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Abiy Ahmed

April 02, 2023

In this Ethiopian name, the name Ahmed Ali is a patronymic, and the person should be referred by the given name, Abiy.

Abiy Ahmed Ali (Oromo: Abiyi Ahmed Alii; Amharic: አብይ አሕመድ ዐሊ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who has been the 4th prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia since 2 April 2018.[1][2] He won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending the 20-year post-war territorial stalemate between Ethiopia and Eritrea.[3][4] Abiy was the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first Oromo in that position.[5][6] Abiy is an elected member of the Ethiopian parliament, and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party.[7][8]

Abiy Ahmed
አብይ አሕመድ
Abiy in 2018
Prime Minister of Ethiopia
Assumed office
2 April 2018
PresidentMulatu Teshome
Sahle-Work Zewde
DeputyDemeke Mekonnen
Preceded byHailemariam Desalegn
1st President of the Prosperity Party
Assumed office
1 December 2019
DeputyDemeke Mekonnen
Preceded byParty established
3rd Chairman of the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front
In office
27 March 2018 – 1 December 2019
DeputyDemeke Mekonnen
Preceded byHailemariam Desalegn
Succeeded byParty abolished
Leader of the Oromo Democratic Party
In office
22 February 2018 – 1 December 2019
DeputyLemma Megersa
Preceded byLemma Megersa
Succeeded byPost abolished
Minister of Science and Technology
In office
6 October 2015 – 1 November 2016
Prime MinisterHailemariam Desalegn
Preceded byDemitu Hambisa
Succeeded byGetahun Mekuria
Director General of the Information Network Security Agency
Acting
In office
2008–2015
Preceded byTeklebirhan Woldearegay
Succeeded byTemesgen Tiruneh
Personal details
Born
Abiy Ahmed Ali

(1976-08-15) 15 August 1976 (age 46)
Beshasha, Kaffa Province, Ethiopia
Political partyProsperity Party
Other political
affiliations		Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (until 2019)
Oromo Democratic Party
SpouseZinash Tayachew
Children3
EducationMicrolink Information Technology College (BA)
University of Greenwich (MA)
Ashland University (MBA)
Addis Ababa University (PhD)
AwardsNobel Peace Prize (2019)
Websitepmo.gov.et/pm/
Military service
AllegianceEthiopia
Branch/serviceEthiopian Army
Years of service1991–2010
Rank Lieutenant Colonel
UnitArmy Signals Corps
CommandsInformation Network Security Agency
Battles/warsEthiopian Civil War
United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
Eritrean–Ethiopian War
Tigray War

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,[9][10] and raised questions about the delay's constitutional legitimacy.[11] 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.[12]

During 2020, ethnic and political tensions grew, and in early November, the attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command, was the start of the Tigray War between the combined forces of the ENDF and the Eritrean army against forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)—an ethnic-based party which dominated the ruling EPRDF coalition during a nearly thirty-year period marked by rapid development alongside increasing interethnic tension[13]—as well as those loyal to significant allied groups such as the Oromo Liberation Army.

Since Abiy Ahmed came to power, thousands of ethnic Amharas were methodically massacred[14][15][16] The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church accused the regime of Abiy Ahmed Ali of interfering in religious matters and of supporting an illegal group causing the schism. The church rebuked Abiy Ahmed irresponsible statements point by point. It threatens to call for worldwide protests by its believers against the illegal group and the support given by the regime of Abiy Ahmed Ali.[17]

Personal life

Early life

Abiy Ahmed was born in the small town of Beshasha, Ethiopia.[18][19][20][21] His deceased father, Ahmed Ali, was a Muslim Oromo.[22] Abiy's father was a typical Oromo farmer, speaking only Oromo.[23]

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"[22] and The Guardian in 2019 described Tezeta as Amhara.[24] The Ethiopian Reporter stated in 2019 that Tezeta was "a converted Christian".[25] 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."[23] Tezeta was a fluent speaker of both Amharic and Oromo.[23]

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.[18] 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.[18] 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.[18] Abiy married Zinash Tayachew, an Amhara woman from Gondar,[18][26] while both were serving in the Ethiopian National Defense Force.[27] They are the parents of three daughters and one adopted son.[27] Abiy speaks Oromo, Amharic, Tigrinya and English.[28] He is a fitness aficionado and professes that physical health goes hand in hand with mental health and, as such, he frequents physical and gym activities in Addis Ababa.[27]

Religion

Abiy is a Pentecostal Christian,[29][30] born of a Muslim father and a Christian mother. He was raised in a family of religious plurality. Abiy and his family are regular church attendees, and he also occasionally ministers in preaching and teaching the Gospel at the Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers' Church. His wife Zinash Tayachew is also a Christian who ministers in her church as a gospel singer.

Education

While serving in the Ethiopian National Defense Force, Abiy received his first degree, a Bachelor's degree in computer engineering[31] from the Microlink Information Technology College in Addis Ababa in 2009.[32]

Abiy holds a Master of Arts in transformational leadership[31] earned from the business school at Greenwich University, London, in collaboration with the International Leadership Institute, Addis Ababa, in 2011. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the Leadstar College of Management and Leadership in Addis Ababa in partnership with Ashland University[33][34] in 2013.[35]

Abiy, who had started his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) work as a regular student,[36] submitted his PhD thesis in 2016,[37] and defended it in 2017[38][39][40] 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[37]). 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".[38]

Abiy published a related short research article on de-escalation strategies in the Horn of Africa in a special journal issue dedicated to countering violent extremism.[40]

Military career

At the age of 14, in early 1991,[41] he joined the armed struggle against the Marxist–Leninist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam after the death of his oldest brother. He was a child soldier, affiliated to the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), which at that time was a tiny organization of only around 200 fighters in the large coalition army of about 100,000 fighters that resulted in the regime's fall later that year.[28][18][27] As there were only so few ODP 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.[28]

After the fall of the Derg, he took formal military training from Assefa Brigade in West Wollega and was stationed there. Later on in 1993 he became a soldier in the now Ethiopian National Defense Force and worked mostly in the intelligence and communications departments. In 1995, after the Rwandan genocide, he was deployed as a member of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in the country's capital, Kigali.[42] In the Ethio-Eritrea War between 1998 and 2000, he led an intelligence team to discover positions of the Eritrean Defence Forces.[43]

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.[28][44] He brought calm and peace in a situation of communal tensions accompanying the clashes.[28] 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.[43]

In 2006, Abiy was one of the co-founders of the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA), where he worked in different positions.[18] For two years, he was acting director of INSA due to the director's leave of absence.[18] 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[40][28] 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).[45] 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.[28] 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.[40]

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).[18][46] 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.[47]

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.[48] 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.[28]

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.[49][50] 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.[51] 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.[52]

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.[53]

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.[54][55] 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.[48] 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.[48]

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.[56][49]

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).[57]

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.[58] 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.[47]

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.[59]

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.[6] On 2 April 2018, Abiy Ahmed was elected as Prime Minister of Ethiopia by the House of Representatives and sworn in.[2]

Prime Minister of Ethiopia

Main article: Premiership of Abiy Ahmed

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.[6]

 
Abiy holding his acceptance speech after receiving the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize

Domestic policy

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.[60][61][62] In May 2018 alone the Oromo region pardoned over 7,600 prisoners.[63] 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.[64]

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.[65] 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".[66] 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.[67]

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.[62] 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.[68] This followed the additional pardon of 304 prisoners (289 of which had been sentenced on terrorism-related charges) on 15 June.[69]

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.[70]

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".[71] 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.[72] 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.[73]

Transparency

In 2018, to expand the free press in Ethiopia, Abiy invited exiled media outlets to return.[74][75][76][77][78][79][80] One of the media outlets invited to return was ESAT (which had called for the genocide of Ethiopian Tigrayans).[81][82][83] However, since assuming office in April 2018, Abiy himself had, as of March 2019, only given one press conference,[84] on 25 August 2018 and around five months after he assumed office, where he answered questions from journalists. As of 21 March  2019, he has not given another press conference where he has not refused to answer questions from journalists (rather than reading prepared statements).[85][86][87]

According to the NGOs Human Rights Watch, Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International, Abiy's government has since mid 2019 been arresting Ethiopian journalists and closing media outlets (except for ESAT-TV).[88][89][90][91][92][93] From the international media outlets, his government has suspended the press license of Reuters's correspondent, and issued a warning letter to the correspondents of both BBC and Deutsche Welle for what the government described as "violation of the rules of media broadcasting".[94][95][96]

Economic reforms

 
Abiy has announced that state-owned enterprises such as Ethiopian Airlines are to be partially or wholly privatised.

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.[97]

State monopolies in the telecommunications, aviation, electricity, and logistics sectors are to be ended and those industries opened up to private sector competition.[98] 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.[99] State-owned enterprises in sectors deemed less critical, including railway operators, sugar, industrial parks, hotels and various manufacturing firms, may be fully privatised.[100]

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.[99][97]

In June 2018, Abiy announced the government's intention to establish an Ethiopian stock exchange in tandem with the privatization of state-owned enterprises.[101] As of 2015, Ethiopia was the largest country in the world, in terms of both population and gross domestic product, without a stock exchange.[102]

Foreign policy

 
Abiy and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in May 2018
 
Abiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in October 2019
 
Abiy with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February 2020

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.[60]

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.[103]

Djibouti and port agreements

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 unrecognized Republic of Somaliland as part of a joint venture with DP World.[104] 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.[105]

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.[106] 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.[107]

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.[97] All these developments would reduce Ethiopian reliance on Djibouti's port which, since 1998, has handled almost all of Ethiopia's maritime traffic.[108][106]

Eritrea

Main articles: Eritrea–Ethiopia relations and 2018 Eritrea–Ethiopia summit

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.[97] 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.[109]

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.[110]

 
Abiy with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in March 2019

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.[111] 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.[112][113][114] Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts in ending the war.[4]

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.[115] 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."[116]

Calls to revoke Nobel Peace Prize

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.[117][118] 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".[119]

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.[120]

Egypt

The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has become a national preoccupation in both countries.[121][122] 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."[123]

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.[124] An Egyptian diplomat responded by saying that Egypt "has nothing to do with current tensions in Ethiopia".[125] 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".[124]

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.[126][127] 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.[128]

Security sector reform

 
Abiy with military commanders in February 2019

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.[129] This move is considered likely to face resistance from TPLF hardliners, who occupy much of the military high command.[130]

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."[131] 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.

On 7 June 2018, Abiy carried out a wide-ranging reshuffle of top security officials, replacing ENDF Chief of Staff Samora Yunis with Lieutenant General Se'are Mekonnen, National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) director Getachew Assefa with Lieutenant General Adem Mohammed, National Security Advisor and former army chief Abadula Gemeda, and Sebhat Nega, one of the founders of the TPLF and director-general of the Foreign Relations Strategic Research Institute[132][133] Sebhat's retirements had been previously announced that May.[134]

Grenade attack

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.[135][136][137][138]

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.[139] The new cabinet restructure included the first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde; the first female minister of the Ministry of Defense, Aisha Mohammed Musa;[140] 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.[141]

Internet shutdowns

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.[142][143] In 2020, Internet shutdowns by the Ethiopian government had been described as "frequently deployed".[144] Access Now said that shutdowns have become a "go-to tool for authorities to muzzle unrest and activism."[144] His government will the cut internet as and when, "it's neither water nor air" have said Abiy.[145][146]

Political party reform

On 21 November 2019, upon approval of EPRDF ruling coalition, a new party, Prosperity Party, is formed via merging of three of the four parties that made up the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and other five affiliate parties. The parties include the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM), the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), the Harari National League (HNL), the Ethiopian Somali Peoples Democratic Party (ESPDP), the Afar National Democratic Party (ANDP), the Gambella Peoples Unity Party (GPUP), and the Benishangul Gumuz Peoples Democratic Party (BGPDP). The programs and bylaws of the newly merged party were first approved by the executive committee of EPRDF. Abiy believes that "Prosperity Party is committed to strengthening and applying a true federal system which recognizes the diversity and contributions of all Ethiopians".[147]

Civil conflicts

Main article: Ethiopian civil conflict (2018–present)

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.[148] Abiy's undertook major reforms in the country and the liberation suspected to worsen the relationship with TPLF members.[149] The following lists detail civil conflicts and war during Abiy's premiership.

Amhara Region coup d'état attempt

Main article: Amhara Region coup d'état attempt

On 22 June 2019, factions of the security forces of the region attempted a coup d'état against the regional government, during which the President of the Amhara Region, Ambachew Mekonnen, was assassinated.[150] A bodyguard siding with the nationalist factions assassinated General Se'are Mekonnen – the Chief of the General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force – as well as his aide, Major General Gizae Aberra.[150] The Prime Minister's Office accused Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige, head of the Amhara region security forces, of leading the plot,[151] and Tsige was shot dead by police near Bahir Dar on 24 June.[152]

Metekel conflict

Main article: Metekel conflict

Starting in June 2019, fighting in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Ethiopia has reportedly involved militias from the Gumuz people.[153] Gumuz are alleged to have formed militias such as Buadin and the Gumuz Liberation Front that have staged attacks.[154][155] According to Amnesty International, the 22–23 December 2020 attacks were by Gumuz against Amhara, Oromo and Shinasha, who the Gumuz nationalists viewed as "settlers".[156]

October 2019 Ethiopian clashes

Main article: October 2019 Ethiopian clashes

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."[157][158]

Hachalu Hundessa riots

Main article: Hachalu Hundessa riots

The murder of Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa led serious unrest across Oromia Region and Addis Ababa from 30 June to 2 July 2020. The riots lead to the deaths of at least 239 people according to initial police reports.[159]

Tigray War

Main article: Tigray War

In early November 2020, an armed conflict began after 4 November Northern Command Attacks by TPLF security forces, prompting the ENDF to engage in war. The ENDF is supported by Eritrean Defence Force, Amhara and Afar Region special force with other regional forces, while TPLF was aided by Tigray Special Force and Tigray Defense Force.[160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167] Hostilities between the central government and the TPLF escalated after the TPLF rejected the central government's decision to postponing August 2020 elections to mid-2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing the government of violating the Ethiopian constitution.[168]

The TPLF carried out its own regional elections, winning all contested seats in the region's parliament.[169] 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.[170]

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,[171][172][173] 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".[174] However, there are reports that guerrilla-style conflict with the TPLF continues.[175][176]

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.[177][178][179][180][181]

On 18 December 2020, looting was reported by EEPA, including 500 dairy cows and hundreds of calves stolen by Amhara forces.[182] 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.[183] 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[184]

In his premature[185][186][187][188][189][190] victory speech delivered to the federal parliament[191] on 30 November 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."[192]

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”.[193]

The public image of a Nobel Peace Prize winner is being rapidly re-assessed by international media as increasingly grisly reports of atrocities emerge.[194] 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 respective grudges against the TPLF.[195]

Political positions

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."[196] 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."[196]

Criticism

Main article: Democratic backsliding in Ethiopia § Abiy Ahmed

Abiy's government was accused of authoritarianism and restricting press freedom, 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.[197] In 2019 World Press Freedom Index, Ethiopia improved the rank by jumping forty positions from 150 to 110 out of 180 countries.[198] 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.[199][200][201][202] 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.[203][204][205]

Awards

Award Awarding institution Date
Most Excellent Order of the Pearl of Africa: Grand Master[206] Uganda 9 June 2018
Order of the Zayed Medal[207] UAE Crown Prince 24 July 2018
High Rank Peace Award[208] Ethiopian Orthodox Church 9 September 2018
Order of King Abdulaziz[209] Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 16 September 2018
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 and Nigerian humanitarian activist Zannah Mustapha[210] Tipperary Peace Convention November 2018
100 Most Influential Africans of 2018[211] New African magazine 1 December 2018
African of the year[212] The African leadership magazine 15 December 2018
100 Most Influential People 2018[213] Time magazine 1 January 2019
100 Global Thinkers of 2019[214] Foreign Policy magazine 1 January 2019
Personality of the Year[215] AfricaNews.com 1 January 2019
African Excellence Award for Gender[216] African Union 11 February 2019
Humanitarian and Peace Maker Award[217] African Artists Peace Initiative 9 March 2019
Laureate of the 2019 edition of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny – UNESCO Peace Prize[218] UNESCO 2 May 2019
Peace Award for Contribution of Unity to Ethiopian Muslims[219] Ethiopian Muslim Community 25 May 2019
Chatham House Prize 2019 Nominee[220] Chatham House – The Royal Institute of International Affairs July 2019
World Tourism Award 2019[221] World Tourism Forum August 2019
Hessian Peace Prize[222] State of Hessen August 2019
African Association of Political Consultants Award[223] APCAfrica September 2019
Nobel Peace Prize[224] Nobel Foundation 11 October 2019
July 2021 Employee of the Month[225] World Peace Foundation 19 July 2021

Nicknames

Getachew Reda, a senior official of the elected government of Tigray Region, mocked Abiy Ahmed in a tweet on the day of the general elections, saying the Tigray Defense Forces had captured hundreds of ENDF soldiers as a gift for Abiy's coronation as the Naked Emperor of Ethiopia.[226]

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    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...

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External links

 
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  • Office of the PM official website
  • Abiy Ahmed on Facebook
  • Abiy Ahmed Ali on Nobelprize.org  
Government offices
Preceded by
Teklebirhan Woldearegay
 Director General of the Information Network Security Agency
2008–2015 		Succeeded by
Temesgen Tiruneh
Political offices
Preceded by
Demitu Hambisa
 Minister of Science and Technology
2015–2016 		Succeeded by
Getahun Mekuria
Preceded by Prime Minister of Ethiopia
2018–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Oromo Democratic Party
2018–2019 		Position abolished
Preceded by Chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
2018–2019
New political party President of the Prosperity Party
2019–present 		Incumbent

April 02, 2023
abiy, ahmed, this, ethiopian, name, name, ahmed, patronymic, person, should, referred, given, name, abiy, this, article, require, cleanup, meet, wikipedia, quality, standards, specific, problem, excessive, quotes, from, sources, citations, please, help, improv. In this Ethiopian name the name Ahmed Ali is a patronymic and the person should be referred by the given name Abiy This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia s quality standards The specific problem is Excessive quotes from sources in citations Please help improve this article if you can February 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Abiy Ahmed Ali Oromo Abiyi Ahmed Alii Amharic አብይ አሕመድ ዐሊ born 15 August 1976 is an Ethiopian politician who has been the 4th prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia since 2 April 2018 1 2 He won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending the 20 year post war territorial stalemate between Ethiopia and Eritrea 3 4 Abiy was the third chairman of the Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Democratic Front EPRDF that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first Oromo in that position 5 6 Abiy is an elected member of the Ethiopian parliament and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party ODP one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party the Prosperity Party 7 8 Abiy Ahmedአብይ አሕመድAbiy in 2018Prime Minister of EthiopiaIncumbentAssumed office 2 April 2018PresidentMulatu TeshomeSahle Work ZewdeDeputyDemeke MekonnenPreceded byHailemariam Desalegn1st President of the Prosperity PartyIncumbentAssumed office 1 December 2019DeputyDemeke MekonnenPreceded byParty established3rd Chairman of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic FrontIn office 27 March 2018 1 December 2019DeputyDemeke MekonnenPreceded byHailemariam DesalegnSucceeded byParty abolishedLeader of the Oromo Democratic PartyIn office 22 February 2018 1 December 2019DeputyLemma MegersaPreceded byLemma MegersaSucceeded byPost abolishedMinister of Science and TechnologyIn office 6 October 2015 1 November 2016Prime MinisterHailemariam DesalegnPreceded byDemitu HambisaSucceeded byGetahun MekuriaDirector General of the Information Network Security AgencyActingIn office 2008 2015Preceded byTeklebirhan WoldearegaySucceeded byTemesgen TirunehPersonal detailsBornAbiy Ahmed Ali 1976 08 15 15 August 1976 age 46 Beshasha Kaffa Province EthiopiaPolitical partyProsperity PartyOther politicalaffiliationsEthiopian People s Revolutionary Democratic Front until 2019 Oromo Democratic PartySpouseZinash TayachewChildren3EducationMicrolink Information Technology College BA University of Greenwich MA Ashland University MBA Addis Ababa University PhD AwardsNobel Peace Prize 2019 Websitepmo wbr gov wbr et wbr pm wbr Military serviceAllegianceEthiopiaBranch serviceEthiopian ArmyYears of service1991 2010RankLieutenant ColonelUnitArmy Signals CorpsCommandsInformation Network Security AgencyBattles warsEthiopian Civil WarUnited Nations Assistance Mission for RwandaEritrean Ethiopian WarTigray WarIn 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 9 10 and raised questions about the delay s constitutional legitimacy 11 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 12 During 2020 ethnic and political tensions grew and in early November the attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force ENDF Northern Command was the start of the Tigray War between the combined forces of the ENDF and the Eritrean army against forces loyal to the Tigray People s Liberation Front TPLF an ethnic based party which dominated the ruling EPRDF coalition during a nearly thirty year period marked by rapid development alongside increasing interethnic tension 13 as well as those loyal to significant allied groups such as the Oromo Liberation Army Since Abiy Ahmed came to power thousands of ethnic Amharas were methodically massacred 14 15 16 The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church accused the regime of Abiy Ahmed Ali of interfering in religious matters and of supporting an illegal group causing the schism The church rebuked Abiy Ahmed irresponsible statements point by point It threatens to call for worldwide protests by its believers against the illegal group and the support given by the regime of Abiy Ahmed Ali 17 Contents 1 Personal life 1 1 Early life 1 2 Religion 1 3 Education 2 Military career 3 Political career 3 1 Member of Parliament 3 2 Rise to power 3 3 EPRDF leadership election 4 Prime Minister of Ethiopia 4 1 Domestic policy 4 2 Transparency 4 3 Economic reforms 4 4 Foreign policy 4 4 1 Djibouti and port agreements 4 4 2 Eritrea 4 4 2 1 Calls to revoke Nobel Peace Prize 4 4 3 Egypt 4 5 Religious harmony 4 6 Security sector reform 4 7 Grenade attack 4 8 Cabinet reshuffle 4 9 Internet shutdowns 4 10 Political party reform 5 Civil conflicts 5 1 Amhara Region coup d etat attempt 5 2 Metekel conflict 5 3 October 2019 Ethiopian clashes 5 4 Hachalu Hundessa riots 5 5 Tigray War 6 Political positions 7 Criticism 8 Awards 9 Nicknames 10 References 11 External linksPersonal lifeEarly life Abiy Ahmed was born in the small town of Beshasha Ethiopia 18 19 20 21 His deceased father Ahmed Ali was a Muslim Oromo 22 Abiy s father was a typical Oromo farmer speaking only Oromo 23 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 22 and The Guardian in 2019 described Tezeta as Amhara 24 The Ethiopian Reporter stated in 2019 that Tezeta was a converted Christian 25 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 23 Tezeta was a fluent speaker of both Amharic and Oromo 23 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 18 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 18 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 18 Abiy married Zinash Tayachew an Amhara woman from Gondar 18 26 while both were serving in the Ethiopian National Defense Force 27 They are the parents of three daughters and one adopted son 27 Abiy speaks Oromo Amharic Tigrinya and English 28 He is a fitness aficionado and professes that physical health goes hand in hand with mental health and as such he frequents physical and gym activities in Addis Ababa 27 Religion Abiy is a Pentecostal Christian 29 30 born of a Muslim father and a Christian mother He was raised in a family of religious plurality Abiy and his family are regular church attendees and he also occasionally ministers in preaching and teaching the Gospel at the Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers Church His wife Zinash Tayachew is also a Christian who ministers in her church as a gospel singer Education While serving in the Ethiopian National Defense Force Abiy received his first degree a Bachelor s degree in computer engineering 31 from the Microlink Information Technology College in Addis Ababa in 2009 32 Abiy holds a Master of Arts in transformational leadership 31 earned from the business school at Greenwich University London in collaboration with the International Leadership Institute Addis Ababa in 2011 He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the Leadstar College of Management and Leadership in Addis Ababa in partnership with Ashland University 33 34 in 2013 35 Abiy who had started his Doctor of Philosophy PhD work as a regular student 36 submitted his PhD thesis in 2016 37 and defended it in 2017 38 39 40 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 37 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 38 Abiy published a related short research article on de escalation strategies in the Horn of Africa in a special journal issue dedicated to countering violent extremism 40 Military careerAt the age of 14 in early 1991 41 he joined the armed struggle against the Marxist Leninist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam after the death of his oldest brother He was a child soldier affiliated to the Oromo Democratic Party ODP which at that time was a tiny organization of only around 200 fighters in the large coalition army of about 100 000 fighters that resulted in the regime s fall later that year 28 18 27 As there were only so few ODP 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 28 After the fall of the Derg he took formal military training from Assefa Brigade in West Wollega and was stationed there Later on in 1993 he became a soldier in the now Ethiopian National Defense Force and worked mostly in the intelligence and communications departments In 1995 after the Rwandan genocide he was deployed as a member of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda UNAMIR in the country s capital Kigali 42 In the Ethio Eritrea War between 1998 and 2000 he led an intelligence team to discover positions of the Eritrean Defence Forces 43 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 28 44 He brought calm and peace in a situation of communal tensions accompanying the clashes 28 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 43 In 2006 Abiy was one of the co founders of the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency INSA where he worked in different positions 18 For two years he was acting director of INSA due to the director s leave of absence 18 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 40 28 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 careerMember of Parliament Abiy started his political career as a member of the Oromo Democratic Party ODP 45 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 28 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 40 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 18 46 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 47 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 48 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 28 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 49 50 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 51 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 52 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 53 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 54 55 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 48 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 48 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 56 49 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 57 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 58 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 47 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 59 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 6 On 2 April 2018 Abiy Ahmed was elected as Prime Minister of Ethiopia by the House of Representatives and sworn in 2 Prime Minister of EthiopiaMain article Premiership of Abiy Ahmed 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 6 Abiy holding his acceptance speech after receiving the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Domestic policy 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 60 61 62 In May 2018 alone the Oromo region pardoned over 7 600 prisoners 63 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 64 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 65 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 66 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 67 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 62 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 68 This followed the additional pardon of 304 prisoners 289 of which had been sentenced on terrorism related charges on 15 June 69 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 70 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 71 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 72 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 73 Transparency In 2018 to expand the free press in Ethiopia Abiy invited exiled media outlets to return 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 One of the media outlets invited to return was ESAT which had called for the genocide of Ethiopian Tigrayans 81 82 83 However since assuming office in April 2018 Abiy himself had as of March 2019 only given one press conference 84 on 25 August 2018 and around five months after he assumed office where he answered questions from journalists As of 21 March 2019 update he has not given another press conference where he has not refused to answer questions from journalists rather than reading prepared statements 85 86 87 According to the NGOs Human Rights Watch Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International Abiy s government has since mid 2019 been arresting Ethiopian journalists and closing media outlets except for ESAT TV 88 89 90 91 92 93 From the international media outlets his government has suspended the press license of Reuters s correspondent and issued a warning letter to the correspondents of both BBC and Deutsche Welle for what the government described as violation of the rules of media broadcasting 94 95 96 Economic reforms Abiy has announced that state owned enterprises such as Ethiopian Airlines are to be partially or wholly privatised 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 97 State monopolies in the telecommunications aviation electricity and logistics sectors are to be ended and those industries opened up to private sector competition 98 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 99 State owned enterprises in sectors deemed less critical including railway operators sugar industrial parks hotels and various manufacturing firms may be fully privatised 100 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 99 97 In June 2018 Abiy announced the government s intention to establish an Ethiopian stock exchange in tandem with the privatization of state owned enterprises 101 As of 2015 Ethiopia was the largest country in the world in terms of both population and gross domestic product without a stock exchange 102 Foreign policy Abiy and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in May 2018 Abiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia Africa Summit in Sochi in October 2019 Abiy with U S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February 2020 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 60 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 103 Djibouti and port agreements 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 unrecognized Republic of Somaliland as part of a joint venture with DP World 104 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 105 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 106 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 107 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 97 All these developments would reduce Ethiopian reliance on Djibouti s port which since 1998 has handled almost all of Ethiopia s maritime traffic 108 106 Eritrea Main articles Eritrea Ethiopia relations and 2018 Eritrea Ethiopia summit 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 97 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 109 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 110 Abiy with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in March 2019 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 111 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 112 113 114 Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts in ending the war 4 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 115 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 116 Calls to revoke Nobel Peace Prize 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 117 118 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 119 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 120 Egypt The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has become a national preoccupation in both countries 121 122 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 123 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 124 An Egyptian diplomat responded by saying that Egypt has nothing to do with current tensions in Ethiopia 125 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 124 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 126 127 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 128 Security sector reform Abiy with military commanders in February 2019 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 129 This move is considered likely to face resistance from TPLF hardliners who occupy much of the military high command 130 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 131 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 On 7 June 2018 Abiy carried out a wide ranging reshuffle of top security officials replacing ENDF Chief of Staff Samora Yunis with Lieutenant General Se are Mekonnen National Intelligence and Security Service NISS director Getachew Assefa with Lieutenant General Adem Mohammed National Security Advisor and former army chief Abadula Gemeda and Sebhat Nega one of the founders of the TPLF and director general of the Foreign Relations Strategic Research Institute 132 133 Sebhat s retirements had been previously announced that May 134 Grenade attack 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 135 136 137 138 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 139 The new cabinet restructure included the first female president Sahle Work Zewde the first female minister of the Ministry of Defense Aisha Mohammed Musa 140 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 141 Internet shutdowns 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 142 143 In 2020 Internet shutdowns by the Ethiopian government had been described as frequently deployed 144 Access Now said that shutdowns have become a go to tool for authorities to muzzle unrest and activism 144 His government will the cut internet as and when it s neither water nor air have said Abiy 145 146 Political party reform On 21 November 2019 upon approval of EPRDF ruling coalition a new party Prosperity Party is formed via merging of three of the four parties that made up the Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Democratic Front EPRDF and other five affiliate parties The parties include the Oromo Democratic Party ODP the Southern Ethiopian People s Democratic Movement SEPDM the Amhara Democratic Party ADP the Harari National League HNL the Ethiopian Somali Peoples Democratic Party ESPDP the Afar National Democratic Party ANDP the Gambella Peoples Unity Party GPUP and the Benishangul Gumuz Peoples Democratic Party BGPDP The programs and bylaws of the newly merged party were first approved by the executive committee of EPRDF Abiy believes that Prosperity Party is committed to strengthening and applying a true federal system which recognizes the diversity and contributions of all Ethiopians 147 Civil conflictsMain article Ethiopian civil conflict 2018 present 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 148 Abiy s undertook major reforms in the country and the liberation suspected to worsen the relationship with TPLF members 149 The following lists detail civil conflicts and war during Abiy s premiership Amhara Region coup d etat attempt Main article Amhara Region coup d etat attempt On 22 June 2019 factions of the security forces of the region attempted a coup d etat against the regional government during which the President of the Amhara Region Ambachew Mekonnen was assassinated 150 A bodyguard siding with the nationalist factions assassinated General Se are Mekonnen the Chief of the General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force as well as his aide Major General Gizae Aberra 150 The Prime Minister s Office accused Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige head of the Amhara region security forces of leading the plot 151 and Tsige was shot dead by police near Bahir Dar on 24 June 152 Metekel conflict Main article Metekel conflict Starting in June 2019 fighting in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul Gumuz Region in Ethiopia has reportedly involved militias from the Gumuz people 153 Gumuz are alleged to have formed militias such as Buadin and the Gumuz Liberation Front that have staged attacks 154 155 According to Amnesty International the 22 23 December 2020 attacks were by Gumuz against Amhara Oromo and Shinasha who the Gumuz nationalists viewed as settlers 156 October 2019 Ethiopian clashes Main article October 2019 Ethiopian clashes 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 157 158 Hachalu Hundessa riots Main article Hachalu Hundessa riots The murder of Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa led serious unrest across Oromia Region and Addis Ababa from 30 June to 2 July 2020 The riots lead to the deaths of at least 239 people according to initial police reports 159 Tigray War Main article Tigray War In early November 2020 an armed conflict began after 4 November Northern Command Attacks by TPLF security forces prompting the ENDF to engage in war The ENDF is supported by Eritrean Defence Force Amhara and Afar Region special force with other regional forces while TPLF was aided by Tigray Special Force and Tigray Defense Force 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 Hostilities between the central government and the TPLF escalated after the TPLF rejected the central government s decision to postponing August 2020 elections to mid 2021 as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic accusing the government of violating the Ethiopian constitution 168 The TPLF carried out its own regional elections winning all contested seats in the region s parliament 169 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 170 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 171 172 173 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 174 However there are reports that guerrilla style conflict with the TPLF continues 175 176 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 177 178 179 180 181 On 18 December 2020 looting was reported by EEPA including 500 dairy cows and hundreds of calves stolen by Amhara forces 182 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 183 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 184 In his premature 185 186 187 188 189 190 victory speech delivered to the federal parliament 191 on 30 November 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 192 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 193 The public image of a Nobel Peace Prize winner is being rapidly re assessed by international media as increasingly grisly reports of atrocities emerge 194 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 respective grudges against the TPLF 195 Political positionsAbiy 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 196 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 196 CriticismMain article Democratic backsliding in Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed Abiy s government was accused of authoritarianism and restricting press freedom 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 197 In 2019 World Press Freedom Index Ethiopia improved the rank by jumping forty positions from 150 to 110 out of 180 countries 198 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 199 200 201 202 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 203 204 205 AwardsAward Awarding institution DateMost Excellent Order of the Pearl of Africa Grand Master 206 Uganda 9 June 2018Order of the Zayed Medal 207 UAE Crown Prince 24 July 2018High Rank Peace Award 208 Ethiopian Orthodox Church 9 September 2018Order of King Abdulaziz 209 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 16 September 2018Nominee 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 and Nigerian humanitarian activist Zannah Mustapha 210 Tipperary Peace Convention November 2018100 Most Influential Africans of 2018 211 New African magazine 1 December 2018African of the year 212 The African leadership magazine 15 December 2018100 Most Influential People 2018 213 Time magazine 1 January 2019100 Global Thinkers of 2019 214 Foreign Policy magazine 1 January 2019Personality of the Year 215 AfricaNews com 1 January 2019African Excellence Award for Gender 216 African Union 11 February 2019Humanitarian and Peace Maker Award 217 African Artists Peace Initiative 9 March 2019Laureate of the 2019 edition of the Felix Houphouet Boigny UNESCO Peace Prize 218 UNESCO 2 May 2019Peace Award for Contribution of Unity to Ethiopian Muslims 219 Ethiopian Muslim Community 25 May 2019Chatham House Prize 2019 Nominee 220 Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs July 2019World Tourism Award 2019 221 World Tourism Forum August 2019Hessian Peace Prize 222 State of Hessen August 2019African Association of Political Consultants Award 223 APCAfrica September 2019Nobel Peace Prize 224 Nobel Foundation 11 October 2019July 2021 Employee of the Month 225 World Peace Foundation 19 July 2021NicknamesGetachew Reda a senior official of the elected government of Tigray Region mocked Abiy Ahmed in a tweet on the day of the general elections saying the Tigray Defense Forces had captured hundreds of ENDF soldiers as a gift for Abiy s coronation as the Naked Emperor of Ethiopia 226 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 a b Dr Abiy Ahmed sworn in as Prime Minister of Ethiopia Fana Broadcasting 1 April 2018 Archived from the original on 13 May 2018 Retrieved 2 April 2018 Girma Mohammed 12 October 2019 Ethiopia s Abiy Ahmed has won the Nobel Prize but there are still big hurdles to peace at home Quartz Archived from the original on 14 January 2022 Retrieved 14 January 2022 a b Busby Mattha 11 October 2019 Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed wins 2019 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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 Methodical slaughter of ethnic Amhara in Ethiopia continues 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 As schism deepens Orthodox Synod slams PM Abiy s remarks on ongoing crisis point by point threaten to organize worldwide protest Addisstandard com Addis Standard 2023 The fact that all these were done under the leadership of the state government led us to the belief that the government has violated the constitution and interfering in religious matters and with its approval a coup d etat on the synod is taking place the Synod said a b c d e f g h i Endeshaw Dawit 31 March 2018 The rise of Abiy milion Ahmed The Reporter Archived from the original on 14 October 2019 Retrieved 31 March 2018 Prime Minister pmo gov et Archived from the original on 20 April 2019 Retrieved 6 June 2019 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 Girma Zelalem 31 March 2015 Ethiopia in democratic 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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 Dr Abiy Ahmed s must listen speech on knowledge ideas and concepts Borkena com 11 January 2018 Archived from the original on 1 December 2018 Retrieved 18 February 2018 a b Nobel Peace Prize Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed wins BBC News 11 October 2019 Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2019 Mackay Maria 1 December 2006 Muslim Mob Kills Six Christians In Ethiopia Christianity Today Archived from the original on 10 May 2007 Retrieved 14 July 2007 About Us Oromo Democratic Party Archived from the original on 17 March 2016 Retrieved 19 February 2018 About STIC Stic gov et Archived from 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The Washington Post 10 June 2018 Archived from the original on 11 June 2018 Retrieved 11 June 2018 Soleiman Ahmend 27 April 2018 Ethiopia s Prime Minister Shows Knack for Balancing Reform and Continuity Chatham House Archived from the original on 1 May 2018 Retrieved 6 June 2018 a b Dahir Abdi Latif 4 June 2018 Ethiopia will end its state of emergency early as part of widening political reforms Quartz Archived from the original on 5 June 2018 Retrieved 5 June 2018 Ethiopia s Oromia regional state pardons 7 611 detainees Xinhua 24 May 2018 Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 6 June 2018 Ethiopia frees abducted Briton Andargachew Tsege on death row BBC News 29 May 2018 Archived from the original on 30 May 2018 Retrieved 6 June 2018 Ethiopia drops charges against 2 US based broadcasters The Washington Post Associated Press 29 May 2018 Archived from the original on 29 March 2019 Retrieved 6 June 2018 Zelalem Zecharias 31 May 2018 Ethiopia s PM Abiy Ahmed breaks the internet with photo of Andargachew Tsige meeting OPride Archived from the original on 7 January 2019 Retrieved 6 June 2018 Standard Addis 24 May 2018 PM AbiyAhmed met today with the leadership of ODF Twitter addisstandard Archived from the original on 7 March 2021 Retrieved 11 October 2019 Mumbere Daniel 19 June 2018 Ethiopia PM says era of state sanctioned torture is over AfricaNews Archived from the original on 19 June 2018 Retrieved 19 June 2018 Ethiopia pardons hundreds sentenced on terrorism charges Al Jazeera Reuters 15 June 2018 Archived from the original on 18 June 2018 Retrieved 19 June 2018 Bruton Bronwyn 6 June 2018 The announcement that Ethiopia will give up Badme Twitter Archived from the original on 26 April 2019 Retrieved 6 June 2018 Lift the state of emergency in Ethiopia and lose the country Tigrai Online 2 June 2018 Archived from the original on 7 June 2018 Retrieved 6 June 2018 Gebre Seifeselassie 28 May 2018 Is Ethiopia Creating a Revolving Door Criminal Justice System Tigrai Online Archived from the original on 2 June 2018 Retrieved 6 June 2018 Abera Etenesh 13 June 2018 TPLF says Ethiopia s recent Eritrea economy related decisions have fundamental flaws calls for emergency meeting of EPRDF executive Addis Standard Archived from the original on 13 June 2018 Retrieved 13 June 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 Ethiopia drops charges against two foreign based media organizations two individuals FanaBC 29 May 2018 Archived from the original on 1 April 2019 Retrieved 31 March 2019 The Federal Attorney General has requested the federal high court to drop charges against two foreign countries based media organizations ESAT and OMN as well as Berhanu Nega and Jawar Mohammed New television channels in Ethiopia may threaten state control The Economist 9 December 2016 Archived from the original on 12 January 2018 Retrieved 6 April 2019 Yoseph Nardos 2 August 2009 New Channels Abundance Increases Competition for TV Ad Revenues Addis Fortune Archived from the original on 21 April 2020 Retrieved 6 April 2019 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 PM Abiy holds his first ever press conference since inauguration Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation 25 August 2018 Archived from the original on 29 August 2018 Retrieved 16 March 2019 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 Njolstad 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 Ethiopia Release detained journalists and opposition politicians immediately Amnesty International 7 April 2020 Archived from the original on 30 November 2020 Retrieved 12 December 2020 Ethiopian authorities arrest Addis Standard editor Medihane Ekubamichael Committee to Protect Journalists 13 November 2020 Archived from the original on 12 December 2020 Retrieved 12 December 2020 Ethiopian journalist Yayesew Shimelis detained following COVID 19 report Committee to Protect Journalists April 2020 Archived from the original on 8 December 2020 Retrieved 12 December 2020 In era of reform Ethiopia still reverts to old tactics to censor press report Committee to Protect Journalists 9 July 2019 Archived from the original on 11 January 2021 Retrieved 12 December 2020 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 a b c d Maasho Aaron 5 June 2018 Ethiopia opens up telecoms airline to private foreign investors Reuters Archived 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from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2019 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Lyons Terrence 2009 The Ethiopia Eritrea Conflict and the Search for Peace in the Horn of Africa Review of African Political Economy 36 120 167 180 doi 10 1080 03056240903068053 ISSN 0305 6244 JSTOR 27756259 S2CID 154642333 Eritrean officials visit Ethiopia for first time in 20 years BBC News 26 June 2018 Archived from the original on 5 June 2020 Retrieved 9 July 2018 Ethiopia s PM Abiy Ahmed in Eritrea for landmark visit Al Jazeera English 8 July 2018 Archived from the original on 9 July 2018 Retrieved 9 July 2018 Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship between Eritrea and Ethiopia Eritrean Ministry of Information 9 July 2018 Archived from the original on 12 July 2020 Retrieved 6 April 2019 Dahir Abdi Latif 9 July 2018 The giddy excitement that marked Ethiopia and Eritrea s historic summit Quartz Archived from the original on 9 July 2018 Retrieved 9 July 2018 Ethiopia and Eritrea declare war has come to an end Al Jazeera English 9 July 2018 Archived from the original on 9 June 2020 Retrieved 9 July 2018 Taylor Adam Why Eritrea didn t win a Nobel for its peace accord when Ethiopia did Washington Post Archived from the original on 14 July 2020 Retrieved 13 July 2020 Eritrea Says Prize Winning Ethiopian Peace Pact Is Falling Short www bloomberg com Archived from the original on 15 August 2020 Retrieved 7 August 2020 Sew Mistir 14 June 2021 Revoke the Nobel Peace Prize from Ethiopia s Abiy Ethiopia Insight Archived from the original on 16 September 2021 Retrieved 16 September 2021 TronvollThis Kjetil 7 June 2021 The Nobel committee should resign over the atrocities in Tigray The Guardian Archived from the original on 16 September 2021 Retrieved 16 September 2021 Tisdall Simon 24 January 2021 Ethiopia s leader must answer for the high cost of hidden war in Tigray The Guardian Guardian News amp Media Limited 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 Row over Africa s largest dam in danger of escalating warn scientists Nature 15 July 2020 Archived from the original on 18 July 2020 Retrieved 18 July 2020 An Egyptian cyber attack on Ethiopia by hackers is the latest strike over the Grand Dam Quartz 27 June 2020 Archived from the original on 25 July 2020 Retrieved 18 July 2020 Are Egypt and Ethiopia heading for a water war The Week 8 July 2020 Archived from the original on 18 July 2020 Retrieved 18 July 2020 a b As Ethiopians Take to the Streets to Protest a Musician s Murder Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Is Stuck in a Precarious Position Time Archived from the original on 14 July 2020 Retrieved 11 July 2020 Cairo has nothing to do with current tensions in Ethiopia Egyptian diplomat Ahram Online Archived from the original on 11 July 2020 Retrieved 11 July 2020 Premier meets with Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Holy Synod FBC Fana Broadcasting Corporate S C 6 September 2019 Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2019 Ethiopian PM attends iftar with Muslim community Anadolu Agency 22 May 2019 Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2019 Rahman Alfa Shaban Abdur 10 September 2018 Photos Ethiopia PM dedicates award to agents of democratic change Africanews Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2019 Mumbere Daniel 2 June 2018 Ethiopia PM wants a more professional army equipped for modern warfare Africa News Archived from the original on 5 June 2018 Retrieved 5 June 2018 Woldegiorgis Dawit 31 May 2018 Let Us Rally Around PM Abiy Ahmed for a Peaceful Transition ECAD Forum Archived from the original on 19 July 2018 Retrieved 5 June 2018 Maasho Aaron 3 June 2016 Landlocked Ethiopia plans new navy as part of military reforms Reuters Archived from the original on 3 June 2018 Retrieved 5 June 2018 PM appoints new security chief The Reporter 7 June 2018 Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 7 June 2018 Five high ranking authorities including Sebhat Nega to retire Borkena 15 May 2018 Archived from the original on 29 March 2019 Retrieved 7 June 2018 Amid EPRDF Reshuffle Sebhat Nega a TPLF Founder Retires from Think Tank Ethiopia Observer 18 May 2018 Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2019 Ahmed Hadra 23 June 2018 Explosion Hits Rally for Ethiopian Leader The New York Times Archived from the original on 23 June 2018 Retrieved 23 June 2018 Ethiopia Grenade attack caused blast at rally for PM Abiy Ahmed Al Jazeera 23 June 2018 Archived from the original on 23 June 2018 Retrieved 24 June 2018 Lethal grenade attack at Ethiopia rally BBC News 23 June 2018 Archived from the original on 23 June 2018 Retrieved 24 June 2018 Twenty people in court in Ethiopia following grenade attack Reuters 25 June 2018 Archived from the original on 26 June 2018 Retrieved 27 June 2018 Schemm Paul 16 October 2018 In Ethiopian leader s new cabinet half the ministers are women The Washington Post Archived from the original on 17 October 2018 Retrieved 17 October 2018 Ethiopia gets first female defence minister News24 16 October 2018 Archived from the original on 19 April 2019 Retrieved 24 January 2019 The women smashing Ethiopia s glass ceiling BBC News 18 November 2018 Archived from the original on 16 January 2019 Retrieved 15 January 2019 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 Internet cut in Ethiopia amid unrest following killing of singer NetBlocks 30 June 2020 Archived from the original on 1 July 2020 Retrieved 3 July 2020 a b Hamilton Isobel Asher Ethiopia s government shut down the entire country s internet and 80 people have been killed in protests following the assassination of a popular musician Business Insider Archived from the original on 2 July 2020 Retrieved 3 July 2020 Ethiopia will cut internet as and when it s neither water nor air PM Abiy Africanews 2 August 2019 Archived from the original on 30 November 2020 Retrieved 12 December 2020 Twitter backlash after Ethiopia PM s internet not water or air threat Africanews 3 August 2019 Archived from the original on 30 November 2020 Retrieved 12 December 2020 Ethiopia s ruling coalition agrees to form single party ahead of 2020 vote Reuters 21 November 2019 Archived from the original on 2 January 2020 Retrieved 2 January 2020 Allo Awol How Abiy Ahmed s Ethiopia first nationalism led to civil war www aljazeera com Archived from the original on 17 December 2020 Retrieved 4 February 2022 Civil War in Ethiopia The Instrumentalization and Politicization of Identity PRIF BLOG in German 23 December 2021 Archived from the original on 4 February 2022 Retrieved 4 February 2022 a b President of the Amhara region killed Ethiopia Observer 23 June 2019 Archived from the original on 26 June 2019 Retrieved 24 June 2019 Ingber Sasha 23 June 2019 Ethiopia Army Chief Killed In Attempted Coup Government Says NPR Archived from the original on 23 June 2019 Retrieved 24 June 2019 Alleged Ethiopian coup mastermind shot dead after 36 hour manhunt i24 news 24 June 2019 Archived from the original on 11 September 2020 Retrieved 24 June 2019 12 killed in latest attack in western Ethiopia News24 Archived from the original on 21 January 2021 Retrieved 26 December 2020 12 killed in latest attack in western Ethiopia News24 Archived from the original on 21 January 2021 Retrieved 25 March 2021 Benishangul At least 60 civilians mostly women children killed Borkena Ethiopian News 13 January 2021 Archived from the original on 12 April 2021 Retrieved 25 March 2021 More than 100 killed in latest ethnic massacre in Ethiopia AP NEWS 23 December 2020 Archived from the original on 23 December 2020 Retrieved 25 March 2021 Dahir Abdi Latif 24 October 2019 Protests in Ethiopia Threaten to Mar Image of Its Nobel Winning Leader New York Times Archived from the original on 27 October 2019 Retrieved 24 October 2019 Tiksa Negeri 24 October 2019 Ethiopia activist calls for calm after 16 killed in clashes Reuters Archived from the original on 26 October 2019 Retrieved 24 October 2019 Ethiopia arrests suspects over Haacaaluu Hundeessaa killing archived from the original on 10 November 2020 retrieved 10 July 2020 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 Tigra 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 Paravicini Giulia Endeshaw Dawit 4 November 2020 Ethiopia sends army into Tigray region heavy fighting reported Reuters Archived from the original on 19 November 2020 Retrieved 4 November 2020 Exclusive U S thinks Eritrea has joined Ethiopian war diplomats say Reuters 8 December 2020 Archived from the original on 9 December 2020 Retrieved 16 December 2020 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 Once enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea ally against Tigray Deutsche Welle 15 December 2020 Archived from the original on 17 December 2020 Retrieved 16 December 2020 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 Ethiopia proposes holding postponed vote in May or June 2021 FANA Reuters 30 October 2020 Archived from the original on 23 November 2020 Retrieved 29 November 2020 Marks Simon Dahir Abdi Latif 10 September 2020 Ethiopian Region Holds Local Elections in Defiance of Prime Minister The New York Times Archived from the original on 28 November 2020 Retrieved 29 November 2020 Ann Fitz Gerald Ethiopia is on the brink of a potentially destabilizing war Will Canada prove to be a true friend theglobeandmail com The Globe and Mail Archived from the original on 10 November 2020 Retrieved 11 November 2020 Ethiopia s Tigray crisis How a soldier survived an 11 hour gun battle BBC News 10 December 2020 Archived from the original on 10 December 2020 Retrieved 11 December 2020 Inside a military base in Ethiopia s Tigray soldiers decry betrayal by former comrades Thomson Reuters 17 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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 Ethiopia s Tigray crisis About 2 3 million children cut off from aid UN says BBC 15 December 2020 Archived from the original on 31 January 2021 Retrieved 16 December 2020 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 Situation Report EEPA HORN No 30 19 December Archived 21 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine Europe External Programme with Africa Inside Humera a town scarred by Ethiopia s war Reuters 23 November 2020 Archived from the original on 9 March 2021 Retrieved 24 November 2020 In Pictures Eritrean refugees caught in crossfire in Ethiopia archived from the original on 1 March 2021 retrieved 1 February 2021 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 OWP 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 Africa British Broadcasting Corporation 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 Imagen Enterprise Video Platform 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 Nyssen Jan 19 June 2021 From Apologies to Atrocities How to make sense of leadership statements in Ethiopia Reinventing Peace Retrieved 31 March 2022 Akinwotu Emmanuel Scale of Tigray horror adds to pressure on Ethiopian leader The Guardian No 28 March 2021 Guardian News amp Media Limited 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 Walsh Declan 15 December 2021 The Nobel Peace Prize That Paved the Way for War The New York Times Archived from the original on 15 December 2021 Retrieved 20 December 2021 a b Gardner Tom Abiy Ahmed Is Not a Populist Foreign Policy Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 2 July 2020 Ethiopian rights body seeks release of 16 detained journalists www aljazeera com Retrieved 10 July 2022 Welle www dw com Deutsche Press freedom under siege again in the new Ethiopia DW 16 11 2019 DW COM Retrieved 10 July 2022 Journalists in Ethiopia Say Press Freedom is at Crossroads VOA Retrieved 10 July 2022 Where is Journalist Gobeze Sisay EHRDC 7 May 2022 Retrieved 10 July 2022 Ethiopian journalist Gobeze Sisay held for more than a week interrogated about reporting Committee to Protect Journalists 12 May 2022 Retrieved 10 July 2022 Account 4 May 2022 Gobeze Sisay whereabout unknown four days after he was taken from his home Borkena Ethiopian News Retrieved 10 July 2022 St Addis ard 5 April 2022 Latest update Journalist Tamerat Negera released on bail Addis Standard Retrieved 11 July 2022 Ethiopia Police Detain Terara Network Founder and Editor in Chief Tamerat Negera allAfrica com 10 December 2021 Retrieved 11 July 2022 Ethiopia Analysis As Oromia Police Seek to Indict Journalist Tamerat With Eight Charges Court Remands Him for 14 More Days allAfrica com 1 March 2022 Retrieved 11 July 2022 Prime Minister Abiy leaves for Uganda display page ebc www ebc et Archived from the original on 25 May 2019 Retrieved 16 May 2019 Arega Fitsum 24 July 2018 HH Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has awarded the Presidential Medal The Zayed medal to HE Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed amp HE President Isaias Afeworki Adam Debalke Kidus Tegene for bringing peace between the two countries This is the highest medal in the UAE Eriteria Ethiopia UAEpic twitter com d7F4Idycu1 fitsumaregaa Archived from the original on 8 March 2021 Retrieved 16 May 2019 FBC Fana Broadcasting Corporate S C www facebook com Archived from the original on 8 March 2021 Retrieved 17 May 2019 TesfaNews 16 September 2018 Leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia Received Saudi Arabia s Highest Honour TesfaNews Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 16 May 2019 O Brien Tim Mary Robinson to receive Tipperary international peace award The Irish Times Archived from the original on 2 September 2019 Retrieved 3 September 2019 admin Ethiopian Prime Minister among 100 most influential Africans of 2018 nazret com Archived from the original on 9 March 2021 Retrieved 16 May 2019 PM Dr Abiy named African of the Year 2018 Fanabc Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 16 May 2019 The 100 Most Influential People of 2019 TIME Archived from the original on 17 April 2019 Retrieved 16 May 2019 Foreign Policy s 100 Global Thinkers Foreign Policy Archived from the original on 28 March 2021 Retrieved 16 May 2019 AfricaNews 20 December 2018 2018 Personality of the Year nominee Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed Africanews Archived from the original on 24 February 2019 Retrieved 16 May 2019 AfricaNews 12 February 2019 Ethiopia PM bags 2018 African Gender Awards plaque Africanews Archived from the original on 5 March 2019 Retrieved 16 May 2019 Ibraheem Ceesay www facebook com Archived from the original on 8 March 2021 Retrieved 16 May 2019 Abiy Ahmed Ali Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia laureate of the 2019 edition of the Felix Houphouet Boigny UNESCO Peace Prize UNESCO 2 May 2019 Archived from the original on 2 May 2019 Retrieved 16 May 2019 PM hosts Grand Iftar evening for Muslim community The Reporter Ethiopia English www thereporterethiopia com 25 May 2019 Archived from the original on 27 May 2019 Retrieved 27 May 2019 Chatham House Prize 2019 Nominees Chatham House Retrieved 22 July 2019 permanent dead link Ethiopian Prime Minister Receives 2019 World Tourism Award prensa latina cu Archived from the original on 17 August 2019 Retrieved 20 August 2019 Germany hessenschau de Frankfurt 27 August 2019 Athiopiens Hoffnungstrager Abiy erhalt den Hessischen Friedenspreis hessenschau de in German Archived from the original on 27 August 2019 Retrieved 27 August 2019 Premier receives award from Association of Political Consultants Africa Fanabc Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 13 September 2019 Ethiopia s PM Dr Abiy Wins 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Fanabc Archived from the original on 11 October 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2019 July 2021 Employee of the Month Abiy Ahmed 19 July 2021 Archived from the original on 24 July 2021 Retrieved 24 July 2021 Officials count ballots after Ethiopia s election new fighting reported in Tigray The Irish Times Retrieved 31 March 2022 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abiy Ahmed Ali Wikiquote has quotations related to Abiy Ahmed Scholia has a topic profile for Abiy Ahmed Office of the PM official website Abiy Ahmed on Facebook Abiy Ahmed Ali on Nobelprize org Government officesPreceded byTeklebirhan Woldearegay Director General of the Information Network Security Agency2008 2015 Succeeded byTemesgen TirunehPolitical officesPreceded byDemitu Hambisa Minister of Science and Technology2015 2016 Succeeded byGetahun MekuriaPreceded byHailemariam Desalegn Prime Minister of Ethiopia2018 present IncumbentParty political officesPreceded byLemma Megersa Leader of the Oromo Democratic Party2018 2019 Position abolishedPreceded byHailemariam Desalegn Chairman of the Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Democratic Front2018 2019New political party President of the Prosperity Party2019 present Incumbent Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Abiy Ahmed amp oldid 1140386570, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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