Abiy Ahmed begins new five-year term pledging sea access and constitutional change as war continues in the north

Abiy Ahmed at talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, 23 October 2019 (Kremlin.ru via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0) [file photo]

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed began a second five-year term on Monday, telling the newly elected House of Peoples’ Representatives that his government would keep pressing for an outlet to the sea, rewrite parts of the constitution on the basis of the National Dialogue, and build a stronger military, while fighting in Tigray, Amhara and Afar and a diplomatic rupture with Eritrea and Egypt shadowed the start of the new administration.

The House opened the first regular session of its seventh term on Monday afternoon and reappointed Abiy as prime minister after his Prosperity Party won a large majority in the June general election. He then took the oath of office, according to the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA). Before the vote, lawmakers elected former finance minister Ahmed Shide as Speaker and Ayelech Eshete as Deputy Speaker. The House of Federation chose Muferiat Kamil, who had served as minister of labor and skills, as its Speaker and former Sidama regional president Desta Ledamo as her deputy, DW Amharic reported.

In a long address after the oath, Abiy placed the Red Sea at the center of his agenda for the next five years. “Based on the principle of give and take, we will work diligently to ensure that Ethiopia has an outlet to the sea,” he said, in remarks reported by Middle East Eye. AFP quoted him telling lawmakers that “the loss of our access to the sea was not voluntary. It was something imposed on us through external pressure,” and that “Ethiopia’s modernization cannot be fully realized without access to the sea.” He said the goal would be pursued only by peaceful means.

BBC Amharic reported that Abiy, without naming anyone, said the focus of “our enemies” had narrowed to stopping Ethiopia from gaining a role on the Red Sea, and that the idea of breaking up the country had become a nightmare for them. He described the recently formed alliance of seven armed and political groups as rivals who had “joined together for evil” after failing to attack Ethiopia separately, yet he also said his government’s hand of peace remained open and called on “Ethiopians in the forest” to take the path of peace.

Eritrea, which took Assab with it when it became independent in 1993, has said it fears Ethiopia intends to seize the port by force, Reuters reported. Abiy has repeatedly said Ethiopia will seek sea access only through negotiation, and he spoke a day after Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan declared in New Alamein that governance of the Red Sea belongs only to its coastal states.

On the domestic side, the most sensitive promise was constitutional reform. Abiy said amendments would follow the agenda items and recommendations that the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission has already handed to Parliament, the federal government and the regions, BBC Amharic reported. He did not say which provisions could change or give a timetable, Birr Metrics noted. He also said the government was ready to work with opposition parties that took part in the election, and that the media would be allowed to operate “in a manner that respects the law, national values and interests.” DW Amharic reported that only a few selected private outlets and a limited number of foreign media were allowed into Monday’s session to report on it, and that DW was among the outlets refused entry.

Abiy promised a modern and well-prepared defense force able to deter attacks before they happen, and he spoke of strengthening the air force, according to BBC Amharic and Birr Metrics. Drawing on history, he recalled that Italy invaded Ethiopia again four decades after its defeat at Adwa, and he warned that victory can breed complacency. On the economy, he said macroeconomic reform would be pushed “to its goal,” along with civil service reform, digital services, corridor development and a tougher fight against corruption and nepotism, ENA reported.

The cabinet had not been named by Tuesday. ENA said the Council of Ministers had sent Parliament a draft proclamation on the organization, powers and duties of federal executive bodies, and that the prime minister would submit ministerial nominees to the House for approval. In the regions, DW Amharic reported that every regional council except Tigray had already formed its new administration. Oromia started work under a new zonal structure, and new presidents were appointed for the Sidama, South Ethiopia, South West Ethiopia and Central Ethiopia regions. On Tuesday, President Taye Atske-Selassie addressed a joint session of both Houses and set out the government’s plans for the economy, security, diplomacy and social services.

On X, the new term and the Red Sea dispute drew comment from state media and from outside observers. The state broadcaster’s EBC World account (@ebczena) said Cairo’s attempt “to isolate Ethiopia at the New Al-Alamein summit is doomed to fail.” Tom Gardner (@TomGardner18), a journalist who covers Ethiopia, quoted that post under the words “Red Sea Generation” and wrote, “More helpfully de-escalatory rhetoric from Ethiopian state media.” An Arabic-language account, Hamdan Finiri (@finiree65733), framed the re-election as coming “amid rising internal and regional tensions, especially the renewed fighting in Tigray and growing disputes over Ethiopia’s access to the Red Sea.”

Researchers at Horn Review, an Addis Ababa-based policy outlet, wrote on Tuesday that the speech pointed to a government that sees sea access as a long-term strategic priority to be reached through negotiated arrangements, while putting more weight on military capability and internal cohesion so that domestic divisions do not become levers for outside pressure. They cited Abiy’s warning that the “rain of change” falling across East Africa would not pass Ethiopia by.

The new term opens with the hardest questions of the last one still unresolved. Federal forces and the allied Tigray Peace Force took Mekelle on Saturday after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) withdrew, but air strikes and artillery exchanges were reported in other parts of Tigray on Sunday and Monday. Fano forces remain active in Amhara. Abroad, Ethiopia expelled Eritrean and Egyptian diplomats last week, Eritrea then cut diplomatic ties, and Egypt sent an Ethiopian diplomat home in return. Ethiopian officials accuse Eritrea, Egypt and Sudan of backing the armed alliance; all three deny it.

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Abiy Ahmed begins new five-year term pledging sea access and constitutional change as war continues in the north

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