Status: 04.10.2021 1:15 p.m.
War has been raging in his country for a year and thousands of people have died. Abiy received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. Ethiopia’s prime minister has now been re-elected.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has taken on a new five-year term. He was elected head of government with a simple majority in parliament in Addis Ababa and then sworn in.
Abiy received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for making peace with neighboring Eritrea after decades of conflict. The 45-year-old has now come under international criticism for the ongoing fighting in the Tigray province in the north of the country.
No fair elections
In June Abiy’s Prosperity Party (PP) won the general election with a large majority. Before that, however, the vote had been postponed twice. The largest opposition parties, especially in Abiy’s home region of Oromia, boycotted the election. They complained that their candidates had been arrested and offices had been ransacked.
The PP has won several elections since 2018. Election observers said, however, that international standards for fair elections had not been met.
Battles in northern Ethiopia
The political situation in Ethiopia has been extremely tense since the central government launched a military offensive in November 2020 against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which previously provided the regional government in the province.
Until Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, the TPLF had been part of the Ethiopian government for 25 years. His predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, had resigned after years of nationwide protests. Many people in Tigray feel that they are not represented by today’s central government and are demanding more autonomy.
Thousands of people died in the province on the border with Eritrea. All sides are charged with serious human rights violations. Abiy’s government is also accused of blocking aid to Tigray. The violence has also spread to the neighboring regions of Afar in the east and Amhara in the south of Tigray. The US and other countries are threatening targeted sanctions.