Name? Abiy Ahmed
Westphalian identity? Ethiopian
Age? 43
Why is he in the news? Prime Minister Ahmed recently received an extra year in office as elections set for August were postponed due to the Coronavirus. The terms of many federal and regional lawmakers were extended by the Parliament for a period of 9-12 months (until health officials declared Covid to no longer be a threat to public health).
Why do we care? Although Parliament approved of these measures, we warned of leader’s making use of Covid to expand their power and that’s exactly what we’ve witnessed here. Ahmed has been able to extend his mandate an extra year (at least) under the pretext of safety precautions against Covid; but maybe better for democracy than what happened in Georgia last night?
Why should you care? If you were to Google search political unrest in Ethiopia, the first thing to pop up wouldn’t be Ahmed’s latest move. You would find articles on the political unrest in the country last year or the ethnic unrest that occurred after Ahmed took office in 2018. Since Covid reached Ethiopia in March, there has been little to no reports of unrest in the country.
Who else cares? al-Sisi. Sisi has held a strong stance on prolonging the process of filling the Renaissance dam in order to limit its immediate impact on Egyptian agriculture. Should political instability and turmoil rise in Ethiopia, Ahmed may try to compensate for a weakened domestic image by bolstering a stronger, unwavering foreign policy; a scenario Sisi would prefer to avoid.
Any further comments? Ahmed’s main political opponent, Keria Ibrahim, quit her position as speaker of the upper house in protest of the decision to delay elections. If Ibrahim’s party; the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), follows her suit and rejects the plan approved by Parliament, protests and/or election boycotts could begin, limiting the possibility of competitive polls next year. Moreover, greater turmoil and home could translate to greater instability in the region.
