Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has vowed to stand strong and defend “Ethiopia’s honour” despite mounting global criticism over the war in Tigray, as he was sworn in for a new five-year term yesterday.
Abiy’s Prosperity Party scored a landslide win in June elections that federal officials touted as the high-water mark of democratic reforms he initiated upon taking office in 2018.
Yet by the time voters cast their ballots, tens of thousands had been killed in the conflict in the northern Tigray region and hundreds of thousands faced famine-like conditions, according to the UN, tarnishing the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner’s once-glowing reputation.
Since then, fighting has spread to neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions while Tigray has fallen under what the UN describes as a de facto humanitarian blockade, spurring fears of a repeat of the mass starvation that turned Ethiopia into a byword for famine in the 1980s.
It is unclear whether Abiy’s swearing-in will alter the course of the war pitting the government against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group, which dominated national politics before he took power.
Abiy’s office, which blames the rebels for starting the war last November with attacks on federal army camps, has said conciliatory measures such as declassifying the TPLF as a terrorist group can only happen after a new government is formed.
International partners like the United States “will be looking at this closely to see if there is any shift in position”, William Davison, senior Ethiopia analyst for the International Crisis Group, told AFP.
Abiy’s government has faced withering criticism over the conflict, notably from Washington, a long-time ally, with President Joe Biden signing an executive order allowing for sanctions against the warring parties if they fail to commit to a negotiated settlement.
However, yesterday Abiy struck a defiant tone, telling a crowd of tens of thousands in Addis Ababa that “any friendship shouldn’t be at the expense of sacrificing Ethiopia’s honour.”
Relations between Ethiopia and the international community soured further last week when the foreign ministry announced the expulsion of seven senior UN staff, including the local heads of the UN children’s agency Unicef and its humanitarian coordination office.
Those officials have left Ethiopia, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.