CAN ANYBODY PULL ABIY AHMED BACK FROM THE BRINK?

Mogadishu (PP Editorial) — Dr Abiy Ahmed had  inherited the legacy of EPRDF when he became the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in 2018. Without conducting  elections he rebranded the ruling party by giving it is a new name — Prosperity Party.

He published a book expounding his leadership philosophy, Medemer, translated into English as ‘synergy’. Topics Dr Abiy Ahmed discussed in his book are varied but one topic is more relevant to political uncertainties his regime has unleashed on Ethiopia: ways to deal with the past to find “a lasting peace and prosperity” in Africa, in the words of an academic who penned an interpretive review of Abiy’s tract.

The path to attaining that goal does not go through one political party monopolising power and misusing the national army to disenfranchise pro-federalism constituencies in Ethiopia to appease extremist elements whose reign is remembered for recurrent man-made famines before the overthrow of the Derg regime in 1991.

The African Union should not be acting as a bystander in Ethiopia: Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) and Debretsion Gebremichael, Chairman of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

“House of Federation (#HoF) warns #Tigray state to refrain from holding regional election. A letter signed off by HoF speaker Adem Farah & sent to the region, warned Tigray’s state’s preparations to hold regional election was ‘a clear violation of the constitution’” Addis Standard tweeted.

This stark warning to Tigray State should alert wiser African leaders to the risk of a full-blown civil war in Ethiopia. The adoption of the federal system in Ethiopia was meant to create a political atmosphere in which all Ethiopian nationalities can coexist peacefully without an authoritarian government threatening their right to self-government within Ethiopia.

In Medemer Dr Abiy Ahmed chides the Ethiopian intelligentsia for applying unexamined theories but he is foisting failed authoritarian and exploitative policies on Ethiopians.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is a threat both to the federal system and the unity of Ethiopia. He should heed lessons of history: Mengistu using Cuban soldiers and dependent upon Soviet backing was defeated by TPLF and EPLF.  Authorising Ethiopia Defence Forces, already grappling with dissent in Oromia, to attack Tigray State will be tantamount to starting a 1994 Rwanda-style Civil War.

Tigrayans, Oromos and other progressive Ethiopian nationalities are demanding respect for the Ethiopian constitution.

The African Union should not be acting  as a bystander in the human tragedy that Abiy Ahmed can bring upon Ethiopia if he translates his belligerent rhetoric into action. Every effort must be made to pull the Nobel Laureate Dr Abiy Ahmed back from the brink in the interest of Ethiopia and Africa.

© Puntland Post, 2020