The embattled Ethiopian leader applied to replace TPLF as puppets of the western global order in the horn of Africa, but he was tried and turned down by the west for his mediocrity. He has nothing pan-Africanist in his mind.
Speaking at the annual African union conference in February 2023, Abiy Ahmed called on the continental organization to form an AU media because the images of Africa portrayed by the global western media is affecting not just how Africa is seen by others but also by "us Africans". The speech seems to make sense for someone who doesn't know Abiy or the continental organization. The fact is AU has a website, a YouTube, a Twitter and Facebook page. It already has a media like the Eruopean Union. The embattled Ethiopian ruler did not care as he was there to make an impression as a pan-Africanist leader.
Ethiopia is being haunted by deep Oromo tribalism that can barely hold the Ethiopian state let alone project a continental Pan-African agenda. Leadership requires a clarity of vision that can nurture national cohesion and unity. Enough with the pretension and empty rhetoric! #AU
— Mesenbet Assefa (@messiassefa) February 18, 2023
Since coming to power in 2018, Abiy Ahmed has set records as the deadliest ruler in the history of Ethiopia as his reign is characterized by savage genocide-like mass killings in the south, a brutal war in the north, a mediocre and corrupt bureaucracy and lawlessness at every level of his government.
Official estimates show close to a million people have been killed since 2018 in Ethiopia. The killings continue as we write this. To blind the divided Ethiopian society & the world outside from this reality, The prime minister has employed several deceptive approaches. One is appearing as a pan-African.
Why resort to Pan-Africanism?
When Abiy came to power in 2018, he became a darling of the globalist western media he attacks now by doing everything they like. He made half of his cabinet females. He made speeches at March 8 rallies. He set up a human rights council by putting an ex-amnesty international guy at the head.
He may have won the Nobel peace prize for the deal with Eritrea, but the western media's positive feed had contributed for the prize. But his power rivals TPLF started an open war against him in November 2020 and successfully played their #TigrayGinocide drama. The return of the Obama-Era TPLF allies to US government with Biden's victory in Nov 2020 US elections allowed TPLF's drama to continue without countering by Abiy's government.
As mediocre as he is, Abiy did not recruit best talent in diplomacy and international media skills and prepare to counterattack TPLF's global disinformation campaign. He was forced to resort to Pan-Africanism.
His stupid miscalculations & political decisions complicated the law enforcement campaign against TPLF into an all-out civil war. The Ethiopian army was forced to pull out of Tigray in the fall of 2021. The rebels continued their offensive and reached the mountains of Shoa threatening to oust the prime minister from power. The US and its allies formed a caretaker government in Washington DC to replace Abiy.
He was completely separated from the western global order and media. The Ethiopian army and Ethiopian nationalists once again paid all the sacrifices to make up for his blunders and defeated TPLF's aggression. 100s of 1000s had paid in their dear lives to save Ethiopia from disintegration caused by TPLF and Abiy's Prosperity party. Billions of dollars' worth infrastructure was destroyed by the war.
Abiy can work with even devil to stay in power
Abiy Ahmed has publicly said he would die for USA or any western power if they hire him. His interest is to remain in power by serving anyone who could employ his service. The only reason the Biden led US government turned him down was for his mediocrity and the unpredictability that rises from that incompetence.
They preferred TPLF over him because the Tigreyan tribal militia proved to stabilize Ethiopia and US interests in horn of Africa at least until their former leader Meles Zenawi died in 2012. Then in 2016 Donald Trump rose to power. His anti-globalist foreign policy approach led to less US support to the Ethiopian dictators that led to their political demise in 2018. Trump allies secretly visited Abiy Ahmed before he was elected as chairman of the then EPRDF and subsequently PM of Ethiopia.
Abiy Ahmed unconsciously wears US army uniforms in public appearances. Those incidents can be taken as a one-off from his childish narcissism, but they signal to some extent what guy has in heart.
To impress donors and the media, Abiy is cashing on Ethiopia's proud and rich diplomatic and miliary history in both African and global stages. When the west comes after him because of the internal instability, he switches to Pan-Africanism. When he sees an opportunity to impress the west, he claims to have built a powerful army that can fight the west's wars in the horn like the TPLF did in three decades.
He's a mercenary who has no foreign policy or principles other than money and power. All he does is what keeps him imposed on the Ethiopian people who are living through the bloodiest reign in the nation's history. He has a low bar for himself and Africans. The psychopath thinks he can fool all people all the time. Ethiopians are bored with his endless drama that has kept the nation in bloodbath for over four years now. Before he extends the drama to Africa, he should first resolve Ethiopia's stability problems.
Any Ethiopian politician who claims to be pan-African should first make Ethiopians proud Africans by solving the deadly political crisis, raising their life standards and creating a model nation for the rest of Africa. Abiy lacks the skills for this. He could not unite his tribal Oromo base and make deal with other Ethiopians for stable and prosper Ethiopia let alone unite Africans around a pan-Africanist agenda.“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Attributed to Abe Lincoln, may or may not have said it. But , it correctly captures the condition in today’s #Ethiopia.
— Neamin Zeleke (@NeaminZeleke) February 14, 2023
For the Prime minister, posing as a pan-African is one of the ways of escaping from the reality of his reign in Ethiopia that is marred by genocide-like mass killings, the collapse of law and order, massive corruption and lawlessness at every government level.
As long as Ethiopia is not stable, it cannot serve the pan-Africanist agenda or even the global western order.