Days after the foiled Amhara assault and the killing of senior officers, Deutsche Welle’s Ludger Schadomsky asked how far Abiy Ahmed’s reform horizon would survive. Ethiopian authorities called the weekend violence a coup attempt. Schadomsky wrote that the planned May 2020 elections already looked unlikely, and that a national census meant as a check before the vote had been cancelled.
He noted ethnic tension and millions of displaced people, and asked whether a reformer who had sold reconciliation could still govern. One reading, he said, was that Abiy loyalists would fill key posts in the regions, the military, and intelligence. Supporters of that view feared the prime minister could drift toward near-absolute power, something Schadomsky linked to earlier talk of stronger presidential authority.
Schadomsky also cautioned against assuming an immediate return to old authoritarian habits. He argued that if the “new horizon” agenda was to work, Abiy would need firmer governance and support across ethnic lines among Ethiopia’s then roughly 105 million people. The column framed the choice as determination without sliding into one-man rule.
Sources: Deutsche Welle