﻿Abiy Ahmed: Ethiopia's Prime Minister.
Abiy
Ahmed, full name Abiy Ahmed Ali was born in Beshaha,
a coffee-farming district in south-western Ethiopia, to Christian and Muslim parents,
and he quickly became known as someone capable of uniting an increasingly divided country.
Abiy is a Christian who practises Pentecostalism. He drew the attention of protesting youths who
demanded greater political inclusion as the country's first ethnic Oromo leader in recent
years. He toured the country, exuding youthful exuberance. His approachability contrasted with
his predecessors' intimidating distance, and for many ordinary citizens he met on
his frequent trips, he was unlike any recent leader they had met.
Nonetheless, he was an insider. He served in the military,
rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Abiy fought against the Derg (Dergue) regime that
ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991, and he later served in the Ethiopian National Defense Forces,
rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering
from Microlink Information Technology College in Addis Abeba in 2001 while serving in the military.
In 2007, he became the country's Information Network and Security Agency's founder and
director, in charge of cyber-security in a country where the government had
tight control over the internet. He later became Minister of Science and Technology.
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Abiy was elected to the House of Peoples' Representatives in 2010
as a member of the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), which was part of the
ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In the years since, he has received
a master's degree in transformational leadership (2011) from the International Leadership Institute
in Addis Abeba, in collaboration with Greenwich University in London; a master's
degree in business administration (2013) from Leadstar College of Management and Leadership,
in collaboration with Ashland University in Ohio; and a doctorate (2017) from
Addis Ababa University's Institute for Peace and Security Studies.
Abiy was appointed minister of science and technology in the federal government in 2016,
but he left in October of that year to become vice president of the Oromia regional government.
Abiy was elected secretary-general of the OPDO party in 2017.
Meanwhile, in 2015, the Oromo people protested a contentious plan proposed by the EPRDF-led federal
government to enlarge Ethiopia's capital, Addis Abeba, by connecting it to parts of the Oromia
region. More protests occurred in Oromia and other regions the following year, fueled by a broader
range of grievances against the government. Early in 2018, the government began making
overtures to defuse tensions and promote dialogue with opposition groups. Following Prime Minister
Hailemariam Desalegn's unexpected resignation in February, Abiy emerged as the leading candidate
to succeed him. Abiy was elected chair of the OPDO party in February 2018, putting him in line
to become chair of the EPRDF ruling coalition, which he did on March 27. The House of People's
Representatives elected him prime minister on April 2, the same year, and he was sworn
in on the same day. Notably, Abiy was the first Oromo to hold the position of prime minister,
and it was hoped that his election would help to ease the remaining tensions between the Oromo
people and the government. At the age of 41, he became Prime Minister for the first time in 2018,
amid anti-government protests. His youthful vitality and bright smile offered hope.
Abiy made immediate efforts to bring about dramatic changes in the democratic process,
the economy, and the resolution of the country's long-standing border conflict with Eritrea.
Thousands of political prisoners were released in his first year, and some opposition groups were
removed from the government's list of terrorist organisations. He later signed a peace treaty
with one of the groups, bringing the Ogaden more than 30 years of conflict to an end. Measures were
also unveiled to encourage investment and boost economic growth. Abiy formed a new cabinet that
was notable not only for its smaller size but also for the number of women Abiy appointed,
resulting in the country's first gender-balanced cabinet. He supported a woman for president,
established gender parity in the cabinet, and established a peace ministry.
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the coalition that Mr Abiy leads
and which is currently in power, was well into its third decade in power and had been plagued by
allegations of repression and violations of human rights. This included the confinement of political
opponents and the muzzling of journalists. The EPRDF was responsible for the rapid expansion
of the economy, but many people felt they were left out of the benefits of this expansion.
A wave of protests was fueled by the perception that members of the country's largest ethnic
group, the Oromo, were being discriminated against because of their ethnicity. Mr Abiy,
who is Oromo himself, was elevated to the position of prime minister and immediately began addressing
concerns amidst a whirlwind of reforms after being put in charge. He freed thousands of political
prisoners, removed restrictions on the operation of independent media organizations, and extended
invitations to return to the country from exile to opposition groups that had previously been banned
in the nation. The most important accomplishment that Abiy and the government that he leads under
the leadership of the EPRDF have accomplished is making significant headway in the search for
peace with Eritrea and reopening the common border. On June 5, 2018, Abiy announced that
Ethiopia would be adhering to the terms of the peace agreement that had been signed in 2000
to put an end to the border war that had begun in 1998 between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
This included accepting and implementing the 2002 ruling that had previously been rejected by
Ethiopia that had demarcated the border between the two countries. The following month, Abiy
travelled to Eritrea to meet with the president of that country, Isaias Afwerki. In addition to
reopening their countries' borders, the two heads of state agreed to revive relations between their
countries in the fields of diplomacy, commerce, communications, and transportation. After this,
on July 9, Abiy and Isaias issued a momentous joint statement in which they declared an end to
the state of war that had existed between their two countries for the previous twenty years.
This state of war had been ongoing between the two nations. Abiy was also involved in the resolution
of other conflicts in the region. He served as a mediator in conflicts between Eritrea and
Djibouti, between Kenya and Somalia, and in the conflict that was going on internally in Sudan.
During his tour of the nation, Abiy gave speeches focused on unifying the diverse
population of Ethiopia. He came up with a new political philosophy that he called medemer,
which was designed to promote a feeling of national unity despite the existence of ethnic
divisions. In addition to this, he desired to honour the various cultures. He gained
widespread popularity, in part as a result of the profound shifts that took place in the nation,
but a significant portion of his appeal was also due to the story about his own life.
Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his work toward easing tensions along
Ethiopia's border with Eritrea. The award was given in recognition of his efforts.
Not everyone in Ethiopia was ready to accept such change, which allowed simmering ethnic
tensions to come to the forefront. Although Abiy's overtures and reform efforts were
welcomed and applauded by many, not everyone in Ethiopia was ready to accept such change.
In 2018, there were numerous large rallies held in support of the reforms proposed by the prime
minister. A grenade was thrown at the stage where Abiy was speaking during a rally in June of 2018,
but he was unharmed in the incident. However, two other people lost their lives and dozens
more were injured. Several high-ranking officials were killed in what the government has described
as a botched attempt at a coup that occurred in June 2019 and was centred in the Amhara region.
Late in 2019, Abiy advocated for the four constituent parties of the EPRDF
to dissolve the coalition and replace it with a single party that would also include some of the
smaller ethnic groups that had not been a part of the EPRDF. This party would also include some
of the smaller ethnic groups that had not been a part of the EPRDF. The Tigray People's Liberation
Front (TPLF), which had for a long time been the most powerful member of the EPRDF coalition
before Abiy took office, had already seen its power diminish under Abiy's prime ministership,
and it now took issue with the process of dissolving the coalition
and refused to participate in it. Abiy formed the Prosperity Party, which included the other
three parties that had been a part of the EPRDF as well as several smaller ethnic-based parties
that had opted to disband and join Abiy's new party after the EPRDF was dissolved.
Despite this, the EPRDF was dissolved, and Abiy formed the Prosperity Party. However, because
the general elections in 2020 were officially postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic,
the new political party's mettle has not yet been immediately tested at the polls.
The election delay became a point of contention in some quarters,
with the TPLF and other opposition leaders accusing Abiy of attempting to extend his mandate.
Despite the official postponement, Tigrayan officials held elections in September 2020;
in response, the federal government withheld funds from the region the following month. Tensions
boiled over in early November when TPLF forces were accused of attacking federal military bases
in Tigray, prompting federal forces to invade the region. Even though skirmishes continued,
federal troops captured Tigray's capital, Mekelle, later that month, and Abiy declared victory.
Eritrean troops controversially participated in the conflict, attacking Tigrayan forces.
Although Eritrean and Ethiopian officials initially denied the presence of Eritrean
troops in the conflict, Abiy later acknowledged their participation.
The Prosperity Party won an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats in the
postponed general elections in June 2021. Meanwhile, in the Tigray regional conflict,
Tigrayan forces went on the offensive and launched attacks on their advance toward Mekelle,
which they recaptured on June 28. Despite a unilateral cease-fire declared by the federal
government that day, fighting continued and spread to other regions, leaving Abiy with an escalating
conflict and a growing humanitarian crisis. Winning the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2019
for finally breaking the 20-year stalemate with Eritrea solidified his international standing.
However, the war in Ethiopia's Tigray region has resulted in a rapid reversal.
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