Can Ethiopia Defy Its Own History?

By Allison Fedirka 

When the country tries to function as a federation, it tends to suppress its people.

High-profile political violence in Ethiopia has brought into question Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ability to implement long-awaited political reforms. Abiy inherited a divided country, and his primary tasks are to reduce violence, encourage a more participatory political system and establish free elections. Importantly, he needs to create a more unified federation – Ethiopia has rarely been able to maintain civil order in such a politically decentralized system. So for Abiy, the challenge is twofold. He needs to figure out how to govern a multinational state, and he needs to define a government that has struggled to define itself ever since the end of the Cold War.

A Rise of Militias

But reforms tend to upset one side or another, and in Ethiopia’s case, they have stoked ethnic tensions that have led to political violence. On June 22, the governor of Amhara state met with his chief of staff to discuss the rise of nationalist militias. Both of them were fatally shot in what the central government called an attempted coup. Shortly thereafter, the chief of staff of the Ethiopian army, an ethnic Tigray, was shot and killed by his bodyguard, who just so happened to be ethnically Amhara.