Abiy Ahmed Ali is an Ethiopian politician serving as the third Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018, and as a leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea". Abiy served as the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first person of Oromo descent to hold that position. Abiy is a member of the Ethiopian parliament, and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party , one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party.In June 2020, Abiy and the National Election Board of Ethiopia postponed parliamentary elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The postponement was criticised, especially from the opposition, and raised questions about the delay's constitutional legitimacy. An election was eventually held in 2021. The African Union described the election as an improvement compared to the 2015 election and positive overall, urging the government to continue the commitment to democracy.During 2020, ethnic and political tensions grew, and in early November, the attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force Northern Command, was the start of the Tigray War between the combined forces of the ENDF and the Eritrean army against forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front —an ethnicity-based party which dominated the ruling EPRDF coalition during a nearly thirty-year period marked by rapid development alongside increasing interethnic tension—as well as those loyal to significant allied groups such as the Oromo Liberation Army.
Unlike his earlier reforms, Ethiopia has transformed into authoritarianism under Abiy's premiership since 2019, marked by severe human rights violations, media censorship, internet shutdown, civil conflicts and systematic persecution of thousands of ethnic Amharas, and southern Ethiopia region such as Amaro Koore, Konso and Gedeo Zones. Politically motivated purges also common and many journalists and activists arrested by police force for alleged breach of "constitutional laws". As of June 2022, 18 journalists were arrested in allegation of "inciting violence" while reporting for independent media outlets or YouTube channels.
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Source: Abiy Ahmed (2021) cited in: " Ethiopia civil war: How PM Abiy led fight-back against rebel advance https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59552888" in BBC News, 16 December 2021.
