“He told me that he had taken a big intake of breath when he heard that Joe Biden had fallen off his bicycle. ‘I wish he acted his age,’ he said. Abiy grimaced when I asked about Donald Trump and said, ‘He did a lot of damage to America’s image. Let’s not even talk about him in the same way as the others. America’s politics have been ruined by entertainment culture and media, which is why its politicians are always trying to behave as if they are in a drama.”
— Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, September 26, 2022.
According to Abiy Ahmed, Donald Trump is inferior to other American presidents. Little Abiy sees the mighty Donald Trump as an entertainer and media personality who often behaves as if he is in a drama. Abiy Ahmed was sure that Donald Trump was gone for good, with no return to the White House. Yet, Donald Trump won an election by a landslide and returned to the White House for a second term. What would the warmonger and human rights abuser Abiy Ahmed say now? Does he still believe Donald Trump is inferior to other American presidents?
To build peace in the Horn of Africa during his first term, Donald Trump worked hard to resolve the long-running Nile River dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. He was the first U.S. president to host the foreign ministers of the three countries in the White House. Also, during his first term, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a peace agreement that resolved a 20-year border dispute and restored diplomatic relations. Donald Trump deserves praise, not disdain from the ungrateful Abiy.
Abiy Ahmed is an egomaniac who believes in superstition. He often talks about how, when he was young, growing up in a dusty, faraway village in Ethiopia, his mother told him he was going to be the king of Ethiopia. He believes his rise to the position of prime minister was determined at birth. People like Abiy, who believe power is given to them by God, will do anything to keep it. That is exactly what we are witnessing in Ethiopia today.
Abiy Ahmed has a long record of crimes. Six years after becoming prime minister, he ignited a war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia that killed over a million and a half people. Although a peace deal was signed on November 2, 2022, in Pretoria, South Africa, the Tigray war is likely to restart. Currently, he is overseeing two other wars in the Amhara and Oromo regions of Ethiopia. Abiy, who is delivering arms to Sudanese warring parties, signed an illegal memorandum of understanding with the breakaway region of Somaliland, and is considering invading neighboring Eritrea, has no moral ground to criticize Donald Trump, the current president of the United States.
Abiy Ahmed is a warmonger and serial human rights abuser. In three regions of Ethiopia, Abiy’s war machine has killed more than two million people and arrested several million Ethiopians. Most of those who have been arrested have disappeared without a trace. He uses sophisticated drones to attack poor farmers, their families, crops, and animals with impunity. The Ethiopian currency, the birr, which exchanged at fifty to one U.S. dollar a few months ago, is now one hundred fifty to one U.S. dollar. Poverty in Ethiopia is rampant, and most Ethiopian people cannot afford to buy even a loaf of bread. Yet, Abiy spends billions of dollars on arms to kill his own people.
His government departments are funded by money from humanitarian organizations, including USAID, and financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. During the Tigray war, humanitarian organizations accused Abiy Ahmed of stealing food aid. He used the stolen food aid to feed his soldiers, while the rest was exported to neighboring countries for hard currency, probably to buy more arms.
Abiy often claims to work toward stabilizing Somalia. However, the reality is the opposite. He is taking advantage of a neighboring country that is going through multiple challenges. Recently, Somalia has shown progress, especially in its security sector. Neighboring countries like Eritrea have trained Somalia’s future navy, air force, and mechanized units. Such efforts to rebuild Somalia did not sit well with Abiy. That is why he rushed to derail the effort to bring Somalia back from the abyss.
Disregarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia, Abiy Ahmed signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with breakaway Somaliland to establish a navy on the Red Sea. His move threw the Horn of Africa into crisis and was widely criticized by the international community. The MoU does not involve the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Signing an agreement with Somaliland, which the world recognizes as part of Somalia, is in direct violation of the African Union’s commitment to respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of its member nations, including Somalia.
Conclusion
Abiy Ahmed, a raving egomaniac, is a threat to Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa. His actions are childish and show no regard for human life whatsoever. Like a child, he collects arms from several countries, parades them in the streets of the capital, Addis Ababa, and uses them against his own people while threatening his neighbors. He overestimates himself and looks down on others. Abiy needs to be stopped before he causes more damage. Until that time comes, the carnage, poverty, and instability in Ethiopia will continue.
Eternal glory to our martyrs.
