Abiy Ahmed

Abiy Ahmed Ali (Oromo: Abiyi Ahmed Alii; Amharic: ዐብይ አሕመድ ዐሊ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He rose through the ranks of government via the Information Network Security Agency (INSA), which was established in 2006. 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 (EPRDF) 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 (ODP), 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 (NEBE) 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.

Following rising ethnic and political tensions in 2020, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command, starting the 2-year Tigray War between the combined forces of the ENDF and the Eritrean army against forces loyal to the TPLF and the Oromo Liberation Army. After the Ethiopia–Tigray peace agreement ended the Tigray War, Abiy began an effort in 2023 to consolidate all remaining regional militias into the ENDF. Fano rebuffed requests to disarm and integrate into federal forces, instead attacking the ENDF and beginning the War in Amhara.

Since 2019, Ethiopia has undergone democratic backsliding under Abiy's premiership, marked by severe human rights violations, media censorship, internet shutdown, civil conflicts and systematic persecution of thousands of ethnic Amharas, and ethnic violence in southern regions of Ethiopia, such as Amaro Koore, Konso and Gedeo Zones. Politically motivated purges also became common and many journalists and activists were arrested, by police for alleged breach of "constitutional laws". As of June 2022, 18 journalists were arrested on allegation of "inciting violence" while reporting for independent media outlets or YouTube channels. Abiy is also believed to lead and organize Koree Nageenyaa, a secret service that purportedly commits unlawful detentions and extrajudicial killings in the Oromia Region with the aim of suppressing uprisings.