Premiership of Abiy Ahmed

Abiy Ahmed
Abiy in 2018
Premiership of Abiy Ahmed
2 April 2018 – present
PartyProsperity Party
SeatMenelik Palace

Official seal of the Office of the Prime Minister
Official website

Abiy Ahmed is currently the third serving Prime Minister of Ethiopia. In 2018, he became the first ever Oromo descent to assume the role of prime minister in the history of Ethiopia. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in his second year as a prime minister of Ethiopia in 2019 becoming the eighth African laureates to win the award for peace.

Abiy Ahmed's tenure as prime minister of Ethiopia began on 2 April 2018 with his swearing-in at the Ethiopian parliament, succeeding Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy is the first person of Oromo descent to hold the office,[1][2] and became chair of the ruling Prosperity Party after the dissolution of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in November 2019.[3]

After taking office, he released thousands of political prisoners and initiated a number of major reforms to downsize state-owned enterprises and encourage privatization. Following a summit in 2018, Abiy received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in resolving the 20-year-old border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.[4] Ethnic factionalism and violence continued in other parts of the country, however, eventually becoming a crisis during his tenure; his government was criticized as increasingly authoritarian in the years after he received the prize.[5][6] Hostility between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government increased after the 2020 election in the Tigray Region, which the government called illegal. In November 2020, the Tigray War began between the Ethiopian and Tigray governments and their respective military and paramilitary allies. The war caused civilian casualties and displaced thousands of people.[7]

  1. ^ "Abiy Ahmed sworn in as Ethiopia's prime minister". Al Jazeera. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  2. ^ Moges-Gerbi, Meron; Giles, Chris (2 April 2018). "Ethiopia's parliament swears in new prime minister". CNN. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed: The Nobel Prize winner who went to war". BBC News. 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  4. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 2019". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  5. ^ "Ethiopia's PM Abiy Ahmed loses his shine". POLITICO. 2020-09-25. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  6. ^ Walsh, Declan (2021-12-15). "The Nobel Peace Prize That Paved the Way for War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  7. ^ "UN decries Ethiopia air strikes; says dozens killed this month". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-05-13.