Nigeria: Deadly Funeral

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Good Morning, today is July 30, 2019.

NEED TO KNOW INDIA No Help, Please Prosecutors in India recently ordered a local legal aid and human rights organization to shut down for six months as punishment for violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) as well as conspiracy and other alleged crimes. Leaders of the Lawyer’s Collective, which sometimes represents and advocates for disadvantaged minorities, including LGBTQ people, allegedly took money from the US-based Ford Foundation and the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations, reported the Press Trust of India, a major news agency in India. One of those leaders was simultaneously serving as an “additional solicitor general,” a powerful public legal office in the South Asian democracy. “It is really surprising how a senior law officer such as an ASG can simultaneously, and for such a long period, be on the rolls of a private entity, being paid (out of foreign contribution) for undisclosed purposes in gross violation of rules,” said a statementfrom India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, according to the Indian Express. First enacted in 1976, the FCRA aims to prevent foreign governments from meddling in India’s internal politics. But the law has also been used by governments to clamp down on nongovernmental organizations that demand more accountability from elected leaders, argued Quartz. The Lawyer’s Collective had the misfortune to accept international grants to pay salaries and keep the lights on in its offices, then embark on what the ministry called “lobbying with members of parliament and thereby influencing the political process and parliamentary institutions,” according to Human Rights Watch. The charges might be correct technically. But if they met with lawmakers, the activist-lawyers were likely only appealing for justice for the country’s most unfortunate. The collective vowed to challenge the charges, saying they were in retaliation for representing clients in cases against the government and its allies, including leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In India, the crackdown on foreign-funded human rights groups comes as Modi has promoted the so-called “Hindu nationalism” that aims to make Hinduism the dominant cultural force in a technically secular and diverse country that includes around 200 million Muslims, National Public Radio reported. Hindu nationalism has its critics. In a book review in the journal Nature, author Srinath Perur argued that Hindu nationalism has hurt science. It has also arguably fueled mob lynchings of non-Hindus accused of harming cows, which are sacred in Hinduism, Reuters wrote in a story about “cow vigilantes” killing three men. Civil rights activists have accused other countries like Egypt, Russiaand Singapore of suppressing human rights by banning foreign aid. American officials are dusting off the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 in light of contemporary events, Foreign Policy magazine wrote. The trend might be called a backlash to globalization. But in some cases, it’s also a backlash to democracy and human rights. WANT TO KNOW IRAN Choosing Sides Iran, Germany, France, Britain, China, Russia and the European Union agreed Sunday to redouble their efforts to salvage the 2015 pact designed to discourage Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Gathered in Vienna, diplomats from the principal world powers, excluding the United States, voiced their joint opposition to America’s sanctions on Iran and support for China’s efforts to maintain normal trade and oil relations with the country despite all, Fu Cong, the head of the Chinese delegation, told the Associated Press. “The atmosphere was constructive, and the discussions were good,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi told reporters, adding that the countries that sent representatives are still “determined to save this deal.” The meeting came as Iran has ratcheted up pressure on Europe to take measures to offset US sanctions by gradually restarting nuclear activities Tehran agreed to abandon under the pact, such as enriching uranium beyond the prescribed limit – a move that decreases the estimated one-year window Iran would need to build an atomic bomb. BRAZIL Prison Wars Fighting between rival gangs at the Altamira prison in northern Brazil left at least 52 prisoners dead on Monday – 16 of them decapitated. The death toll could rise when authorities have searched all areas involved, state prisons chief Jarbas Vasconcelos said at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. The fighting began around 7 a.m. Monday between two criminal gangs, Comando Vermelho and Comando Classe A, when members of Comando Classe A set fire to the pavilion that houses the rival gang, prison authorities said. The fire spread rapidly and prevented police from entering the building for about five hours, during which carnage reigned. Such violence is not uncommon in Brazil’s prison system. A similar series of riots killed 55 inmates in several prisons in the neighboring state of Amazonas in May, for instance, and in 2017 more than 120 inmates died in prisons across several northern states when rival gangs clashed over control of drug-trafficking routes, according to the Associated Press. NIGERIA Deadly Funeral Nigeria is increasing pressure on militant group Boko Haram after a deadly attack over the weekend left more than 60 people dead during a funeral procession in northeast Nigeria. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said through a spokesperson that the military has launched an operation to pursue the attackers with air patrols and ground troops, NPR reported. On Saturday, armed men believed to belong to Boko Haram attacked and “shot at everything they came across,” according to one survivor. The chairman of the local government council told Nigerian state media that the attack was likely a reprisal for a previous altercation in which the same community, Badu village, successfully fought back against the militants – killing 11 insurgents and recovering 10 AK-47 rifles. The latest in an escalating series, the incident may be the deadliest attack against civilians in the region this year, NPR said. It also comes amid Nigerian claims to have defeated the militant group. Fighting to establish an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram has spread its mayhem into Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well, ABC News noted. And though Nigeria’s military has regained control of parts of the northeast in recent years, such attacks remain common.

The Incredible Investment Potential Of Africa

AFRICA

A Golden Union

Africa’s 1.3 billion people live and work in a $3.4 trillion economy, compared with China’s 1.4 billion people and $13.6 trillion 2018 gross domestic product.

That $3.4 trillion is only a portion of the continent’s potential, however.

Intra-regional trade accounted for only 17 percent of African exports in 2017, according to Reuters. That’s in contrast to 69 percent in Europe and 59 percent in Asia.

Now leaders believe the newly launched African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) might help improve things.

“The eyes of the world are turned towards Africa,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who serves as chairman of the African Union, said at a recent summit in Niger that included representatives from the 54 nations in the trade bloc. “The success of the AfCFTA will be the real test to achieve the economic growth that will turn our people’s dream of welfare and quality of life into a reality.”

The trade pact got a boost at the Niger summit, reported the Associated Press, when Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, agreed to ratify it. France 24 explained how Nigerian trade unions and business groups had feared competition from foreign workers, but officials opted to join the bloc to enjoy lower tariffs on commerce with other African countries that many argue are suppressing local economies.

Benin has also agreed to join the new trading bloc. Only Eritrea has yet to join.

The bloc comes at an interesting moment in economic history as the developing world’s economic clout grows. China’s gross domestic product is on track to surpass that of the US in the coming years. African leaders believe it’s high time their people gained their share of the proceeds from the worldwide pie.

“Economic progress is what makes the world go around,” said Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement posted online after he signed the deal, CNN reported. “Our position is very simple, we support free trade as long as it is fair and conducted on an equitable basis.”

Institutions, rules and offices – the bloc will be headquartered in Ghana – still have to be finalized.

Critics also pointed out that the agreement wouldn’t necessarily lead to new roads, power stations and other infrastructure overnight.

But investors are eager. Many are looking to hedge their holdings in the United States, where the economy has had a run that sometimes appears too good to be true, and Europe, where Brexit, Italian solvency, Deutsche Bank’s troubles and other issues have undermined confidence.

“In the context of escalating geopolitical and market uncertainty in developed economies, investors are increasingly likely to explore opportunities in ‘frontier’ markets,” wrote CNBC.

In unity, there’s wealth.

Zimbabweans Can't Afford Alcohol Any More

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Ex Steinhoff Managing Director Gets His Chartered Accountant's License Suspended

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Uganda And congo: A Killer Loose

UGANDA & CONGO

A Killer Loose

At Ihandiro primary school in western Uganda, teachers have been stressing a different lesson from reading and math: Wash your hands.

That’s because of a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo that World Health Organization officials last week declared a “public health emergency of international concern.”

The last time they made such a declaration was during the Ebola outbreak four years ago in West Africa that resulted in more than 11,000 deaths, the Washington Post reported.

Ebola has been spreading for a year in Congo, killing around 1,700 people while around 700 have managed to overcome infections with the deadly virus. But the situation became more serious after a case was confirmed in Goma, a Congolese city of almost 2 million people on the Rwandan border.

“The identification of the case in Goma could potentially be a game-changer in this epidemic,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a United Nations meeting in Geneva. Goma is “a gateway to the region and the world.”

“We are dealing with one of the world’s most dangerous viruses in one of the world’s most dangerous areas,” he added.

The victim was a Goma-based pastor who had traveled to a region where the virus was prevalent. He likely preached in churches and laid his hands on infected congregants, an easy way to transmit the sickness, the Guardian wrote.

In Rwanda, public health agencies have begun vaccinating critical responders and others and asked citizens to refrain from visiting Goma. Three Congolese citizens spread Ebola in neighboring Uganda in June. That country has launched anti-virus measures nationwide.

“Avoid handshaking, hugging, mass gatherings, and observe infection prevention and control practices such as washing hands with soap and clean water at all times both at health facilities and communities,” said a Uganda Health Ministry statement, according to africanews.

But civil strife in Congo has made it hard for local officials to vaccinate people and tend to the sick, opening the way for more infections. President Felix Tshisekedi recently described interethnic fighting in the country as “attempted genocide,” reported Al Jazeera.

But Tshisekedi might be able to solve some of the other issues hampering doctors. “We really have to find ways to stop the interruptions to this response due to insecurity, due to political protests and due to nonpayment of salaries,” David Gressly, the UN’s Ebola response coordinator in the country, told Public Radio International.

The porousness of borders in east-central Africa presents challenges to public health, too. A Congolese fishmonger who recently succumbed to the virus might have carried Ebola to Rwanda and Uganda, Reuters reported. Of course, disrupting such movements isn’t going to help the impoverished people living in the region, either.

It’s a hard challenge that at least has many governments to tackle it. That’s because no one wants to see a repeat of the death toll in West Africa.

Sudan: Radio Free Sudan

SUDAN

Radio Free Sudan

Capital FM is going silent in Khartoum.

The pop music radio station was part of a cultural revolution in Sudan this spring.

“It was just so beautiful, and we were just so proud that we’re soulful,” Ahmad Hikmat, the station’s content director, toldNational Public Radio. “You’d wake up in the morning, and you’d hear a song on Capital Radio was D’Angelo. Who would play D’Angelo in the morning, you know? It’s just 91.6 FM that would do that.”

In April, the Sudanese military took control of the conservative Islamic country after ousting President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The leader had a record of infamy, overseeing a murderous campaign in Darfur in western Sudan. Still, as Foreign Policy explained, leaders of the junta who succeeded al-Bashir were not exactly nice guys. They were among the so-called Janjaweed who perpetrated the horrors in Darfur.

With Bashir gone, calls for civilian leadership grew into a full-blown political movement. The military began cracking down on the protests in early June, killing scores of people, wrote Al Jazeera.

“Sudan can be better,” Nahid Gabralla, a 53-year-old activist who said security forces beat her and threatened to rape her in the June 3 raid on the main protest camp, told Reuters. “My daughter deserves to live in a nice country. … We will fight for a democratic Sudan, real change and for our rights.”

Recently, the military and civilian leaders signed a deal for sharing power until elections, promising an end to a standoff that had paralyzed the country.

The power-sharing deal creates a council of generals and civilians that will serve for around three years, reported Voice of America. The civilians will select a cabinet of technocrats. Officials will investigate the deadly June 3 crackdown, but the head of the military council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, insists he and other leaders were not involved in the first violent incidents.

Some Sudanese might disagree. Many began uploading videos of harsh security tactics and police brutality as soon as the military junta ended an Internet blackout associated with the crackdown, reported Britain’s Channel 4 News.

Regardless, some expressed hope that Sudan can move forward. Others cautioned that the military won’t give up power – it has been a trend for military dictatorships to follow protests across Africa and Asia, and it is not unusual in Sudan either.

“The military may have wanted to calm the situation following weeks of deadly protests from the oppositions groups,” Nazlin Umar, a political analyst based in Kenya, told the Washington Times. “When the time comes, the military will obviously ignore the peace agreement and refuse to hand over power to civilian rule. That has been the history of the country since independence.”

The crisis took a toll on Capital FM. One staffer died in the military crackdown. More recently, government censors have been periodically taking the station off the air. Employees are leaving, fearing Sudan’s conservative Islamist culture is reasserting itself after the chaos of Bashir’s exit.

Regardless, the tunes linger. Hikmat said he can’t get Marvin Gaye’s “Make Me Wanna Holler” out of his mind.

Tanzania: Baby Book

TANZANIA

Baby Boom

Tanzanian President John Magufuli urged the women of his country to bear more children in a bid to usher in a demographic dividend like the one promised China, India and Nigeria – though critics say such a baby boom would only worsen poverty and inequality.

“When you have a big population you build the economy. That’s why China’s economy is so huge,” Magufuli said, according to Reuters. “I know that those who like to block ovaries will complain about my remarks. Set your ovaries free, let them block theirs.”

With a population of 55 million people, Tanzania already has one of the highest birth rates in Africa, at around five children per woman, and by all accounts, its economy is already booming. Thanks in part to the president’s industrialization campaign, growth has averaged between 6 and 7 percent in recent years, the agency noted.

At the same time, however, schools and hospitals are already overburdened, and the absolute number of people surviving on less than $1 a day has remained static even as the poverty rate declined, thanks to the rising population.

South Africa-Conspiracy Theory

SOUTH AFRICA

Conspiracy Theory

Former South African President Jacob Zuma denounced the corruption allegations against him as the product of a nefarious conspiracy between foreign spies and the remnants of the apartheid-era regime in his first appearance before a corruption commission on Monday.

Zuma told the commission that the foreign-led campaign to destroy him dates back to his return to South Africa from exile in 1990, during the final years of the white-minority regime, when it was concocted to prevent him from revealing the names of foreign assets who had infiltrated the African National Congress (ANC), the Wall Street Journal reported.

“There was a plan to deal with Zuma and Zuma has been dealt with all the time,” said the former president, who also once led the ANC’s own espionage wing.

Zuma has long maintained he is innocent of the corruption allegations against him, the most recent of which concern his relationship with the powerful Gupta family – Indian businessmen who allegedly manipulated government policy in the country before they left South Africa in 2016.

Zuma was forced to resign in 2018 after South Africans finally had enough.

Democratic Republic Of The Congo: Fear The First

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Fear the First

The Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed the first case of Ebola in Goma, a city of more than 2 million people in the eastern part of the country near its border with Rwanda.

Confirmed late Sunday, the patient is a pastor who had been in the hard-hit town of Butembo, in North Kivu province, the Associated Press reported. The detection of the deadly and highly contagious disease in a major population center marks a serious escalation in the outbreak – which is already the second deadliest in history.

So far, around 1,600 people have died since the latest epidemic began last August, partly because the conflict-torn areas where the disease is spreading are too dangerous for health workers to access. Another problem is that many locals are reluctant to accept an experimental vaccine that has shown some success in preventing infections. Some believe Ebola itself is a poison invented by the international community to facilitate the trade in body parts, the BBC reported.

Zimbabwe-Money, Money, Money

ZIMBABWE

Money, Money, Money

Zimbabwean businesses are operating at night when they’re more likely to have electricity. Over the past week, there were blackouts that lasted at least two days.

Officials blame low water levels for hydropower plants, antiquated coal-fired plants and decades of corruption they are trying to stamp out, Al Jazeera reported.

Those might be valid excuses. But, as Sky News noted, President Emmerson Mnangagwa is perhaps rightly taking the blame for the power outages as well as 90 percent unemployment and inflation hitting 100 percent.

Mnangagwa and Zimbabwe’s army ousted longtime dictator Robert Mugabe in November 2017. Last year, when Mnangagwa ran to keep his presidency, he promised “the Zimbabwe you want” on the campaign trail.

But at the same time, Mnangagwa has continued the brutal repression of dissidents and other abusive practices that he oversaw when he was one of Mugabe’s righthand men and known as “the crocodile,” Sky News reported in a separate video.

Perhaps Mnangagwa’s greatest flub has been his decision in June to ban the use of foreign currency in the southeast African country and reintroduce the Zimbabwean dollar a decade after hyperinflation caused its collapse.

“We were living in an abnormal situation. We should actually be congratulated for taking this step,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “What we have done is we have gone back to normalcy. Normalcy is that the country must have its own currency.”

But no one wants to use it.

Meanwhile, Zimbabweans have few memories of normalcy. After almost 40 years of Mugabe’s rule, they have become wary of using the currency of their failing economy, using US dollars, euros, British pounds and other currencies instead. Ending transactions in foreign currencies now is causing chaos.

“I must have foreign currency to import my leather products,” said Crispen Dembedza, 51, who runs a leather clothing shop in Harare’s central business district, told the Washington Times. “Without foreign currency, I won’t be able to remain in business. I can’t find any local suppliers [of my products], and if they were any they would not be able to meet demand.”

Critics also said the move was likely illegal because Parliament had failed to approve the plan, Bloomberg wrote in another story. It certainly wasn’t well-planned. Mnangagwa announced the policy by decree less than a day after his finance minister said the country was not prepared to end its “multi-currency economy.”

Zimbabwean leaders are already pleading with China for a $2 billion bailout to stabilize their economy, the Zimbabwe Independent reported. China has not been enthusiastic. Zimbabwe had also sought a smaller bailout from South Africa, but leaders in Pretoria declined, citing their own money problems. After all, Zimbabwe has yet to pay off loans from former bailout packages, the newspaper added.

Mnangagwa appears to be on his own. And so do his people.

Algeria: A win Of Sorts

ALGERIA

A Win, of Sorts

Algerian legislators elected an opposition leader chairman of Parliament on Wednesday in a bid to appease protesters who continue to demand more significant changes following the resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April.

The Parliament chose Slimane Chenine of the Movement of National Construction party to replace former chairman Moad Bouchareb, who resigned last week, Reuters reported. Bouchareb hails from the same party as Bouteflika, the National Liberation Front (FLN), which has ruled Algeria since it won independence from France in 1962.

Chenine, 47, is the youngest lawmaker to be elected as head of the National Assembly, the agency noted. His clout will also be limited, considering his party has only 15 Parliamentary seats out of the total 462 – the FLN and its coalition partners enjoy an overwhelming majority.

In a separate development, the country’s supreme court ordered former industry minister Youcef Yousfi taken into custody over alleged corruption – the latest in a string of such detentions since Bouteflika’s resignation.

Nigeria: The Long Road

NIGERIA

The Long Road

Nigeria’s National Assembly was placed on lockdown Tuesday after clashes between police and a group of Shia Muslim protesters who tried to force their way into the building to present their grievances to the legislators.

Police used teargas to try to disperse the protesters, then gunfire broke out, with each side blaming the other for the alleged exchange, Al Jazeera reported.

The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), a group that represents Nigeria’s minority Shia Muslims, regularly protests outside the legislature in the capital, Abuja, the news channel noted. Their leader, Ibrahim el-Zakzaky, has been in detention since 2015.

This time, however, participants claim the police began shooting, while the authorities say two officers were shot and wounded in the legs. Protesters denied that any of their number returned fire – which would be a first for the mostly peaceful demonstrations.

Nigerian security forces have killed some 400 members of the group in response to largely peaceful protests since 2015, according to human rights groups.

Libya: One Bomb Too Far

LIBYA

One Bomb Too Far

The United Nations envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, decried an air strike on a migrant detention center in Tripoli that killed at least 44 people and wounded 130 others as a possible war crime, as the gruesome incident prompted new soul-searching over the European Union’s efforts to prevent such migrants from crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

It’s not yet clear who is responsible for the air strike, though the UN-recognized government in Tripoli blamed rebel commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have been fighting to seize the city, Al Jazeera reported.

“The absurdity of this ongoing war today has led this odious bloody carnage to its most hideous and most tragic consequences,” the UN Support Mission in Libya said in a statement.

Haftar’s Libyan National Army denied responsibility for the strike, which followed a warning by the commander of its air force that aerial bombardment would be stepped up because “traditional means” to “liberate Tripoli” had been exhausted.

Notably, Haftar seems incapable of taking Tripoli despite the backing of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Economist reported.

Algeria: Wanted Trust

ALGERIA

Wanted: Trust

Trust us, say Algerian military leaders.

Military brass in the North African country recently made public promises of stability as the country prepares for the expiration of interim President Abdelkader Bensalah’s three-month term in office on July 9.

“Our goal is to serve the country and to honestly accompany the people, in order to overcome the current crises and to reach the constitutional legitimacy,” Algerian Army Chief Ahmed Gaid Saleh said in an address to officers in Algiers. “We are expecting an understanding that reaches to the level of confidence between the army and the people.”

Elections for a new president had been scheduled for July 4, but were canceled after too few candidates filed to run for office and protests erupted over the election process, Bloomberg explained. Bensalah has yet to set a new date, reported the BBC.

Bensalah, a former parliamentary speaker, replaced former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April. The aging and ailing Bouteflika had run the country for 20 years with the support of the army. But, suffering ill health, he lost the confidence of the military and other elites in the face of widespread protests over youth unemployment, suppression of dissent and other issues.

Now Bensalah is leaving his job as head of state while protesters are also calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui and other Bouteflika appointees, reported the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu. “Thieves, you have destroyed the country,” read the protesters’ banners, according to Al Jazeera. “Algeria is a free and democratic country.”

The activists are serious about change and steadfast in their indignation. “The government ministers installed by the departing Mr. Bouteflika have so little credibility that they are often chased back into their cars by protesters when they try to make official visits,” wrote the New York Times.

Like the generals, civil-society groups that have been active in the protests are also seeking the public trust. They have been meeting to hatch and discuss proposals for the country’s direction as the power vacuum looms, wrote Qantara.de, a joint project of Deutsche Welle, the Goethe Institute and the German-based Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations. Under the autocratic Bouteflika, human rights, anti-corruption and other efforts were in a “state of total disunity,” the activists said.

The anti-Bouteflika forces have scored victories. Prosecutors have jailed two former prime ministers and other officials of the former president’s government amid graft investigations, for example. Also, Algerian parliamentary president Mouad Bouchareb quit Tuesday after protesters, who viewed him as a pillar of the ruling elite, demanded he resign, Al Jazeera reported.

Small victories and big ones aside, the protesters are waiting for the ultimate prize: A leadership they can trust.

Ethiopia: An Attempted Coup

ETHIOPIA

De Tocqueville’s Moment

Ethiopians recently mourned the death of Gen. Seare Mekonnen.

They might also have shed a tear for their country’s fragile democracy.

Mekonnen and other officials were shot and killed during an attempted coup in the northern province of Amhara, the BBC reported.

Security forces killed the ringleader of the conspiracy, Brig. Gen. Asaminew Tsige, and arrested almost 200 others soon after the takeover attempt was launched, according to the Associated Press.

But rather than celebrating the Ethiopian government’s success in snuffing out a challenge, observers suggested the coup might illustrate deep opposition to the reforms of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has sought to end political oppression and corruption while maintaining the country’s economic renaissance.

“Ethiopia’s current situation brings to mind Alexis de Tocqueville’s famous warning that the most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it starts to reform,” wrote Slate.

For years, Ethiopia’s rulers have effectively been autocrats elected from the ranks of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. They fought a war against their neighbor, Eritrea, jailed dissidents, suppressed free speech and discriminated against ethnic groups that weren’t part of the ruling class.

Abiy has been trying to bring an end to that history. He ended the war with Eritrea, freed political prisoners – including, ironically, Asaminew, jailed for an earlier attempt to overthrow the government – promoted press freedom and even appointed women to half his cabinet posts.

But the new freedoms have released pent up anger that has simmered for years among Ethiopians, the Financial Times reported. Internecine fighting throughout the country, exacerbated by a severe drought, has displaced a whopping 3 million people. The chaos might even prevent the country from holding elections in 2020, emboldening the proponents of authoritarianism, notedQuartz.

The prime minister claims he is in control.

But Ethiopia is at a critical juncture, Human Rights Watch researcher Felix Horne said in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine. Everyone who cares about the country is wondering whether Abiy can and will take action to avert full-blown civil war on the one hand or state collapse on the other.

Some are hopeful.

Deutsche Welle’s Ludger Schadomsky opined that Abiy might use the crisis as an opportunity to seek greater powers and install loyal officials throughout local and regional governments. Such measures don’t necessarily mean the country will return to totalitarianism. They might be necessary. The International Crisis Group, meanwhile, said the prime minister needed to work harder to develop a consensus to avoid more violence.

Perhaps Abiy will do both. He’d better do something. Many in and out of the country have welcomed his changes. And they want more of them.