Federal President Steinmeier will be received today for a multi-day state visit to Ethiopia. His host Abiyi hopes for German support for his ambitious reform project.
First Ghana and Gambia, then South Africa and Botswana, now Ethiopia: On the third trip to Africa in his two-year term as Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier wants to demonstrate above all support for the determined reform course of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has been in office since April 2018.
There is much hope, but also question marks, it was said from the presidential office in Berlin. As a prelude, Steinmeier will be welcomed in the capital Addis Ababa by the new president, Sahle-Work Zewde, who also stands for the country’s democratic transformation.
Democratic reforms and peace with Eritrea
The 42-year-old Prime Minister Abiy is considered a kind of superstar in the Horn of Africa. When he took office, he launched comprehensive democratic reforms in the country with around 100 million people. He released thousands of political prisoners, started a liberalization of the economy and arrested high-ranking officials of the old guard.
And he made peace with long-time rival Eritrea. This was unthinkable just a short time ago: Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody border war from 1998 to 2000. Since then, the situation has been a frozen conflict.
The autocratic led Eritrea seceded from the outside world, tens of thousands fled the indefinite military and labor service – about 50,000 Eritreans live according to the UN refugee agency today in Germany. Abiy ended the conflict without Eritrea’s acknowledgment. However, sustainable peace in the Horn of Africa is anything but safe.
Internally, Ethiopia still has a long way to go. „Our challenges are significant,“ Abiy said recently at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Poverty and unemployment are great. In addition, there are several ethnic conflicts in the multi-ethnic state.
