Lift the state of emergency in Ethiopia, and lose the country

Tigrai Online, June 2, 2018

Ethiopia to lift state of emergency soon
Lifting the state of emergency in Ethiopia will lead to disintegrating the country

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The Ethiopian government is about to lift the emergency which was declared four months ago two months earlier than it was planned to be lifted. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was handed a calm country mainly because of the state of Emergency not because of some miracle that came with the swapping of two men from the same party.

The new Ethiopian prime minister is doing too much and too fast probably he is eager to please everyone in all sides. Prime Minister Abiy’s actions for the first weeks after he took office must have been exiting for many Ethiopians, however as time goes on the euphoria that swept across Ethiopia is fading faster than morning fog.

Unless the Ethiopian prime minister has guarantees from Minnesota and Asmara lifting the state of emergency will be his own undoing. If the unrest restarts again it would not be confined to Amhara and Oromos regions, it will engulf the entire country because this time every region and every ethnic is boiling with anger. Unleashing public unrest will lead to the demise of Ethiopia as we know it.

The forces behind the three year public unrest in Amhara and Oromia regional states were not and are not interested on democracy or freedom of people their primary goal is to dismantle the Ethiopian federal system. From what we have seen so far the new Ethiopian Prime Minister’s actions are counterproductive and creating more discontent in the country.

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There are signs signaling involvement of external forces twisting the young prime ministers’ hand for their own national interest. A covert, but highly concerted international effort has been going on for a while to undermine the EPRDF government and its aim is to dislodge China from the Horn of Africa especially from Ethiopia. The Chinese are fully aware of the current changes taking place in Ethiopia and they might be taking actions to protect themselves. The Financial Times said the following in its article today, “For much of the last decade Ethiopia has been a leading investment destination in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for China. But Beijing’s waning enthusiasm for the region’s fastest-growing economy reflects the challenges facing Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister, as he juggles demands from a public hungry for both democracy and development and myriad vested interests”, emphasis from TOL

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