leadership role within the coalition and to promote Abiy Ahmed to become prime minister.[54]
On 1 March 2018,the 180 EPRDF executive committee members started their meeting to elect the leader of the party. Each of the four parties sent in 45 members. The contest for the leadership was among Abiy Ahmed of ODP,Demeke Mekonnen,the Deputy Prime Minister and ADP leader,Shiferaw Shigute as Chairman of SEPDM and Debretsion Gebremichael as the Leader of TPLF. Despite being the overwhelming favorite by the majority of Ethiopians,Abiy Ahmed faced major opposition from TPLF and SEPDM members during the leadership discussions.[66]
On 27 March 2018,a few hours before the beginning of the leadership elections,Demeke Mekonnen,who had been seen as the major opponent to Abiy Ahmed,dropped out of the race. Many observers saw this as an endorsement of Abiy Ahmed. Demeke was then approved as deputy prime minister for another term. Following Demeke's exit,Abiy Ahmed received a presumably unanimous vote from both the ADP and ODP executive members,with 18 additional votes in a secret ballot coming from elsewhere. By midnight,Abiy Ahmed was declared chairman of the ruling coalition in Ethiopia,the EPRDF,and was considered as the Prime Minister Designate of Ethiopia by receiving 108 votes while Shiferaw Shigute received 58 and Debretsion Gebremichael received 2 votes.[5] On 2 April 2018,Abiy Ahmed was elected as Prime Minister of Ethiopia by the House of Representatives and sworn in.[2]
On 2 April 2018,Abiy was confirmed and sworn in by the Ethiopian parliament as Prime Minister of Ethiopia. During his acceptance speech,he promised political reform;to promote the unity of Ethiopia and unity among the peoples of Ethiopia;to reach out to the Eritrean government to resolve the ongoing Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict after the Eritrean–Ethiopian War and to also reach out to the political opposition inside and outside of Ethiopia. His acceptance speech sparked optimism and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the Ethiopian public including the opposition groups inside and outside Ethiopia. Following his speech,his popularity and support across the country reached a historical high and some political observers argued that Abiy was overwhelmingly more popular than the ruling party coalition,the EPRDF.[5]
Abiy holding his acceptance speech after receiving the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize
Since taking office in April 2018,Abiy's government has presided over the release of thousands of political prisoners from Ethiopian jails and the rapid opening of the country's political landscape.[67][68][69] In May 2018 alone the Oromo region pardoned over 7,600 prisoners.[70] On 29 May Ginbot 7 leader Andargachew Tsege,facing the death penalty on terrorism charges,was released after being pardoned by President Mulatu Teshome,along with 575 other detainees.[71]
That same day,charges were dropped against Andargachew's colleague Berhanu Nega and the Oromo dissident and public intellectual Jawar Mohammed,as well as their respectively affiliated US-based ESAT and OMN satellite television networks.[72] Shortly thereafter,Abiy took the "unprecedented and previously unimaginable" step of meeting Andargachew,who twenty-four hours previously had been on death row,at his office;a move even critics of the ruling party termed "bold and remarkable".[73] Abiy had previously met former Oromo Liberation Front leaders including founder Lencho Letta,who had committed to peaceful participation in the political process,upon their arrival at Bole International Airport.[74]
On 30 May 2018,it was announced the ruling party would amend the country's "draconian" anti-terrorism law,widely perceived as a tool of political repression. On 1 June 2018,Abiy announced the government would seek to end the state of emergency two months in advance of the expiration its six-month tenure,citing an improved domestic situation. On 4 June 2018,Parliament approved the necessary legislation,ending the state of emergency.[69] In his first briefing to the House of Peoples' Representatives in June 2018,Abiy countered criticism of his government's release of convicted "terrorists" which according to the opposition is just a name the EPRDF gives you if you are a part or even meet the "opposition". He argued that policies that sanctioned arbitrary detention and torture themselves constituted extra-constitutional acts of terror aimed at suppressing opposition.[75] This followed the additional pardon of 304 prisoners (289 of which had been sentenced on terrorism-related charges) on 15 June.[76]
The pace of reforms has revealed fissures within the ruling coalition,with hardliners in the military and the hitherto dominant TPLF said to be "seething" at the end of the state of emergency and the release of political prisoners.[77]
An editorial on the previously pro-government website Tigrai Online arguing for the maintenance of the state of emergency gave voice to this sentiment,saying that Abiy was "doing too much too fast".[78] Another article critical of the release of political prisoners suggested that Ethiopia's criminal justice system had become a revolving door and that Abiy's administration had quite inexplicably been rushing to pardon and release thousands of prisoners,among them many deadly criminals and dangerous arsonists.[79] On 13 June 2018,the TPLF executive committee denounced the decisions to hand over Badme and privatize SOEs as "fundamentally flawed",saying that the ruling coalition suffered from a fundamental leadership deficit.[80]
Transparency
In 2018,to expand the free press in Ethiopia,Abiy invited exiled media outlets to return.[81][82][83][84][85][86][87] One of the media outlets invited to return was ESAT (which had called for the genocide of Ethiopian Tigrayans).[88][89][90] However,since assuming office in April 2018,Abiy himself had,as of March 2019,only given one press conference,[91] on 25 August 2018 and around five months after he assumed office,where he answered questions from journalists. As of 21March 2019,[update] he has not given another press conference where he has not refused to answer questions from journalists (rather than reading prepared statements).[92][93][94]
In June 2018,the ruling coalition announced its intention to pursue the large-scale privatisation of state-owned enterprises and the liberalization of several key economic sectors long considered off-limits,marking a landmark shift in the country's state-oriented development model.[104]
State monopolies in the telecommunications,aviation,electricity,and logistics sectors are to be ended and those industries opened up to private sector competition.[105] Shares in the state-owned firms in those sectors,including Ethiopian Airlines,Africa's largest and most profitable,are to be offered for purchase to both domestic and foreign investors,although the government will continue to hold a majority share in these firms,thereby retaining control of the commanding heights of the economy.[106] State-owned enterprises in sectors deemed less critical,including railway operators,sugar,industrial parks,hotels and various manufacturing firms,may be fully privatised.[107]
Aside from representing an ideological shift with respect to views on the degree of government control over the economy,the move was seen as a pragmatic measure aimed at improving the country's dwindling foreign-exchange reserves,which by the end of the 2017 fiscal year were equal in value to less than two months worth of imports,as well as easing its growing sovereign debt load.[106][104]
In June 2018,Abiy announced the government's intention to establish an Ethiopian stock exchange in tandem with the privatization of state-owned enterprises.[108] As of 2015,Ethiopia was the largest country in the world,in terms of both population and gross domestic product,without a stock exchange.[109]
In May 2018,Abiy visited Saudi Arabia,receiving guarantees for the release of Ethiopian prisoners including billionaire entrepreneur Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi,who was detained following the 2017 Saudi Arabian purge.[67]
In June 2018,he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo and,separately,brokered a meeting in Addis Ababa between the South Sudanese president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar in an attempt to encourage peace talks.[110]
In February 2023,French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Abiy Ahmed in Paris.[112] In April 2023,Abiy met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Addis Ababa.[113] In early May 2023,German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa to normalize relations between Germany and Ethiopia that had been strained by the Tigray War.[114]
Since taking power Abiy has pursued a policy of expanding landlocked Ethiopia's access to ports in the Horn of Africa region. Shortly before his assumption of office it was announced that the Ethiopian government would take a 19% stake in Berbera Port in the Somaliland region located in northern Somalia as part of a joint venture with DP World.[117] In May 2018,Ethiopia signed an agreement with the government of Djibouti to take an equity stake in the Port of Djibouti,enabling Ethiopia to have a say in the port's development and the setting of port handling fees.[118]
Two days later a similar agreement was signed with the Sudanese government granting Ethiopia an ownership stake in the Port Sudan. The Ethio-Djibouti agreement grants the Djiboutian government the option of taking stakes in state-owned Ethiopian firms in return,such as the Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio Telecom.[119] This in turn was followed shortly thereafter by an announcement that Abiy and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta had reached an agreement for the construction of an Ethiopian logistics facility at Lamu Port as part of the Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) project.[120]
The potential normalization of Ethiopia-Eritrea relations likewise opens the possibility for Ethiopia to resume using the Ports of Massawa and Asseb,which,prior to the Ethio-Eritrean conflict,were its main ports,which would be of particular benefit to the northern region of Tigray.[104] All these developments would reduce Ethiopian reliance on Djibouti's port which,since 1998,has handled almost all of Ethiopia's maritime traffic.[121][119]
Abiy with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in March 2019
Upon taking office,Abiy stated his willingness to negotiate an end to the Ethio-Eritrean conflict. In June 2018,it was announced that the government had agreed to hand over the disputed border town of Badme to Eritrea,thereby complying with the terms of the 2000 Algiers Agreement to bring an end to the state of tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia that had persisted despite the end of hostilities during the Ethiopia-Eritrea War.[104] Ethiopia had until then rejected the international boundary commission's ruling awarding Badme to Eritrea,resulting in a frozen conflict (popularly termed a policy of "no war,but no peace") between the two states.[122]
During the national celebration on 20 June 2018,the president of Eritrea,Isaias Afwerki,accepted the peace initiative put forward by Abiy and suggested that he would send a delegation to Addis Ababa. On 26 June 2018,Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed visited Addis Ababa in the first Eritrean high-level delegation to Ethiopia in over two decades.[123]
Abiy with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on 8 December 2022
In Asmara,on 8 July 2018,Abiy became the first Ethiopian leader to meet with an Eritrean counterpart in over two decades,in the 2018 Eritrea–Ethiopia summit.[124] The very next day,the two signed a "Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship" declaring an end to tensions and agreeing,amongst other matters,to re-establish diplomatic relations;reopen direct telecommunication,road,and aviation links;and facilitate Ethiopian use of the ports of Massawa and Asseb.[125][126][127] Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts in ending the war.[3]
In practice,the agreement has been described as "largely unimplemented". Critics say not much has changed between the two nations. Among the Eritrean diaspora,many voiced disapproval for the Nobel Peace Prize focusing on the agreement with Eritrea when so little had changed in practice.[128] In July 2020,Eritrea's Ministry of Information said:"Two years after the signing of the Peace Agreement,Ethiopian troops continue to be present in our sovereign territories,Trade and economic ties of both countries have not resumed to the desired extent or scale."[129]
In October 2023,Abiy said that the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993 was a historical mistake that threatens the existence of landlocked Ethiopia,saying that "In 2030 we are projected to have a population of 150 million. 150 million people can't live in a geographic prison."[130] He said Ethiopia has "natural rights" to direct access to the Red Sea and if denied,"there will be no fairness and justice and if there is no fairness and justice,it's a matter of time,we will fight".[131]
In June 2021,representatives from multiple countries called for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Abiy to be re-considered because of the war crimes committed in Tigray.[132][133] In an opinion piece,Simon Tisdall,one-time foreign editor of The Guardian,wrote that Abiy "should hand back his Nobel Peace Prize over his actions in the breakaway region".[134]
A person on a petition organization called Change.org launched a campaign to gather 35,000 signatures for revoking his Peace Prize;as of September 2021,nearly 30,000 have been obtained.[135]
Egypt
The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has become a national preoccupation in both countries.[136][137] Abiy has warned:"No force can stop Ethiopia from building a dam. If there is need to go to war,we could get millions readied."[138]
After the murder of activist,singer and political icon Hachalu Hundessa ignited violence across Addis Ababa and other Ethiopian cities,Abiy hinted,without obvious suspects or clear motives for the killing,that Hundessa may have been murdered by Egyptian security agents acting on orders from Cairo to stir up trouble.[139] An Egyptian diplomat responded by saying that Egypt "has nothing to do with current tensions in Ethiopia".[140]Ian Bremmer wrote in a Time magazine article that Prime Minister Abiy "may just be looking for a scapegoat that can unite Ethiopians against a perceived common enemy".[139]
Religious harmony
Ethiopia is a country of various religious groups,primarily Christian and Muslim communities. Both inter-religious and intra-religious divisions and conflicts were a major concern,where both the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Ethiopian Islamic Council experienced religious and administrative divisions and conflicts.[141][142] In 2018,he was given a special "peace and reconciliation" award by the Ethiopian Church for his work in reconciling rival factions within the church.[143]
Security sector reform
Abiy with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Addis Ababa on 15 March 2023
In June 2018,Abiy,speaking to senior commanders of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) declared his intention to carry out reforms of the military to strengthen its effectiveness and professionalism,with the view of limiting its role in politics. This followed renewed calls both within Ethiopia and from international human rights groups,namely Amnesty International,to dissolve highly controversial regional militias such as the Liyyu force.[144] This move is considered likely to face resistance from TPLF hardliners,who occupy much of the military high command.[145]
Abiy with military commanders in February 2019
Notably,he has also called for the eventual reconstitution of the Ethiopian Navy,dissolved in 1996 in the aftermath of Eritrea's secession after an extraterritorial sojourn in Djibouti,saying that "we should build our naval force capacity in the future."[146] It was reported that this move would appeal to nationalists still smarting from the country's loss of its coastline 25 years prior. Ethiopia already has a maritime training institute on Lake Tana as well as a national shipping line.
A large peaceful demonstration was organized in Addis Ababa at Meskel Square on 23 June 2018 to show support for the new prime minister. Just after Abiy had finished addressing the crowd a grenade was thrown and landed just 17 metres away from where he and other top officials were sitting. Two people were killed and over 165 were injured. Following the attack,9 police officials were detained,including the deputy police commissioner,Girma Kassa,who was fired immediately. Questions were asked as to how a police car carrying attackers got so close to the prime minister and soon after the car was set alight destroying evidence. After the attack the prime minister addressed the nation on national TV unhurt by the blast and describing it as an "unsuccessful attempt by forces who do not want to see Ethiopia united". On the same day the prime minister made an unannounced visit to the Black Lion general hospital to meet victims of the attack.[150][151][152][153]
Speaking at the Green Legacy Initiative,Addis Ababa,June 21,2024
Cabinet reshuffle
In the parliamentary session held on 16 October 2018,Abiy proposed to reduce the number of ministries from 28 to 20 with half of the cabinet positions for female ministers,a first in the history of the country.[154] The new cabinet restructure included the first female president,Sahle-Work Zewde;the first female minister of the Ministry of Defense,Aisha Mohammed Musa;[155] the first female minister of the new Ministry of Peace,Muferiat Kamil responsible for the Ethiopian Federal Police and the intelligence agencies;the first female press secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister,Billene Seyoum Woldeyes.[156]
According to NGOs like Human Rights Watch and NetBlocks,politically motivated Internet shutdowns have intensified in severity and duration under the leadership of Abiy Ahmed despite the country's rapid digitalization and reliance on cellular internet connectivity in recent years.[157][158] In 2020,Internet shutdowns by the Ethiopian government had been described as "frequently deployed".[159]Access Now said that shutdowns have become a "go-to tool for authorities to muzzle unrest and activism."[159] His government will cut internet as and when,"it's neither water nor air" have said Abiy.[160][161]
Awol Allo argues that when Abiy came to power in 2018,two irreconcilable and paradoxical vision future created. Central of these ideological vision often contradict historical narrative of Ethiopian state.[163] Abiy's undertook major reforms in the country and the liberation suspected to worsen the relationship with TPLF members.[164] The following lists detail civil conflicts and war during Abiy's premiership.
Starting in June 2019,fighting in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Ethiopia has reportedly involved militias from the Gumuz people.[168] Gumuz are alleged to have formed militias such as Buadin and the Gumuz Liberation Front that have staged attacks.[169][170] According to Amnesty International,the 22–23 December 2020 attacks were by Gumuz against people from the Amhara,Oromo and Shinasha ethnic groups,who the Gumuz nationalists viewed as "settlers".[171]
In October 2019,Ethiopian activist and media owner Jawar Mohammed claimed that members of the police had attempted to force his security detail to vacate the grounds of his home in Addis Ababa in order to detain him the night of 23 October,intimating that they had done so at the behest of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The previous day,Abiy had given a speech in Parliament in which he had accused "media owners who don't have Ethiopian passports" of "playing it both ways",a thinly veiled reference to Jawar,adding that "if this is going to undermine the peace and existence of Ethiopia... we will take measures."[172][173]
The TPLF carried out its own regional elections,winning all contested seats in the region's parliament.[184] In response,Abiy Ahmed redirected funding from the top level of the Tigray regional government to lower ranks in a bid to weaken the TPLF party.[185]
The central matter of the civil conflict,as portrayed by Abiy and as reported by Seku Ture,a member of the TPLF party,is an attack on the Northern Command bases and headquarters in the Tigray region by security forces of the TPLF,[186][187][188] the province's elected party;though such a claim is contested.
The Ethiopian government announced on 28 November 2020 that they had captured Mekelle,the capital of Tigray,completing their "rule of law operations".[189] However,there are reports that guerrilla-style conflict with the TPLF continues.[190][191]
About 2.3 million children are cut off from desperately needed aid and humanitarian assistance,said the United Nations. The Ethiopian federal government has made strict control of access to the Tigray region (since the start of the conflict),and the UN said it is frustrated that talks with the Ethiopian government have not yet brought humanitarian access. These include,"food,including ready-to-use therapeutic food for the treatment of child malnutrition,medicines,water,fuel and other essentials that are running low" said UNICEF.[192][193][194][195][196]
On 18 December 2020,looting was reported by EEPA,including 500 dairy cows and hundreds of calves stolen by Amhara forces.[197] On 23 November,a reporter of AFP news agency visited the western Tigray town of Humera,and observed that the administration of the conquered parts of Western Tigray was taken over by officials from Amhara Region.[198] Refugees interviewed by Agence France Presse (AFP) stated that pro-TPLF forces used Hitsats as a base for several weeks in November 2020,killing several refugees who wanted to leave the camp to get food,and in one incident,killed nine young Eritrean men in revenge for having lost a battle against the EDF.[199]
In his premature[200][201][202][203][204][205] victory speech delivered to the federal parliament[206] on 30November 2020,Abiy Ahmed pronounced:"Related to civilian damage,maximum caution was taken. In just 3 weeks of fighting,in any district,in Humera,Adi Goshu,... Axum,...,Edaga Hamus,.... The defence forces never killed a single civilian in a single town. No soldier from any country could display better competence."[207]
On 21 March 2021,during a parliamentary session in which Abiy Ahmed was questioned on sexual violence in the Tigray War,he replied:"The women in Tigray? These women have only been penetrated by men,whereas our soldiers were penetrated by a knife".[208]
The public image of Abiy Ahmed is being rapidly re-assessed by international media as increasingly grisly reports of atrocities emerge.[209] The US Secretary of State,Antony Blinken,has been quoted as saying that he had seen "very credible reports of human rights abuses and atrocities",and that "forces from Eritrea and Amhara must leave and be replaced by 'a force that will not abuse the human rights of the people of Tigray or commit acts of ethnic cleansing'." In December 2021,Declan Walsh reported in The New York Times that Abiy and Isaias had been secretly planning the Tigray War even before the former's Nobel Prize was awarded,in order to settle their grudges against the TPLF.[210]
In early April 2023,a disagreement occurred between the Ethiopian federal government and Amhara regional forces,particularly the Fano militia following the EDNF army raided to Amhara Region to disarm regional and paramilitary forces. On 9 April,large protests erupted in Gondar,Kobo,Seqota,Weldiya and other cities where the protestors block roads to deter the army to enter. On 4 May,the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) reported that there is militarized situations in the area of North Gondar,North Wollo and North Shewa zones in the town of Shewa Robit,Armania,Antsokiyana Gemza and Majete.[212]
Further skirmishes led to series clashes between the Fano militia and ENDF in August while ENDF troops attempted to push back Fano unit from seizing Debre Tabor and Kobo. After Fano captured Lalibela,the Amhara Regional Governor Yilkal Kefale request help from ENDF to suppress Fano aggression,resulted in a six-months state of emergency issued by the federal government on 4 August. According to EHRC,in 4 densely populated kebeles in Debre Birhan,civilians including in a hospital,church,and school as well as residents in their neighborhoods and workers in their workplaces apparently killed due to fragments from heavy artillery or in crossfire between 6 and 7 August 2023. Crossfire was imminent in Debre Birhan IDPs,particularly in China IDPs site near Kebele 8 hosts close to 13,000 people.[213]
The conflict also spread into Oromia Region since 26 August 2023,after Fano and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) engagement in Dera.[214] Human rights violation often burdened toward ethnic Amhara who reportedly subjected to mass arbitrary arrest as the urban center of the Amhara region cities under military command post position.[215] Between 25 August and 5 September 2023,EHRC found that many civilians were killed,physically injured,and their properties destroyed in the area of Debre Markos in East Gojjam Zone,Adet and Merawi in North Gojjam Zone;Debre Tabor in South Gondar Zone;Delgi in Central Gondar Zone;Majetie,Shewa Robit and Antsokiya towns in North Shewa Zone.[216]
Abiy has been described as a "liberal populist" by the academic and journalist Abiye Teklemariam and the influential Oromo activist Jawar Mohammed.[citation needed] Alemayehu Weldemariam,a U.S.-based Ethiopian lawyer and public intellectual,has called Abiy "an opportunistic populist jockeying for power on a democratizing platform."[217] On the other hand,Tom Gardner argues in Foreign Policy that he's not a populist,but more of a liberal democrat. However,Gardner acknowledges that Abiy has "occasionally used language that can be read as euphemistic and conspiracy-minded",and might have "exploited the system's vulnerabilities,such as a pliable media and politicized judiciary,for his own ends."[217]
Abiy's government was accused of authoritarianism and restricting freedom of the press,especially since the start of the Tigray War. Numerous watchdogs and human rights groups accused Abiy's government of "increasingly intimidating" the media as well as harassing opponents to propel unrest.[218] In 2019 World Press Freedom Index,Ethiopia improved the rank by jumping forty positions from 150 to 110 out of 180 countries.[219] In 2021,46 journalists were detained,making Ethiopia the worst jailers in Africa. Journalist Gobeze Sisay was arrested by unknown plainclothes officers in his home on 1 May. On 3 May,the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) released statement about Gobez Sisay's whereabout.[220][221][222][223] Similarly,the founder of Terara Network was arrested in Addis Ababa on 10 December 2021 in allegation of "disseminating misinformation",which was transferred to Sabata Daliti police station in Oromia Special Zone. He was released on 5 April 2022 with bail of 50,000 Ethiopian birr.[224][225][226]
In August 2021,USAID accused Abiy's government of "obstructing" access to Tigray.[227] In early October 2021,nearly a year after the Tigray War started,Mark Lowcock,who led OCHA during part of the Tigray War,stated that the government of Abiy Ahmed was deliberately starving Tigray,"running a sophisticated campaign to stop aid getting in" and that there was "not just an attempt to starve six million people but an attempt to cover up what's going on."[228]WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the blockade by Ethiopia "an insult to our humanity".[229]
Nominee for Tipperary International Peace Award alongside Mary Robinson (the eventual winner);Aya Chebbi;humanitarian worker in South Sudan Orla Treacy;the President of Eritrea,Isaias Afwerki;Swedish student and climate change activist Greta Thunberg Cherinet Hariffo Education Advocate From Ethiopia and Nigerian humanitarian activist Zannah Mustapha[234]
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front was an ethnic federalist political coalition in Ethiopia that existed from 1988 to 2019. It consisted of four political parties:Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF),Amhara Democratic Party (ADP),Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM). After leading the overthrow of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,it dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2019. In November 2019,the EPRDF was dissolved,and Prime Minister and EPDRF chairman Abiy Ahmed merged three of the constituent parties into his new Prosperity Party,which was officially founded on 1 December 2019.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front,also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front,is a left-wing ethnic nationalist,paramilitary group,and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government during the Tigray War until its removal from the list in 2023. In older and less formal texts and speech it is known as Woyane or Weyané.
The Oromo Liberation Front is an Oromo nationalist political party formed in 1973 to promote self-determination for the Oromo people inhabiting today's Oromia Region and Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. The OLF has offices in Addis Ababa,Washington,D.C.,and Berlin,from which it operates radio stations that broadcast in Amharic and Oromo.
Ethiopian nationalism,also referred to as Ethiopianism or Ethiopianness,according to its proponents,asserts that Ethiopians are a single nation,and promotes the social equality of all component ethnic groups. Ethiopian people as a whole regardless of ethnicity constitute sovereignty as one polity. Ethiopian nationalism is a type of civic nationalism in that it is multi-ethnic in nature,and promotes multiculturalism.
The Oromo conflict or Oromia conflict is a protracted conflict between the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ethiopian government. The Oromo Liberation Front formed to fight the Ethiopian Empire to liberate the Oromo people and establish an independent state of Oromia. The conflict began in 1973,when Oromo nationalists established the OLF and its armed wing,the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). These groups formed in response to prejudice against the Oromo people during the Haile Selassie and Derg era,when their language was banned from public administration,courts,church and schools,and the stereotype of Oromo people as a hindrance to expanding Ethiopian national identity.
Events of 2019 in Ethiopia.
The 2021 Ethiopian general election to elect members of the House of Peoples' Representatives was held on 21 June 2021 and 30 September 2021. Regional elections were also held on those dates.
The Prosperity Party is a ruling political party in Ethiopia that was established on 1 December 2019 as a successor to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front by incumbent Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The Tigray war was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. It was a civil war that was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between forces allied to the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side,and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other.
Awol Kasim Allo is an Ethiopian academic,author and lecturer who started teaching law at University of Keele in 2016.
Events in the year 2021 in Ethiopia.
The ongoing Ethiopian civil conflict began with the 2018 dissolution of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (ERPDF),an ethnic federalist,dominant party political coalition. After the 20-year border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea,a decade of internal tensions,two years of protests,and a state of emergency,Hailemariam Desalegn resigned on 15 February 2018 as prime minister and EPRDF chairman,and there were hopes of peace under his successor Abiy Ahmed. However,war broke out in the Tigray Region,with resurgent regional and ethnic factional attacks throughout Ethiopia. The civil wars caused substantial human rights violations,war crimes,and extrajudicial killings.
The OLA insurgency is an armed conflict between the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA),which split from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in 2018,and the Ethiopian government,continuing in the context of the long-term Oromo conflict,typically dated to have started with the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front in 1973.
The TDF–OLA joint offensive was a rebel offensive in the Tigray War and the OLA insurgency starting in late October 2021 launched by a joint rebel coalition of the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) against the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and government. The TDF and OLA took control of several towns south of the Amhara Region in the direction of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in late October and early November. Claims of war crimes included that of the TDF extrajudicially executing 100 youths in Kombolcha,according to deral authorities.
Abiy Ahmed is currently the third serving Prime Minister of Ethiopia. In 2018,he became the first ever Oromo descent to assume the role of prime minister in the history of Ethiopia. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in his second year as a prime minister of Ethiopia in 2019 becoming the eighth African laureates to win the award for peace.
The Persecution of Amhara people is the ongoing persecution of the Amhara and Agew people of Ethiopia. Since the early 1990s,the Amhara people have been subject to ethnic violence,including massacres by Tigrayan,Oromo and Gumuz ethnic groups among others,which some have characterized as a genocide. Large-scale killings and grave human rights violations followed the implementation of the ethnic-federalist system in the country. In most of the cases,the mass murders were silent with perpetrators from various ethno-militant groups—from TPLF/TDF,OLF–OLA,and Gumuz armed groups.
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule,reducing ethnic tensions,promoting regional autonomy,and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive,both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict,and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition,under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF),which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF,under Abiy,was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election,returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period,and all administrations,a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued,and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization,which has itself been attributed to,and used to justify,authoritarian state policy.
Democratic backsliding in Ethiopia is ongoing,most notably under the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Since assumption of power in April 2018,Ahmed has played crucial role of reforms in the Ethiopian politics and reversal of policies implemented by the former ruling party,the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Abiy immediately gained public approval and international recognition owing to liberalized policymaking including in media outlets,gender equality,internet freedom and privatization of economy. Furtherly,he was also warmly gained accolades for ending 20-years conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea,from which he awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize,being the first Ethiopian to earn the title. In 2019,Ethiopia received a score of 19 out of 100 in the Freedom in the World metric,a significant improvement from previous years,although it is still characterized as "Not Free". In December 2019,he formed the Prosperity Party by dissolution of EPRDF and merged all its ethnic based regional parties while the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) refused to obey,resulting intense face-off with the federal government. He promised to hold free and fair upcoming election;although due to COVID-19 pandemic deterioration and other security and logistics issues,the election was postponed indefinitely in mid-2020. Opponents called this action as backdrop to "reconsolidate dictatorship" and "constitutional crisis". On 9 September 2020,the Tigray Regional election were held as the federal government deemed illegal election. According to the electoral commission,the TPLF won 98.2% of 152 seats were contested. The federal government and the Tigray authority relations aggravated by late 2020,culminating the Tigray War.
Political repression is a visible scenario under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed after 2018,characterized by severe human rights violation,restriction of press,speeches,dissents,activism and journalism that are critical to his government. Similar to TPLF-led EPRDF regime,there was a raise of censorship in the country,particularly internet shutdowns under the context of anti-terror legislation labelling them "disinformation and war narratives" since the raise of armed conflict in Ethiopia. In June 2018,Abiy unblocked 64 internet access that include blogs and news outlets.
Tigraynization is a process of making dominance and supremacy of the Tigray people. Tigraynization is manifested through the rule of TPLF-led EPRDF regime since 1991 when the current constitution of Ethiopia provided equality among ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Ethiopians viewed TPLF operative as clandestine government to benefit Tigrayan people.
References
↑ "Prime Minister". The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia's Office of the Prime Minister. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019. H.E. Abiy Ahmed Ali (PhD) is the fourth Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
↑ "Ethiopia: News - Amhara Opposition Party Requests PM Abiy to Appear Before Lawmakers, Parliament Session On Recent Killing in Western Oromia". AllAfrica. 25 June 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2023. The opposition National Movement of Amhara (NaMA) requested Speaker of the House of People's Representatives, Tagesse Chafo, to call on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to appear before Parliament to explain why his government is "unable to stop the ongoing genocide against the people of Amhara, and why it has not been able to provide adequate support to the victims who are displaced by the recent attack in Western Oromia, at a time when PM Abiy Ahmed and his government repeatedly state that "they have built the capacity and enough security forces to ensure the security of our country and its people."
↑ "Statement on the Ongoing Violence Against the Amhara People". lemkininstitute.com. Since 2018, when the Oromo-backed Prosperity Party came into power (led by 2019 Nobel Prize laureate Abiy Ahmed Ali), the Amhara people have continued to suffer severely, and their fundamental human rights have been heavily violated. Abiy's government amnestied previously exiled OLA members. The atrocity crimes committed against the Amhara people since 2018 include mass killings and summary executions, ethnic cleansing, abduction of children, forced disappearances, measures intended to prevent births, the forcible transfer of children of the group to another group, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and looting.
↑ "Abiy Ahmed Ali". DW.com (in Swahili). 28 March 2018. Archived from the original on 6 May 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018. Abiy Ahmed alizaliwa August 15, 1976 nchini Ethiopia (Abiy Ahmed was born on August 15, 1976 in Ethiopia)
↑ Endeshaw, Dawit (31 March 2018). "The rise of Abiy "Abiyot" Ahmed". The Reporter. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2020. Abiy's mother, Tezeta Wolde, a converted Christian from Burayu, Finfine Special Zone, Oromia Regional State, was the fourth wife for Ahmed. Together they have six children with Abiy being the youngest.
↑ "First Lady". FDRE Office of the Prime Minister. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
↑ Endeshaw, Dawit (31 March 2018). "The rise of Abiy "Abiyot" Ahmed". The Reporter. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019. For some time the EPRDF, was in talks with the OLF; in fact, the later was part of the then transitional government. OLF was, at the time, very popular in Oromia region. However, the peaceful talks failed to bear fruit as things turn to become violent. That was when alternative forces like the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO) came to the fore. According to people who witnessed that critical period, the OLF had strong support in Agaro like most parts of Oromia region (No statistical evidence exists to support this claim). It was at that time that Abiy's family was directly affected by the political transition in the country. Abiy's father and his eldest son, Kedir Ahmed, were arrested for some time. Unfortunately, Kedir was killed during that time in what was believed to be a politically motivated assassination, according to people close to the family. By the time, Agaro, which now has a population of, 41,085, was believed to be a stronghold of the OLF. "I think losing his brother at that age was a turning point in Abiy's life," Miftah Hudin Aba Jebel, a childhood friend of Abiy, told The Reporter. "I mean we were young and I remember one night Abiy asking me to join the struggle," he recalls. "To be honest, it was difficult for me to understand what he was saying." According to multiple sources, Abiy joined the struggle during early 1991, just a few months before the downfall of the military regime, almost at the age of 15. "By the time we were teenagers; Abiy, another young man by the name Komitas, who was a driver for Abadula Gemeda at the time, and myself joined the OPDO," Getish Mamo, the then member of OPDO's music band called Bifttu Oromia, told The Reporter. "We were also close with Abadula Gemeda." Abadula was one of the founders of the OPDO and current speaker of the House of People's Representatives. Abiy, at the time, was working as a radio operator, according to Getish.
↑ "ኦሮሚያ፣ የ"ኢኮኖሚ አብዮት""[Oromia, the "Economy Revolution"]. Deutsche Welle (in Amharic). 10 March 2017. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
↑ Endeshaw, Dawit (4 November 2017). "Movers and Shakers!!!". The Reporter. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
↑ "One year on, tough times loom for Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed". Yahoo! News. 31 March 2019. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019. ... Abiy has touted his moves to improve media freedom – following in the footsteps of Hailemariam, who released several prominent jailed journalists – but instability threatens this progress.
↑ Roth, Kenneth (19 December 2018). "Ethiopia: Events of 2018". World Report 2019. Human Rights Watch. Archived from the original on 19 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019. After years of widespread protests against government policies, and brutal security force repression, the human rights landscape transformed in 2018 after Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in April. The government lifted the state of emergency in June and released thousands of political prisoners from detention, including journalists and key opposition leaders such as Eskinder Nega and Merera Gudina. The government lifted restrictions on access to the internet, admitted that security forces relied on torture, committed to legal reforms of repressive laws and introduced numerous other reforms, paving the way for improved respect for human rights... Parliament lifted the ban on three opposition groups, Ginbot 7, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in June. The government had used the proscription as a pretext for brutal crackdowns on opposition members, activists, and journalists suspected of affiliation with the groups. Many members of these and other groups are now returning to Ethiopia from exile...
With the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) controlling 100 percent of the seats in parliament, the institutional and legal impediments for sustained political space remain a challenge. Accountability for years of abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings, and opening the space for political parties and civil society remain significant challenges for the new administration. There are indications that the reform process may ultimately be hindered by a lack of independent institutions to carry forward changes...
Ethiopia released journalists who had been wrongfully detained or convicted on politically motivated charges, including prominent writers such as Eskinder Nega and Woubshet Taye, after more than six years in jail. The federal Attorney General's Office dropped all pending charges against bloggers, journalists and diaspora-based media organizations, including the Zone 9 bloggers, Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT), and Oromia Media Network (OMN), which had previously faced charges of violence inciting for criticizing the government...
OMN and ESAT television stations reopened in Addis Ababa in June, following calls by Prime Minister Abiy for diaspora-based television stations to return. Additionally, the government lifted obstructions to access to more than 250 websites. The restriction on access to the internet and mobile applications introduced during the 2015 protests was also lifted.
↑ Latif Dahir, Abdi (14 December 2018). "For the first time in decades, there are no Ethiopian journalists in prison". Quartz Africa. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019. ...Abiy Ahmed, who took over in April also released thousands of political prisoners and journalists and dismissed charges against diaspora-based media outlets. Those released included prominent journalists Eskinder Nega, Darsema Sori, and Khalid Mohammed, who were held for years on charges ranging from treason to inciting extremist ideology and planning to overthrow the government.
↑ Bieber, Florian; Tadesse Goshu, Wondemagegn (15 January 2019). "Don't Let Ethiopia Become the Next Yugoslavia". Foreign Policy. Graham Holdings Company. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019. The process of liberalizing a political system in an ethnically polarized society is dangerous. During the liberalizing moment, newfound freedom of speech can easily focus on finding culprits, singling out particular groups, and bringing up repressed grievances. Furthermore, there is less tradition to distinguish fact from rumor, and thus fearmongering rhetoric can travel quickly and with fewer checks than in established pluralist environments. This is mostly due to social media but also because of a lack of reliable institutions and structures to turn to in a country where institutions have been decimated by years of authoritarian rule.
↑ "Why ESAT and Messay Mekonen called for genocide on the people of Tigray?". Horn Affairs. 15 November 2016. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019. Mr. Messay Mekonon has called a genocide attack to such civil population, which are the indigenous people of Tigray-Ethiopia in his satellite TV called ESAT on 4 September 2016
↑ "ESAT Radio and Television: The Voice of Genocide". Horn Affairs. 23 August 2017. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019. ESAT television, in a public address it made to the people of Gondar, on August 06, 2016, ESAT journalist Mesay Mekonnen broadcast that "the difficulty that we (Ethiopians) are facing now is not between the oppressor government/regime and the oppressed people, as other countries are facing. What we Ethiopians are now facing is between a small minority ethnic group, representing five percent of the Ethiopian population, who wants to rule Ethiopia subjugating others and the subjugated peoples. And the solution for what we are facing at this time is "drying the water so as to catch (kill) the fish."
↑ "ESAT TV, stop your hate propaganda against the people of Tigrai". Tigrai Online. 27 January 2013. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019. ESAT's main objective is to provide thinly veiled poisonous hate propaganda against the people of Tigrai. Financed by the traditional enemies of Ethiopia this divisive and very dangerous media outlet has been pumping out thousands of articles, cyber TV programs and radio programs. Majority of those programs are designed to create a permanent discord between the general Ethiopian population and the people of Tigrai.
↑ "Press freedom in Ethiopia has blossomed. Will it last?". The Economist. 16 March 2019. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019. Two tests of the new opening loom. The first is the willingness of state media to give equal time to the prime minister and his opponents in elections next year. Another will be the openness of Abiy himself to scrutiny: he has given only one press conference and few interviews.
↑ "Ethiopians are going wild for Abiy Ahmed". The Economist. 18 August 2018. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019. Ethiopia's state media behave slavishly towards the prime minister, obsessively covering his appearances and seldom airing critical views. Mr Abiy himself never gives interviews and has yet to hold a press conference. Non-state outlets complain that they are no longer invited to official press briefings.
↑ "Nobel peace prize winner Abiy Ahmed embroiled in media row". The Guardian. 8 December 2019. Archived from the original on 12 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020. Senior officials of the Norwegian Nobel Institute have said the 2019 winner's refusal to attend any event where he could be asked questions publicly is "highly problematic". Olav Njølstad, the secretary of the Nobel committee, said it would "very much have wanted Abiy to engage with the press during his stay in Oslo". "We strongly believe that freedom of expression and a free and independent press are vital components of peace … Moreover, some former Nobel peace prize laureates have received the prize in recognition of their efforts in favour of these very rights and freedoms," he said. Nobel peace prize laureates traditionally hold a news conference a day before the official ceremony, but Abiy has told the Norwegian Nobel committee he does not intend to do so.
↑ "Record number of journalists jailed worldwide". Committee to Protect Journalists. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020. Countries where the number of jailed journalists rose significantly include Belarus, where mass protests have ensued over the disputed re-election of the long-time president, and Ethiopia, where political unrest has degenerated into armed conflict.
↑ "Dawit Kebede imprisoned". Committee to Protect Journalists. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020. The office of the federal attorney general did not respond to a December 2020 email requesting comment on Dawit's arrest. When CPJ reached him via messaging app, Federal Police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi said he did not know about Dawit's case and referred CPJ to the prime minister's office for comment. CPJ emailed that office on December 3 and did not receive any response.
↑ "Ethiopia suspends Reuters in-country correspondent's licence". Ahram online. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020. Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority (EBA) has suspended the press license of Reuters correspondent in the country Giulia Paravicini, for an unspecified amount of time after a warning letter was issued to the correspondent. The Authority said that the decision has been due to the "false and biased" reporting by the news agency's correspondent on Ethiopia's current affairs and coverage of the fighting in the Tigray region, which "misleads the world and causes international pressure to mount on Ethiopia." The Authority has also issued a warning letter to the correspondents of both BBC and Deutsche Welle for what it described as "violation of the rules of media broadcasting."
↑ "Ethiopia Expels Crisis Group Senior Analyst". International Crisis Group. 22 November 2020. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020. On 20 November, immigration officials in Addis Ababa summoned Crisis Group's Ethiopia Senior Analyst William Davison and informed him he would need to leave the country immediately. He flew to the UK in the early hours of 21 November. Ethiopian authorities have yet to offer a formal reason for the decision. In an earlier tweet, an official in the Prime Minister's office said Mr. Davison's work permit had been revoked, citing alleged labour law breaches. Crisis Group has been transparent and truthful in all representations it has made regarding Mr. Davison's employment. Ultimately, there is little doubt that the reason for his deportation relates to the current tense situation in the country and the authorities' increasing sensitivity to points of view that do not hew to its line. It is noteworthy that around the time Mr. Davison was expelled, authorities also warned the news agency Reuters' Ethiopia correspondent and the BBC and Deutsche Welle stations. Mr. Davison's expulsion comes at a difficult and painful moment for Ethiopia. On 4 November, Africa's second most populous country plunged into a serious conflict between federal troops and security forces from the Tigray region, one of Ethiopia's ten states. The conflict has already cost hundreds of lives and sent tens of thousands of refugees into neighbouring Sudan. Crisis Group and its analysts do not take sides. Their responsibility is to present as faithfully as possible the viewpoints of the relevant parties; their mandate is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts; their duty is to the civilians caught in their midst. Accordingly, and from the outset, Crisis Group has sought to explain the perspectives of the federal authorities and of the Tigrayan leadership, pressed for an end to hostilities and kept urging the parties to explore a negotiated solution and resolve their differences through political means.
↑ "Ethiopia: Opposition Figures Held Without Charge". Human Rights Watch. 15 August 2020. Archived from the original on 12 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020. Ethiopian authorities have been detaining dozens of opposition members and journalists for prolonged periods and often without charge since late June 2020, raising serious rights concerns.
↑ "ከኢህአዴግ ስራ አስፈፃሚ ኮሚቴ የተሰጠ መግለጫ ግንቦት 28 ቀን 2010"[Statement of the EPRDF Central Committee, 27 Ginbot 2010]. Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (in Amharic). 5 June 2018. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
↑ "Ethiopia pushes its privatization agenda". Euromoney. 1 October 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019. The government will seek the full or partial sale of railway projects, hotels, and sugar and other manufacturing industries.
↑ Tisdall, Simon (24 January 2021). "Ethiopia's leader must answer for the high cost of hidden war in Tigray". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021. Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's long-serving former foreign minister, was one of the foremost African diplomats of his generation. He was gunned down this month in Tigray by the armed forces of a lesser man – Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia's prime minister and Nobel peace prize winner. Some suggest it was the Eritrean military, Abiy's allies, who killed Seyoum, although their presence in Tigray is officially denied. The circumstances of his death remain murky. . . . . As with much of the unreported, unchallenged murder and mayhem currently occurring in northern Ethiopia, murky is what Abiy prefers. When he ordered the army's assault on the breakaway Tigray region in November, he blocked the internet, shut out aid agencies and banned journalists. It's a conflict he claims to have won – but the emerging reality is very different. It's a war fought in the shadows, with the outside world kept in the dark.
↑ Rosemarie Rung (November 2020). "Demand the Nobel Committee Revoke Peace Prize to Abiy Ahmed". Change.org.
↑ "Ethiopia: Communications Shutdown Takes Heavy Toll". Human Rights Watch. 9 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020. ...Under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's administration, communication blackouts without government justifications has become routine during social and political unrest, Human Rights Watch said.
↑ "Ethiopia: 'We are in our homeland, the invaders are attacking us,' says Tigray's Gebremichael". France 24. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020. As fighting continues "in many parts" of Ethiopia's Tigray, according to the United Nations, Tigray's regional president Debretsion Gebremichael told FRANCE 24 that the northern region would continue fighting as long as federal "invaders" are on Tigrayan soil. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced military operations in the northern region of Tigray a month ago, saying they targeted the leaders of its ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Gebremichael believes neighbouring Eritrea is playing a key role in the conflict. "They already have 16 divisions in Tigray. They are fighting on the side of the federal army... They have a united front against us. Wherever you go, they are there." "We are in our homeland, the invaders are attacking us, by air or by artillery fire." Gebremichael also claimed that Eritrean forces had taken part in mass lootings, a report denied by both Eritrea and Ethiopia. "They have taken laboratory equipment, computers, books. They have gone to one factory of medicine," Gebremichael told FRANCE 24's Nicolas Germain. The month-long conflict has claimed thousands of lives, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG), and tens of thousands of refugees have streamed across the border into Sudan. The UN has been warning of a possible humanitarian catastrophe within Tigray, though a communications blackout has made it difficult to assess conditions on the ground.
↑ "Exclusive: U.S. says reports of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia's Tigray are 'credible'". Reuters. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020. The United States believes reports of Eritrean military involvement in the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region are "credible," a State Department spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday, despite denials by both nations. The spokesperson called on any Eritrean soldiers there to pull out. "We are aware of credible reports of Eritrean military involvement in Tigray and view this as a grave development. We urge that any such troops be withdrawn immediately," the spokesperson said. Reuters was first to report on Tuesday that the U.S. government believed Eritrean soldiers had crossed into Ethiopian territory, effectively helping Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government battle a rebellious northern force.
↑ "Ethiopia says U.N. team shot at in Tigray after defying checkpoints". Reuters. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020. Two diplomatic sources told Reuters the U.N. team encountered uniformed Eritrean troops, though both Ethiopia and Eritrea have denied any incursion over the border by President Isaias Afwerki's military. Abiy and Afwerki signed a peace pact ending two decades of hostilities in 2018 and now regard the TPLF as a mutual foe.
↑ "Fleeing Ethiopians Tell of Ethnic Massacres in Tigray War". The New York Times. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020. Adding to the deadly mix are the involvement of rival ethnic militia groups. One of them is the Fano, a militia from the Amhara ethnic group. Along with Amhara regional government security forces, Fano took part in the intervention in Tigray, Mr. Davison said. While Fano is a term loosely used to refer to young Amhara militias or protesters, Mr. Davison added that it is also "the name given to youthful Amhara vigilante groups that become more active during times when there is perceived to be insecurity that is not being managed by the authorities."
↑ "I saw people dying on the road': Tigray's traumatised war refugees". The Guardian. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020. Refugees in the camp reel off accounts of horror they either witnessed themselves or heard from others. In a makeshift ward in a room near the back of the camp, some show wounds they say were caused by knife and machete attacks by Fano militia.
↑ "Millions of children in Tigray remain out of reach, despite access agreement – UNICEF". UNICEF. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020. Some 2.3 million children in Tigray, Ethiopia, remain cut off from humanitarian assistance amid continuing violence since the beginning of November. We are extremely concerned that the longer access to them is delayed, the worse their situation will become as supplies of food, including ready-to-use therapeutic food for the treatment of child malnutrition, medicines, water, fuel and other essentials run low. Protecting these children, many of whom are refugees and internally displaced, and providing them with humanitarian aid must be a priority. Together with our humanitarian partners, we stand ready to provide lifesaving humanitarian support, including treatment for malnourished children, critical vaccines, emergency medicines, and water and sanitation supplies. We have already provided some supplies to a number of partners in Tigray but this is not enough. We need to be able to provide support at scale in Tigray and to have full access to determine the scale of children's needs. We call for urgent, sustained, unconditional and impartial humanitarian access to all families in need wherever they are. We also urge authorities to allow the free movement of civilians wishing to seek safety elsewhere. This includes those requesting to cross the border to seek international protection. Meeting the critical needs of children and women must not be delayed any longer.
↑ "UN 'frustration' at lack of access to Tigray". Yahoo! News. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020. "It's somewhat frustrating to say that we have not been able to go in, we have not been able to reach people that we know are in need," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. "Days wasted by a lack of agreement or a lack of green light for us is just one more day of suffering for the people who need help." At the request of the United States and European members, the Security Council held an informal, closed-door video conference on Monday on the humanitarian situation in Tigray. "We need full, safe, unhindered access for humanitarian workers. We have information that refugee camps will run out of food by the end of this week," said Germany's UN ambassador Christoph Heusgen after the meeting. "We have information that refugees are prevented from fleeing to Sudan... There are also reports that Eritrean soldiers appear to control some movement of refugees in the Eritrean border region. Again, all this must stop." According to diplomats, China and African members of the Security Council – South Africa, Niger and Tunisia – opposed the publication of a statement on Tigray requested by Germany, Estonia and the Dominican Republic. Abiy has resisted calls for mediation to end the conflict, which has left thousands dead, according to the International Crisis Group think tank, and has driven 50,000 refugees into Sudan.
↑ "More than two million children in Ethiopia's Tigray region cut off from humanitarian aid, UN says". CNN. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020. The United Nations has warned that millions of children are still cut off from aid in Ethiopia's conflict-riven Tigray region, despite promises made by the federal government earlier this month to allow humanitarian agencies access. Some 2.3 million minors are struggling to get basic humanitarian assistance like treatment for malnourishment, critical vaccines, emergency medicines, and water and sanitation supplies, UNICEF, the UN agency responsible for children, said Tuesday. "We are extremely concerned that the longer access to them is delayed, the worse their situation will become as supplies of food, including ready-to-use therapeutic food for the treatment of child malnutrition, medicines, water, fuel and other essentials run low," UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.
↑ "Ethiopia: EU suspends budget support over Tigray conflict". Deutsche Welle. 16 December 2020. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020. Aid access:- The UN Security Council on Monday held an informal meeting on the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia's Tigray region, where the majority of humanitarian organizations are not allowed to enter. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding on such a scale that organizations are afraid of what they will find once allowed in.
↑ De Waal, Alex (March 2021). "We Can No Longer Deny the Atrocities in Ethiopia". Boston Review. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. Western leaders prefer to see peace in Africa as the work of inspirational individuals. In some cases this is warranted. In Abiy's case it was premature, to say the least.
↑ Green, Andrew (4 December 2020). "Abiy's Victory Claims Ring Hollow as Fighting Continues in Ethiopia's Tigray Region". World Politics Review. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. At the same time, Abiy is trying to shore up his popular support in the rest of Ethiopia. And though his quick declaration of victory appeared premature to outside observers, it seemed designed to rally his supporters and serve as a warning to other restive ethnic factions that might have been feeling emboldened to take on his administration
↑ Unger, Luke (12 December 2020). "Ethiopian Military Say They Now Control Tigray Capital". The Organisation for World Peace. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. It seems that Prime Minister Ahmed's victory speech is worryingly premature. Not for the legitimacy of the current Ethiopian government, but the thousands of refugees caught in the crossfire. It remains likely that this conflict will develop into guerrilla warfare by the TPLF, potentially drawing the conflict out for several months, if not years. Within this Guerrilla conflict, civilians will inevitably be caught in the crossfire as fighting will likely be most prominent in civilian areas. Before further potential violence ensues, both the TPLF and Ethiopian government should recognize that the protection of civilians in this conflict is paramount and employ necessary measures to ensure civilian safety, including stopping indiscriminate bombardments, putting military facilities near civilian areas and targeting civilian facilities. Both sides should also grant unobstructed access to humanitarian organizations that can provide aid and supplies for those in need and restore communication channels to ensure transparency by both groups.
↑ Chatterjee, Pallavi (15 January 2021). "Premature laurels, precarious commitment: The unfortunate trend of Nobel Peace Prize laureates who violate peace itself". Human Rights Pulse. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. It is unfortunate that the mainstay of political leaders is to balance out multiple, often conflicting, interests of different, often conflicting, stakeholders. Even well-intentioned individuals can find their hands tied due to a lack of institutional support. The contention remains, however, that rewarding them far too quickly and simply for formal—not substantive—commitment to ideals of peace, justice, and security is an ineffective means of deterring them from future actions that might unfortunately result in a deviation from such ideals. Similarly, awarding the representative of a particular regime simply to express rejection of another remains an unjustified, premature move—unless the future actions of the present regime reliably demonstrate their commitment to achievable, measurable, and sustainable solutions towards peace, justice, and security in the first place. This cannot be said to be the case for recent laureates and nominees.
↑ Gebrekirstos Gebremeskel (18 December 2020). "The war on Tigray: A multi-pronged assault driven by genocidal undercurrents". Ethiopia Insight. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. In the run-up to the selection of Abiy, Tigrayans were tired of accusations, and when Abiy came to power, they thought they would be spared. That is why he was well-received in Tigray. They started to heave a collective sigh of relief, but that was premature. The reverse happened. Anti-Tigrayan propaganda and rhetoric grew and became normalized in media and official forums. The TPLF, or shadowy forces tied to it, were blamed for almost every violent incident and problem the country faced, helping to allow Amhara and Oromo rivals to keep focused on a common enemy, and casting suspicion on Tigrayans as a whole
↑ Davies, Guy (25 October 2020). "Ethiopian prime minister compared to Mandela now ruling with an iron fist". abc News. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. For a moment, Abiy's premiership appeared to be a new dawn over one of the world's poorest countries. But within weeks of accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Abiy already was deploying the language of a very different leader -- saying that Ethiopia was "readied" for war with Egypt over an ongoing dispute over the Nile dam. Citing "domestic concerns," he refused to take questions publicly after the award. Very quickly, it became clear at home that Abiy's intentions were quite different from his international image. "In terms of the Nobel itself, it is very difficult to think of a political leader who was awarded the prize that conducted himself in the same manner," Allo said. "[It is] now very clear that all accolades and praises showered on him, including by myself, were premature."
↑ "Ethiopia PM Ahmed Abiy admits Eritrea forces in Tigray". BBC News. 23 March 2021. Archived from the original on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. At the end of November, Mr Abiy had told parliament that "not a single civilian was killed" during the conflict. The defence forces never killed a single civilian in a single town
↑ "Ethiopia's PM relishes victory, but Tigrayan leader says war not over". Screenocean. Reuters. 30 November 2020. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021. We were on target, 99 percent. There was no collateral damage on 99 percent of the operation. We never fired on uncertainties - for example, during nights, because, what if children die, they are ours - the enemy assumed we use drones only for firing because they didn't know the capacity of the special forces and the air force. But we used drones in 90 percent of the cases to monitor their movements." MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER, ABIY AHMED, SAYING: "The defence forces never killed a single person in a single town. No soldier from any country could display a better competence. We have disciplined heroic soldiers. There was a lot of campaigning saying that we would demolish Mekelle. Mekelle is ours, built with our resources. How can we destroy it? No one got in harm's way in the Mekelle operation. The special forces conducted a special surgery in Mekelle." ABIY AT PODIUM MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER, ABIY AHMED, SAYING: "We didn't fire a single rocket in the Tigray region. We have double of what they have in terms of numbers. On whom do we fire rockets? A rocket travels kilometres out of your sight before it falls somewhere. You can't be sure what it does to whom. But our pilots, they go and come back, loaded with their bombs, if they think there's a risk on civilians - because they can decide, we can also make decisions by watching with drones - we won't do it. But it can be dangerous when it comes to rockets. Even though we had a higher number of them we didn't use them because it is our country. We are not a junta.
↑ Akinwotu, Emmanuel. "Scale of Tigray horror adds to pressure on Ethiopian leader". No.28 March 2021. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021. Earlier this month, MSF said most of the more than 100 health facilities it had visited across Tigray had been looted, vandalised and destroyed in a deliberate and widespread attack on healthcare. What Abiy has insisted was a military operation against 'criminals' has instead emerged as a bitter conflict waged against millions of civilians, with mass attacks and sexual violence driven by ethnic and historic regional divisions. The military campaign against the TPLF, whom Abiy accused of attacking federal military camps and aiming to destabilise the country, has quickly recast the image of one of Africa's youngest leaders who was awarded the Nobel peace prize for ending the long conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Lieutenant Colonel 
