Ethiopia’s PM won a Nobel Peace Prize, stoked a civil war – and is set for re-election

(CNN) — When Abiy Ahmed became Ethiopia’s prime minister in 2018, he offered a clean slate for Africa’s oldest uncolonized nation, which had been suffocated by decades of strict state control.

His predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, had overseen strong economic growth during his nearly six-year rule but continued a historical pattern of using violent crackdowns to crush dissent. This repression sparked years of protests and widened the divide between his government and the public, ultimately leading to his resignation.

Just 90 days into his premiership, Abiy, at the time only 41, stunned the world by negotiating a truce that ended a bitter 20-year civil war with neighboring Eritrea.

This rapid breakthrough, combined with early reforms such as releasing political prisoners and allowing a freer press, earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. It positioned him as a regional peacemaker and a domestic reformer, leading many to believe he would guide Ethiopia toward a free and democratic era.

However, that euphoria soon faded. Today, Ethiopia — Africa’s second most populous nation with over 135 million people — stands deeply divided, facing violent ethnic conflicts, restrictions on free speech and crackdowns on dissent.

As the country heads toward a national election, the leader once celebrated as a healer is now viewed by critics as the main driver of these schisms.

But that is likely to matter little in the vote, with the ruling Prosperity Party expected to dominate amid a fragmented opposition and ongoing violence.

Power grab and a country of two realities

The June 1 election reveals a country of two halves.

On one side is the booming capital, Addis Ababa, which projects a social media-friendly narrative of progress, marked by new high-rises, expanded roads, city lighting and parks, alongside economic reforms, including the launch of a new national stock market.

However, outside the capital’s borders, this urban gloss disappears.

Regions like Tigray, Amhara, and Oromia remain ravaged by active warfare, massacres, and mass displacement. Observers link these conflicts to Abiy’s push away from Ethiopia’s longstanding system of ethnic federalism, which had allowed diverse regional states to draft their own laws and maintain local armies.

For nearly three decades, the country was governed by the EPRDF, a coalition of four powerful, ethnically-based parties representing the dominant regions: Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and the Southern Nations.

Abiy was initially brought to power by this coalition to calm tensions that forced his predecessor Desalegn to step down.

However, in November 2019 — less than two years after taking office and a month after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize — Abiy dissolved the EPRDF.

In its place, he established the Prosperity Party, a single national political organization that combined the former coalition with other ethnic minority parties. To further centralize authority, he ordered regional states to disband their local armies and integrate with the national military.

These reforms stripped the dominant Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) of its historical control of the regional government, driving it into active opposition. The policy also faced resistance in other regions, including Abiy’s native Oromia, where demands for regional autonomy grew.

As instability rose, the administration reverted to strict state control, detaining opposition figures and journalists while delaying elections. Tensions escalated when Tigray held regional elections in defiance of thata federal delay, leading to a political standoff that erupted into a civil war in November 2020.

This conflict, one of the deadliest in recent history, resulted in an estimated 600,000 casualties.

Although an African Union-brokered peace agreement ended hostilities in 2022, the accord has since broken down, raising fears of a return to civil war.

Today, Ethiopia faces active insurgencies not only in Tigray but Amhara and Oromia too, driven by disputes over autonomy, borders, and ethnic marginalization. This violence could keep millions from voting.

A broken nation

“Ongoing ethnic polarization, maladministration, marginalization, and arbitrary arrests have severely eroded the legitimacy of Abiy Ahmed’s administration,” said Surafel Getahun, an Ethiopian geopolitics researcher living in exile in Kenya.

“I can confidently say that Ethiopians are more divided today than ever before under his rule. The prevailing ethnic animosity has shredded the social fabric of Ethiopian society, leaving communities fractured and distrustful.”

Getahun fled in 2024 after being arrested and tortured by a government-linked force — known for extra-judicial killings and illegal detentions — for speaking to foreign media, he said. He added that “the closure of the civic space has rendered him (Abiy) a highly divisive figure within the Ethiopian political landscape.”

Ethiopia’s communications minister did not respond to requests for comment.

This is not the first time Abiy has faced such accusations. In 2021, diplomat Berhane Kidanemariam resigned as deputy chief of mission at the Ethiopian embassy in Washington, DC, in protest at the Tigray conflict.

In an open letter, Kidanemariam accused Abiy of abandoning his early promises of reconciliation and instead leading Ethiopia “down a dark path toward destruction and disintegration.”

Kidanemariam, who is from Tigray, noted in his letter, “One of the ironies of a prime minister who came to office promising unity is that he has deliberately exacerbated hatred between different groups.”

Abiy’s office dismissed these claims as baseless.

Will the June vote be credible?

As these political divides deepen, observers doubt the election’s credibility. The parliamentary election will decide the next government, with the winning party picking the prime minister.

While Abiy called this Ethiopia’s most organized vote, logistical challenges and issues around electoral integrity remain. The electoral board has excluded Tigray and parts of Amhara due to ongoing conflict. Additionally, opposition parties have reported political repression and administrative barriers.

Eyob Mesafint, leader of EZEMA, Ethiopia’s largest national opposition party, acknowledged the arrest and intimidation of his party members. He told CNN a week before the vote that these actions “reflect the persistence of undemocratic practices, particularly in areas where opposition parties are perceived to have stronger support.”

However, Mesafint anticipates that this election will “be more competitive than the previous one” held in 2021, when Abiy’s party won nearly every seat.

This time around, the ruling party has refrained from fielding candidates in more than two dozen constituencies, a move seen as strategic to open space for the opposition in parliament and boost the election’s legitimacy. Activist Befeqadu Hailu Techanie told CNN that this tactic aims at “inviting opposition members and independent candidates into parliament.”

Without this approach, Techanie noted, the ruling party would easily secure victories wherever it runs.

“The parliament might see more opposition representatives because the Prosperity Party allows them to run without its competition,” he added.

For exiled researcher Getahun, a credible vote is unattainable. “Many observers, including myself, see the upcoming election as a mere coronation,” he stated.

The-CNN-Wire
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