Abiy Ahmed has been the prime minister of Ethiopia since the beginning of this month. In his native village, nearly 500 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, his photo stands on the side of the road, displayed to passing motorists.
His 92-year-old father, Ahmed Ali, is an elder of the local community. Family and friends come to his house to chat over coffee. His gestures are reserved. But at the announcement of the appointment of his thirteenth son, he jumped out of bed and tells one of his grandsons: “I am so happy. That’s my son,” he said. “But I was not the only one, all Ethiopians are happy.”
Ahmed Ali is Muslim, like most of the population of Beshasha town in Jimma Zone. And like all the inhabitants, it was marked by the conflict a decade ago between the Muslim community and the Christians, a minority here unlike the highlands of northern Ethiopia. “It happened during the night,” recalls Berhanu Habtemariam, a member of the Beshasha Orthodox Church. “People arrived, attacked and burned the church, killed six people and 26 were seriously injured.”
Today, the Orthodox Church has been rebuilt and a memorial honors the memory of the victims. “The instigators have been arrested and detained,” says a 76-year-old Christian. Then Dr. Abiy came and led the reconciliation process. From then on, everyone lives in peace in the town.
Abiy Ahmed, whose mother is an Orthodox Christian, is a Protestant Christian. He wrote a philosophy dissertation on peace and security issues, which earned him the prestigious title of “doctor.”
“People lived together, they ate together, shared the holidays, they did everything together and when the conflict arrived, Dr. Abiy gathered them, told them to make peace,” confirms Kassim Abassimal, the Imam of the mosque behind the paternal house. In his hometown, everyone is praising the pacifist profile of the new prime minister. Yet he also had a career in the army.
This name “Abiyot” means “revolution” in the Amharic language. He was engaged very early in politics. He bacame a member of Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), one of the ruling coalition’s parties.
One of the triggers for him to get involved in politics, according to his relatives, is the death of his brother, Kada Ahmed, who was killed by members of a rival Oromo movement, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). “Abiy was determined to advance the struggle of the Oromos. He joined the OPDO because he believed that the Oromos had to get their rightful place in the country. At that time, we were worried about him. Why did he choose to go to Addis? Will he die?” recalls his friend Abdulkarim Mohamed.
At only 15 years old, Abiy Ahmed joined the ranks of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) a few months before the fall of the Derg regime. It is not clear whether he participated in the fighting against the Derg or not. He was then sent to Rwanda as a member of the United Nations peacemaking force.
From his twenty years in the army, Abiy Ahmed learned Tigrigna, the language of northern Ethiopia, where the fighters of the Tiger People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the dominant party of the coalition, come from. This close relationship with the TPLF is causing many in the opposition to view him with suspicion. Others say that it is an asset to lead the country towards a smooth political transition.
Another dark spot on the CV of the new Prime Minister is his involvement in the Information Netowrk Security Agency (INSA) as its first director. He also spent a year at the Ministry of Science and Technology under the government of Hailemariam Desalegn, his predecessor.
Abiy Ahmed said on April 11 in front of the crowd in Ambo, a town in the Oromiya region and a hotbed of protest in the last two years: “We are entering a new era, a period of transformation of our country into a more inclusive state. We now have the responsibility to turn these hopes into reality.”
By Vincent Dublange | RFI
