Facing mounting security and economic challenges, will Abiy Ahmed democratise Ethiopia or take advantage of its vulnerabilities to become the next strongman?

Thomas Jefferson should have known about Ethiopia.  That was what the late, great Pan-Africanist scholar Ali Mazrui suggested in his keynote address to a conference held at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 2007.  I assisted Mazrui with research for that address and was honoured to travel with him to Ithaca and listen to his presentation as he reflected on Ethiopia with characteristic imagination and historical sensitivity.  

The author analyses the implications of the on-going reforms by the reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed not only in Ethiopia, but also in the entire Eastern African region and the whole continent of Africa in general. 

This is incredible news of unprecedented magnitude: Dr. Abiy Ahmed, the reformist Prime Minister of Ethiopia has done the unimaginable and appointed 50 percent of his new cabinet as women, including the Ministry of Defence.  If this is not revolutionary, I do not know what it is.  

Another agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea that was signed in Jedda, Saudi Arabia on 16 September 2018 represents a new page in the shifting political alignments in this area of East Africa. Despite on-going negotiations and agreements, imperialist military forces are set to remain in the Horn of Africa region. 

Ethiopia’s privatisation project has earned acclamation from the usual suspects including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, lenders, and foreign bargain hunters among others, but a serious conversation among Ethiopians has yet to take place. This commentary intends to draw the attention of policy makers to some of the grey areas of privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the country. 

The late Ali Mazrui speaks in this article to major political issues relevant to Ethiopia today, as the country undergoes a peaceful revolution.  In his own words, he speaks through my adaptation of his various writings, speeches, and lectures on constitutionalism in Africa.  The reader should also take pleasure in Mazrui’s witticism, in the ease with which he clarifies complicated concepts, and in his neologism (electoral polygamy)—qualities for which he had earned worldwide recognition.  In the article, Mazrui’s ideas have been Ethiopianised where necessary.

The author writes about the importance of Ethiopia hosting the 19th plenary assembly of the Catholic Church’s Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa, in a country rich in religious traditions. 

The rise of Abiy Ahmed in Ethiopia and the revival of Africa’s short memory of hate are inseparably linked.

We are Ethiopian Americans and Ethiopians living in the United States. Our open letter is a follow up to a letter that 32 leaders of conservative organisations sent to President Trump that was copied to you in your capacities as the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and the head of the host nation to the African Union. 

Ethiopia is a rising star among anti-gay countries in Africa as it continues to push for new legislation to further crackdown on the LGBTQ community. The country is a place where homophobia thrives and discrimination against sexual minorities is state-sponsored.

The American Conservative Organisations and Religious Establishments sent a open letter to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed about the World Bank's case of racism against Dr. Yonas Biru and Black employees in the Bank. 

The article tells us how on-going debates about stolen African artefacts, in particular those from Ethiopia, and held in Western museums, have divided opinions of policy-makers in Europe. 

This paper offers an aspirational and prescriptive analysis to the the current political trajectory that Dr. Abiy Ahmed, the new prime minister of Ethiopia, has embarked on, as a young, dynamic, forwarding looking, and Pan-African, peace and security analyst. However, it is too early to tell what his political and economic performance will be in the years to come, as Ethiopia remains an enigmatic polity that defies clear-cut categorisation and conceptualisation. 

Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has shown some signs of wanting to change the political landscape in the country. Can he resist pressure from "deep-state" forces and bring about needed change in the country? Or will he just be like old wine in a new bottle? The article attempts to address these questions. 

The Oromo people have not been able to dominate the politics of Ethiopia, as the Amhara and Tigrinya people have dominated the empire's  governance. Nonetheless, the Oromo's ancestral principle of democracy--a transitional principle of eight years as a generational unit--has influenced many countries and could one time influence Ethiopia's politics.  

Does it make any sense for Israel to claim to be strengthening its historical ties with Ethiopia, when thousands of Ethiopian Jews in Israel are treated like second-class citizens? Prime Minister HeilaMariam Desalegn should have had the courage to call for the respect of the human rights of these citizens who in the first place were assisted to migrate to Israel by the Jewish state itself.

The Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), the dominant group within the ruling coalition, rules over a deeply divided and aggrieved populace. The TPLF has carried out egregious human rights violations; the regime has become even more repressive with each year by systematically limiting political space, taking 100% parliamentary seats in the Lower House. Ethiopians are sick and tired of the regime in Addis.

During this recent workshop on decolonizing publications and creating writing cultures, particular dilemmas and nuanced opportunities for the decolonization of knowledge were revealed and they are expounded at length in this reflection. It is our hope that this detailed reflection can serve as a rubric of important lessons for critical and Pan-African scholars who are immersed in decolonizing projects in their respective spaces and institutions.

Ethiopian authorities have reportedly engaged a British law firm to handle a dispute over the use of the waters of the Nile. This is inappropriate. Any dispute over the Nile should be dealt with under international law. Moreover, a law firm based in a former colonial country can never be expected to be independent of the interests of the country in which its primary interest lies.