The new Ethiopia

About a month ago I visited Ethiopia and based on that visit and recent news items, we can say that there is a fresh new wind blowing through the country.

the new light rail in Addis - tigraionline.com

The new president of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, has just announced that it will accept a peace deal that might end the border war with Eritrea. The war started in 1998 and has been raging for a few years, with a loss of thousands of people in combat. There were border disputes that previous governments were not able to solve, and a peace agreement was never reached.

For more info, see: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44376298

Additional announcements also include less Government influence in the telecom and the aviation industries. I remember a time when I visited Ethiopia when for example Facebook was blocked for a few days during protests.

The new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, can be seen as largely responsible for these changes. He came into power in April. Ahmed is Oromo, while the last prime minister was Tigray by origin.

Let us now hope that Eritrea, and its Prime Minister Isaias Afewerki will cooperate with the peace agreement. I have lived in Eritrea for a few months, it is a beautiful and fascinating country. Let's hope a possible peace agreement will be a first step for Eritrea to open up the country.

Anyway, fascinating times are ahead, and hopefully Ethiopia, together with Kenya, will now play a leading role in stabilizing the troubled region.

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