Abiy Ahmed Ali

Prime Minister of Ethiopia - Reframing Ethiopia-Eritrea rift as rooted in Tigray atrocities; facing pushback from exiled allies

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for ending a 20-year standoff with Eritrea. Now he's publicly accusing Eritrean troops of massacring Ethiopian civilians during their joint war against Tigray—a war they fought together as allies. In a February 3 address to parliament, Abiy stated Eritrean forces 'massacred our youth in Axum, looted factories in Adwa, and uprooted our factories,' marking the first time Ethiopian leadership has officially acknowledged Eritrean atrocities documented by human rights groups since 2020. Critically, Abiy reframed the Ethiopia-Eritrea rift as rooted in these Tigray-era crimes rather than his push for Red Sea access, claiming he had sent envoys to Eritrea during the war urging them to halt the killings. Eritrea's Information Minister dismissed the claims as 'cheap and despicable lies' and accused Abiy of using atrocity allegations as cover for a 'reckless and illicit war agenda.'

Updated Feb 5

Prime Minister of Ethiopia - Presided over GERD inauguration, declaring it Ethiopia's 'dawn' and proof of African self-determination

Ethiopia flipped the switch on Africa's largest dam September 9, 2025, without Egypt's blessing. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam holds 74 billion cubic meters of water—enough to double Ethiopia's power output and, Egypt fears, strangle the Nile River that 107 million Egyptians depend on for nearly all their freshwater. Fourteen years of construction, funded almost entirely by Ethiopian citizens buying bonds and donating paychecks, delivered 5,150 megawatts of capacity. Egypt called it an existential threat and demanded a binding water-sharing treaty. Ethiopia built it anyway.

Updated Jan 7