Vantage | Why Ethiopia's Nobel Peace laureate went after its peace minister

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has cracked down on a dissenter who is one of his former ministers, Taye Dendea. Until Sunday, he was the state minister for peace. On Tuesday, he was arrested for allegedly plotting a coup, precisely for “collaborating with anti-peace forces that are trying to destroy Ethiopia.” Look at the irony: A peace minister is collaborating with anti-peace forces and being arrested at the behest of Nobel Peace laureate Abiy Ahmed. The Ethiopian police raided his house, and they say they recovered multiple phones, laptops, and iPods. They also picked up “many flashlights, Kalashnikov rifles, and guns with bullets.” That’s an interesting way for the police to put out this list. They also said the former minister endorsed violence on social media, and he criticised the Ethiopian government, and perhaps that last part is where it all starts to make more sense—the minister was a critic.

One of the rare critics in the government of Abiy Ahmed. Just last week, he tore into the prime minister. He blamed Abiy Ahmed for the failure of peace talks with a rebel group. It seems that was the last straw. Ethiopia is a diverse country of about 112 million people and home to multiple ethnic groups. The largest group is of the Oromo people. They make up over 34 percent of the Ethiopian population. Then there are the Amhara people at 27 percent. Tigrayan and Somali people make up about 6 percent each, and then there are smaller groups as well. Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018. Since then, he has overseen multiple inter-ethnic conflicts. The three biggest ones were: The civil war in Tigray that ended last year, a conflict in Amhara that is still on, and the Oromo issue, which is long-standing. So throughout his prime ministership, inter-ethnic tensions have been on the boil. And remember, the Ethiopian prime minister is a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But he’s struggling to keep peace. Recently, there was some hope. Last month, the Oromo militia held talks with the Ethiopian government. It was the second round of talks. But then, the talks failed. And a spate of attacks took place immediately after dozens of people died in this round. Since 2018, almost 9,000 people have died in Ethiopia’s Oromo region, that is when the latest round of this conflict began, also peace talks have failed. So the minister slammed the prime minister and he was promptly sacked. So he took to facebook, and called Abiy Ahmed — a “barbarian who plays with human blood”. These were harsh words that may have landed him in jail. Dendea was accused of collaborating with anti-peace forces and conspiring to overthrow the government. His wife has apparently been asked to vacate their home in three days. All this reeks of retribution, and puts another stain on Abiy Ahmed’s record. There were a lot of hopes from the Ethiopian prime minister in 2018. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was expected to bring stability to Ethiopia. But his tenure has been anything but stable and peaceful. There should be a mechanism to rescind a Nobel Peace Prize, and Abiy Ahmed is a good candidate to start with. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s_ views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.