麻豆社

In November 2019, the prime minister of Tigray Abiy Ahmed was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for brokering a peace deal with neighbouring Eritrea. Many Ethiopians and several western leaders praised him as an ambitious and charismatic moderniser. But on 4 November he announced military operations in the Tigray region, saying the action was in response to attacks on federal army camps by the TPLF (the Tigray People's Liberation Front). Hundreds have died in nearly three weeks of hostilities that analysts worry could draw in and destablise the broader Horn of Africa region.

Alex de Waal, an Ethiopia analyst and executive director of the World Peace Foundation, at Tufts University in Boston, discusses Abiy Ahmed's rise to power and how his approach to leadership has changed since becoming prime minister.

Photo: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during a media conference, Paris, France, October 2018 Credit: Reuters