BALANCING ACT
Ethiopia's democracy dilemma
In the year since he took office, Abiy Ahmed Ali has instituted a raft of reforms to turn Ethiopia around. But his intentions may yet be undermined by the democratic space he has opened up
A little over a year ago, Africa’s youngest leader came to power in the form of Abiy Ahmed Ali — and with that, Ethiopia pitched into its most dramatic attempt yet at democracy. But fears are mounting that Abiy’s attempt to straddle the country’s ethnic divides will fail, igniting a murderous civil war. When Abiy stepped into the prime minister’s office at the age of just 41, the continent was agog at the rapidity and ambition of his reforms. Politically, his election marked the end of an authoritarian system still deeply marked by the Marxism of the Derg military junta, which ruled from 1974 to 1987. Economically, he set the country on a liberal trajectory that is expected to result in the economy growing at 8.5% by July — arguably off the back of the agrarian revolution of Soviet-backed dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. But the primary danger for the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front — a coalition that won the civil war against Mengistu in 1991 — lies in the ...
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