Beyond the Headlines: Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed – from Nobel Peace Prize to the brink of war


James Haines-Young
  • English
  • Arabic

In 2019, Abiy Ahmed was riding high. For a year he had been Ethiopia's prime minister, having emerged from Byzantine internal jockeying at a time of deep unease and anger. He had ushered in a series of swift democratic reforms, seemingly bringing an end to decades of repression as he opened up the media and released political prisoners. Then, the charismatic 43-year-old blew on to the international scene, winning the Nobel Prize for reaching out to end the decades-long conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. He had solved an intractable situation once dubbed "No war, No peace." But less than a year later, on November 17, the same people that rewarded his peacemaking efforts with a Nobel prize released a statement expressing deep concern. The reason? Abiy was now at war at home against the province of Tigray, in Ethiopia's north, sandwiched below Eritrea and next to Sudan. This week on Beyond the Headlines host James Haines Young looks at how Abiy Ahmed went from Nobel Peace Prize winner to the brink of civil war in Ethiopia.

The biog

Age: 59

From: Giza Governorate, Egypt

Family: A daughter, two sons and wife

Favourite tree: Ghaf

Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense 

Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”

Stage 2 results

Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 04:18:18

Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:02

Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:04

4 Diego Ulissi (ITA) UAE Team Emirates

5 Rick Zabel (GER) Israel Start-Up Nation

General Classification

Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 07:47:19

2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:12

3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:16

4 Nikolai Cherkasov (RUS) Gazprom-Rusvelo 00:00:17

5 Alexey Lutsensko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 00:00:19

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets