Ethiopia: No Good Deed!

ETHIOPIA

No Good Deed…

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize recently for his efforts to end a 20-year-long war with neighboring Eritrea.

But less than two weeks after the announcement, protesters were burning the 43-year-old politician’s book in demonstrations in support of opposition media activist Jawar Mohammed: He claimed that Abiy cut a security detail that had been protecting him from potential threats, the BBC reported.

More than 80 people died in the unrest. Police detained more than 400 people in connection with the turmoil.

Jawar runs the Oromia Media Network, which reported on anti-government protests in recent years and helped bring down Abiy’s predecessor last year, paving the way for the new prime minister to introduce reforms to the country’s centralized economy and loosening obstacles to political dissent.

The Oromia region is the homeland of the Oromo people, who are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group but feel marginalized in the country, creating a tense climate that has sometimes led to internecine violence. While Abiy is Oromo, Jawar has been critical of some of his reforms, explained Al Jazeera.

Police denied that they had endangered Jawar. But Abiy has been critical of the activist, who was born in Ethiopia but is an American citizen who lived in the US until he returned to his native land after Abiy became prime minister.

“Those media owners who don’t have Ethiopian passports are playing both ways,” said the prime minister in parliament recently, according to Reuters. “When there is peace you are playing here, and when we are in trouble you are not here.”

Jawar, meanwhile, is considering running against Abiy in next year’s general election.

The controversy is a remarkable sign of how years of oppressive government have made Ethiopians skeptical of their leaders, even when they receive one of the world’s highest honors.

Another illustration of the dynamic comes from Abiy’s decision to renovate the former emperor’s palace and open its grounds and a museum to tourists. Some welcomed the move. But others complained that the revamped palace’s exhibitions ignored the torture and massacres perpetrated by Ethiopia’s monarchs.

Political analyst Seyoum Teshome told the Washington Post that the prime minister has faced massive challenges and is doing his best. “Abiy is trying to create unity, and maybe that can only happen by ignoring certain parts of our history,” said Teshome. “But you must magnify the positive things – the common history and common future. If we don’t do that, we will return to the brink of collapse.”

Transitions don’t always end well. But there’s no chance of anything changing unless they occur. Abiy is a prime example of that.