Ethiopia’s new leader gives fresh hope to East Africa

Something extraordinary is happening in my country, said Ewnetu Haile in The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa). Ethiopia has nominally been a democratic republic since 1991; in reality it has remained under authoritarian rule. But now Abiy Ahmed, its new PM, seems determined to introduce real freedoms. In only a few months, he’s released thousands of political prisoners (including journalists critical of the government), denounced the regime’s use of torture and fired prison officials implicated in abuses. He’s talked with protesters and invited exiles to return. As a result, he’s been rewarded with a demonstration by supporters estimated to be in their millions – a rare sight. The new sense of unity among Ethiopians of all ethnic backgrounds has been “a joy to watch”.

More remarkable still, Abiy has made peace with the “archenemy” Eritrea, ending one of Africa’s most pointless conflicts, said Bernd Dörries in Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich). Formerly a province of Ethiopia, Eritrea won independence in 1993, but the two sides could never agree on the border; war broke out five years later over who owns Badme, a town in a barren plain with barely 1,500 residents. Both sides dug into trenches and 70,000 soldiers died in First World War-style bombardments. Now Abiy has agreed to hand the town over, implementing a peace deal hammered out in 2000. Borders are being reopened, telecommunications re-established. Families split by the war can speak to each other for the first time in decades. It’s hard to overstate Ethiopia’s importance to the stability of East Africa, said Paul Schemm in The Washington Post. A “rock of stability” in a region of disintegrating states like South Sudan and Somalia, it has the region’s largest army and is sub-saharan Africa’s fastest-growing economy. But it has been shaken by anti-regime protests, ethnic clashes and droughts: the resulting declaration of a state of emergency is what led to the change in leadership in April. Since then, Abiy has toured the country to hear people’s grievances. It’s no exaggeration to say he may have saved Ethiopia from collapse.

Africans often succumb to hasty optimism only to find themselves disappointed, said Abdullahi Boru Halakhe in Al Jazeera (Doha). Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame: all were lauded as saviours at first, but soon reverted to repression. As yet, there’s no sign Abiy is gearing up to become another African strongman; but regime critics need to check for any backsliding. Abiy faces the same risk as Mikhail Gorbachev, said Le Monde (Paris): rapid reform could lead to serious destabilisation. His casual, human style has stood him in good stead so far. But the long-term consequences of this “electroshock” for the region remain hard to predict.