Ten Elections to Watch in 2021

Source: Council of Foreign Affairs | by James M. Lindsay Ethiopian Parliamentary Elections, 2021. Ethiopians were supposed to go to the polls this past August. That vote was postponed, however, ostensibly because of COVID-19. If the vote is held in 2021, it will take place amid considerable turmoil. In late 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed merged the ruling government […]

Ethiopia’s Problems Will Not End with a Military Victory

Substantial efforts are needed to reduce political tensions ahead of elections in 2021. USIP Publication: Aly Verjee | Tuesday, November 24, 2020 As violence continues over control of the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, Ethiopia’s future remains unsettled, even if the conflict ends soon. Achieving the federal government’s security objectives in Tigray is unlikely to […]

What’s Happening in Ethiopia Is a Tragedy

By Tsedale Lemma for ©The New York Times Much of the blame must be laid at the door of the prime minister. The announcement last week that the government was about to launch a military operation into one of the country’s regions came, to put it lightly, as a shock. Not only was it very far […]

Ethiopia is about to cross the point of no return

©Mail&Guardian – Rashid Abdi  & Tobias Hagmann With the world’s attention fixated on the United States elections, Ethiopia embarked on a civil war last week. In a time span of five days Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the 2019 Nobel peace prize after making peace with Eritrea, ended the democratic transition that he had initiated two years before. In the early […]