Ethiopia’s PM ‘dismayed’ by US magazine publication

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says he is dismayed by US magazine, Time description of him as the instigator of the civil war raging in his country.

Time had named Ahmed in the list of influential people of the year.

Time said Abiy’s peace treaty with Eritrea ”planted the seeds for an Ethiopian civil war’.’

It also stated that Abiy, together with Eritrea’s leader, ”launched a military campaign against” Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) leaders.

However, in a letter to the magazine, Abiy’s office said they are ”dismayed” with the way he has been represented as well as the portrayal over who started the country’s civil war.

It describes his depiction as a ”character assassination” and accuses it of echoing the narrative of the TPLF – the regional party that has been fighting federal troops in the north.

It has requested the magazine give an explanation. There has been no immediate comment from publication.

All warring parties have been accused human rights violations in Ethiopia’s civil war.

The conflict in Ethiopia started on 4 November 2020 when Abiy ordered a military offensive against regional forces in Tigray after TPLF forces seized a federal military base