Ethiopia: elections amid war and famine

On June 21, regional and legislative elections were held in Ethiopia. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize and favorite in the election, congratulated himself on having organized the country’s “first free and fair elections”… but the reality was quite different. Ethiopians were deprived of voting in a fifth of the constituencies due to worrying insecurity, especially in the Tigray region, torn by civil war since November 2020 and an alarming famine.
The man who represented a hope for peace in Ethiopia has turned into a warlord: criticized for his management of the conflict, he is accused by several international organizations of arbitrary detentions and serious human rights violations.

To see our previous weekly editorials on international news, take a look here!