Journey to Hell Led Ethiopian Nobel Winner to Eritrea Peace Deal

    Blooming || Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for forging an end to almost two decades of conflict with neighboring Eritrea, described how his personal exposure to the horrors it wrought drove him to seek a rapprochement.
    “War is the epitome of hell for all involved,” Abiy, who served as a radio operator in the Ethiopian army and was the only survivor of an artillery attack on his unit during the war, said in his Nobel lecture in Oslo on Tuesday. “I know because I have been there and back.”
    Abiy, 43, became Africa’s youngest leader when he was appointed prime minister in March 2018, and immediately announced a swathe of political and economic reforms. Three months later, he and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki agreed a peace accord to end a stalemate that followed a 1998-2000 border war in which as many as 100,000 people died.

    Abiy described Isaias as his partner and said his goodwill and commitment played a vital role in bringing about the deal that persuaded the United Nations to lift decade-old sanctions on Eritrea.

    “We understood our nations are not enemies,” the Ethiopian leader said in a prepared speech. “Instead, we were victims of the common enemy called poverty. We recognized that while our two nations were stuck on old grievances, the world was shifting rapidly and leaving us behind.”

    While parts of the peace accord remain unimplemented, including territorial demarcations outlined by a 2002 boundary commission and the reopening of several border crossings, Abiy described the two nations’ commitment to peace as “iron-clad.”

    At home, Abiy’s unbanning of Ethiopian opposition and rebel groups, has stoked political fragmentation and long-suppressed rivalries among ethnic communities. That’s led regional groups to intensify calls for more self-determination. Reforms have also faced mounting opposition from anti-government groups and within the ruling party, which has factionalized under his rule.

    Abiy said the returns of reform would be seen in the years to come, and that his administration remained committed to maintaining multiparty democracy, media freedom and human rights.

    Abiy’s visit to Norway was also marked by his decision not to attend a press conference — traditionally an integral part of the Nobel Peace Prize award program. In unusual criticism of a laureate, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said last week the snub was “very unfortunate.”

    The Nobel Committee went as far as sending its secretary to Addis Ababa to try to convince Abiy to talk to the press during his visit, but to no avail, said Chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen. U.S. President Barack Obama also skipped the press conference when he claimed the prize in 2009, taking only two questions from selected media.

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    2 COMMENTS

    1. It is doubly satisfying to see the visionary PM Abiy was honored with the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize today. I watched his speech(lecture) and it was just a masterpiece!!! In the society where level head elderly were systematically and gradually rendered irrelevant by the disciples of Marx, Lenin and Mao for more than 40 years, this 43 year old citizen came out swinging as peacemaker, teacher and skillful negotiator. First time it was in 1936 when another man from the old country was selected(awarded) as the Time Magazine Man of The Year. Now 83 years later there was another one from the country of Negash, Bilal and Mary Magdalene who is awarded another prestigious prize, the Nobel Peace Prize. You can’t beat or top that for this beyond-repair Afro-Ethio-centric countryman!!!I’m good now!!! I’m good for the rest of the year!!! Ok bigots!!! Stand there and melt down to oblivion!!!! You know that moon in the sky? Look at it and eat your crow!!!!

    2. To those of you who are rushing to write the obituary of the old country as we know it I say you will be very disappointed by its resilience. It will somehow find its mojo to come out of the conundrum badly bruised but still shining with all its precious children in her comforting arms. Quote me on that!!! Bigots will ultimately die out leaving their ugly history behind. What they are doing now proves the fact that they have chosen to be remembered on the wrong side history as hate mongers and savage leaders. Who will forget what William Joseph Simpson did from the top of the Stone Mountain? Who will choose to give George Gordon some slacks for his Precept? Just remember, history is prolific in taking down names and keeping them forever!!!!

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