Borkena Desk
TORONTO, Canada – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said that there are both internal and external forces that do not want Ethiopia to move forward and instead seek to pull the country backward.
“Despite the challenges they create, we win and continue our march because we think about peace, development and prosperity,” Abiy said during his speech at the inauguration of the Arba Minch Conference Resort in Arba Minch, South Ethiopia.
Abiy Ahmed is the third senior Ethiopian official within less than a week to speak in a similar tone about “internal and external challenges.” Earlier this week, General Alemneshet Degfie and the Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Defence Forces also made remarks reflecting the same framing on separate occasions.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has continued to face what critics describe as a legitimacy crisis several years after he came to power. He initially enjoyed strong support both inside the country and among Ethiopians in the diaspora when he took office in April 2018 through an internal leadership arrangement within the then ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), at a time of serious political and security turmoil.
At the time, he presented himself as a reformist and a unifying figure who distanced himself from ethnic-based politics, a message that was widely welcomed in the early period of his leadership. But that early optimism did not last long and gradually faded over time.
The military operation he launched in the Amhara region in August 2023, with the stated objective of disarming Fano forces, remains unresolved. Instead of being neutralized, the armed group has reportedly become more organized and better armed, with recent reports indicating that it has expanded operations beyond the Amhara region. This week alone, Fano forces carried out an operation in Wollega, in the Oromia region.
In Oromia, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) has been engaged in an insurgency for nearly six years. Both regional and federal forces appear to struggle to maintain effective control over the security situation in several parts of the region, where incidents of violence, including killings—often affecting ethnic Amhara and members of the Orthodox Christian community—as well as abductions, continue to be reported.
The “external challenges” referenced by the prime minister in his remarks at Arba Minch are often mentioned in official discourse but are rarely specified in detail. Nevertheless, they are widely interpreted as referring in part to Egypt, with whom Ethiopia remains in dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), and over broader regional geopolitical tensions. There have also been allegations that Egypt has provided support to armed groups operating in various parts of Ethiopia. Relations with Eritrea have also deteriorated sharply, shifting from the brief post-2018 period of rapprochement to a point of preparation for what may say “inevitable war.”
Despite Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s claims of winning two “landslide” elections, his government continues to have political legitimacy problems. Large-scale urban development initiatives and flagship programs such as “Dine for Nation” have not significantly eased the challenge his government is facing. At the same time, worsening economic conditions affecting millions of citizens have further deepened political and social pressures across the country.
For many observers, Ethiopia’s overall trajectory remains a source of concern. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed continues to project narratives of success stories. In his latest remarks, he said Ethiopia is projected to achieve 10.2% economic growth this year.
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Abiy Ahmed has been a proxy and is destabilizing the region. Ethiopia which was one of the fastest growing countries under the visionary and competent leadership of the EPRDF is going down the drain under Abiy Ahmed. He is now provoking the regional power Tigray and behaving like the mouse that approached the nose of the cat to die (be eaten). Tigraay forces as they had done before, will crush his amy and capture or send him to exile in the United Arab Emirates. No return this time.
Regional power ahahahahaha so funny. Why are tplf supporters this delusional and incompetent?