The landslide victory of Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party in last week’s parliamentary elections has raised alarm bells across the international community, with the UK government this morning urging restraint among all parties. The result, which gives Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed an unassailable majority, comes amid a deepening humanitarian crisis in the northern region of Tigray, where a separate regional election has been declared illegal by the federal government. For the millions of Ethiopians already displaced by conflict and drought, the prospect of a fresh civil war is a terrifying reality.
Maryam Ali, a 34-year-old mother of three from Mekelle, told me: “We have lost everything. My husband was killed in the last fighting. Now they are telling us there will be more bombs.
Where do we go?” The UK Foreign Office has released a statement urging dialogue and an immediate ceasefire, but critics argue that such calls have been hollow in the past. The real economy here is the price of food and the safety of children.
And those prices are rising faster than any political settlement can keep up.