A Young New Leader Brings Change to Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — They call themselves a book club. They meet one Saturday a month, people in their 20s and 30s, to discuss a classic.
But today, they have decided to discuss the story of their country. Its protagonist: their prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, whose ascension to the top post in late March has pulled Ethiopia back from the brink of a political implosion.
At 41, Mr. Abiy, one of the youngest leaders in Africa, is shaking up the old ways of doing things. He has held town hall meetings around the country, has apologized for the killings of protesters by the government and has called for unity among the country’s many ethnic groups.
Mr. Abiy has also welcomed differences of opinion — almost unheard of in a country where dissidents have been imprisoned. On June 22, his office said it would no longer block 264 websites, blogs and television stations, many pro- opposition.
“He feels our pain,” said one member of the book club, a university lecturer named Mekonnen Mengesha, 33. “Because he’s our contemporary. ”
“It’s refreshing,” said Makda Getachew, 31, a public policy expert.
Not everyone is cheering. On June 23, someone tossed a grenade into a rally for Mr. Abiy in Addis Ababa, killing at least two people.
Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country after Nigeria. And even for Africa, it is astonishingly young. The median age of its 100 million people is 18.
Satisfying their demands, both economic and political, will be Mr. Abiy’s biggest test. Already, he has made some politically savvy moves. He ordered the lifting of emergency rule earlier than planned. It was imposed for the second time in less than two years to control demonstrations.
He also pardoned a political prisoner, a British citizen named Andargachew Tsige who had been sentenced to death for his role in Ginbot 7, which the government regards as a terrorist group.
Mr. Abiy’s government said it would honor a peace deal to settle a border dispute with Ethiopia’s neighbor and rival, Eritrea.
The government also said it would sell stakes in two of the biggest state- owned enterprises, opening the doors for an infusion of cash to solve a foreign currency shortage.
Mr. Abiy is part Oromo, one of the country’s largest ethnic groups, whose members have long complained of bei ng marginalized. A former military officer, he came up through the ranks of the political coalition that calls itself the Ethiopian People’s Democratic Revolutionary Front.
Mr. Abiy represents the younger, more reformist wing of the party, though it has yet to carry out systematic political or economic reforms. He has not said anything about negotiating with opposition groups.
Ms. Getachew said Mr. Abiy had yet to organize a dialogue with the opposition. Nor had he proposed political reforms leading to the next elections.
“He is raising a lot of expectations,” she said. “At the end of the day, he is still leading the country with the old party structure.”