April 2nd 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – Ethiopia, one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, has today sworn-in the newly elected Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who is also expected to be the head of the regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development which is meditiating bewteen SOuth Sudanese warring sides.
In an extraordinary session, Abiy who is the first ethnic Oromo to be selected by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) as prime minister in its 27 years of rule, accepted the nomination where he formally replaced Hailemariam Desalegn, whose surprise resignation in February came after more than two years of anti-government protests led by the Oromos.
Last week, after several days of deliberations and closed-door meetings, the Council of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on Tuesday elected Abiy Ahmed, 41, as the coalition’s next leader, paving the way for him to become Ethiopia’s next and first ethnic Oromo Premier.
IGAD now will have a different chairman as change of leadership in Ethiopia will affect the regional body.
Ethiopia is the place where South Sudan’s peace process been ongoing since January 2014, but the South Sudan government last week called for the change of the venue citing “political uncertainty” after the surprise resignation of the Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as both the leader of the Ethiopian Coalition (EPRDF) and the Prime minister of Ethiopia.
Ahmed now inherits a deeply complicated regional issues among which is the South Sudan’s civil war which has been on going for almost five years.
