ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed describes how he calmed angry soldiers
Addis Ababa — Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday that soldiers who marched on his palace last week had "nefarious aims" to stop reforms and he defended his relaxed attitude to them at the time, saying he had sought to defuse tensions. Several hundred armed soldiers descended on the palace on October 10 and met Abiy in what the government initially said was a bid to press for a rise in pay. State television subsequently showed the 42-year-old leader doing push-ups with smiling men in fatigues and red berets, some of whom stood snapping photos on their mobile phones. "The approach taken [by the soldiers] was not only unconstitutional and dangerous, the intent was to abort reforms," Abiy told MPs in an address to parliament in which he gave details of the incident for the first time. "Five to 10 people with nefarious aims" had instructed the soldiers, he said. He gave no further details of the alleged instigators, but said he had physically exercised with the soldier...
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