The differing responses to the federal government's initiative – praise from western governments and international organisations hostility from Amhara politicians and indifference from Tigray – show the contradictory pressures on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and how ephemeral this latest political opening could prove...
PREMIER ABIY JUGGLES FOREIGN INTERESTS The visit of the new United States Envoy to the Horn of Africa David Satterfield and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee to Addis Ababa on 19 January will attempt to build on US President Joe Biden's call with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on 10 January following the release of some political prisoners in the previous week...
The day before the release of political prisoners was announced on 7 January the US outgoing US envoy Jeffrey Feltman visited Addis Ababa at the request of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed...
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed starts the year having seized the initiative through extensive use of Chinese Turkish and Iranian drones and sees no need to be conciliatory...
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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government did not immediately respond...
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But after war broke out between Ethiopia's loyalist army and the rebel Tigray Defence Forces Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has relied on Amhara special forces and militias to shore up his administration...
6% of the Global Partnership for Ethiopia consortium that won a 15-year national telecoms licence with a $850m bid in May – would be a major blow to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (AC Dispatches 14/5/21 Abiy Ahmed's government may rethink its telecoms reforms amid market jitters on security & 15/9/21 Safaricom and Vodafone get EU's green light for mammoth telecoms investment with Addis Ababa)...
The instability in the Horn is worsening as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed takes his country to the edge of the abyss (AC Vol 62 No 15 Khartoum's fractious neighbours)...
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At the beginning of last week Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced he was going to take command of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) on the frontline against the rebels...
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In private he is said to have encouraged the efforts of President Kenyatta who has been trying to mediate between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigrayan opposition...
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Although the $85 000 contract with Ethiopia is signed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's US Ambassador Fitsum Arega Gebrekidan Actum lobbyists say they represent the America Ethiopia Public Affairs Committee...
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta made his second trip to Addis Ababa in a month to encourage Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to open negotiations with his Tigrayan opponents after US envoy Jeffrey Feltman had made little progress on that front...