By Eyob Asfaw
For the past few months, PM Abiy began to show a decline of frequency in addressing the Ethiopian wider public directly unlike his trend of public show up and verbatim during international summit. However, there is no comparable event within the past two months other than Paris, France and Moscow, Russia for which the PM Abiy for which he was caught by his words. Through this piece, let us unpack what each summit holds particularly for Ethiopia and how can we treatise the performance of the PM Abiy on those events.
It has to be reiterated that the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed participated on the Paris summit entitled “Evolving the model of multilateral development Banks to address the 21st century challenges” as part of a New Global Financing. As a matter of coincidence, the Paris Conference was an event through which the PM Abiy runs controversial in the eyes of Ethiopian political pundits. His speech claiming 50 billion dollar which best fits within the framework of climate financing was neither unconceivable per se nor offence for anyone in spite of the criticism forwarded by oppositions and activists alike. In the eyes of the observers, his speech on the climate change resurfaced over other backgrounds of funding such as pandemics and post conflict reconstruction. Be that as it may, much of the criticisms yet lack to posit the PM Abiy within the larger framework of climate change or climate deals of COP 1-28. Though for this round the summit is not climate deal per se, the financers WB and IMF are unequivocal players of the climate financing. In fact, commentators- such as Yonas Biru, argued that the number 50 billion trees are entirely either erroneously reported data or unattainable figure. In a similar reaction, other oppositions conceived the PM Abiy plea as a mere reckless motion driven by his demand for exhausting hard currency needs in the face of severe foreign currency shortages in the central bank reserve. Nevertheless, we don’t have to miss that the 50 billion trees estimate is not empty bravado. Rather PM Abiy can be considered as if he was bragging on one of the initiatives he championed ‘green legacy project’ for which he will always be remembered.
More often than not, the climate deal is one of the international deals through which the international community is showing nothing more than lip service instead of entering into a binding treaty and action plan. It has to be remembered that the PM Abiy reacted after his coming back home from his Paris travel in which he vowed to challenge fellow Ethiopians plant 500 million trees in overnight. .
As for attending the Russia-Africa summit, in pursuant to Immanuel Kant, his how up is not short of a ‘perfect duty’ of the PM Abiy. As a perfect duty PM Abiy could end ups blameworthy had he not show up on the event. By virtue of the world order in the 21st century, third world countries ought to mandatorily expedite in their diplomatic relations with rival super powers of either USA or Russia. For this, Mohamood Ayoob’s of ‘Subaltarn realism’ stands a fitting perspective through which third world countries best comforts themselves in the face of bipolarity. Through that, the maintenance and creation of domestic order and those of international order are inextricably intertwined, especially in the arena of conflict and security. So, Africa unimpeded by war in Ukraine and energy security could be best expedited other than any other outputs from the Russia-Africa summit. In resonance, Minister Beleta Molla shared his Twitter thread which is literally read as : “The BRICS New Development Bank has agreed to finance some of Rosatom’s energy projects, the company’s CEO has revealed Russia & Ethiopia have signed a roadmap on nuclear energy cooperation, the head of Russian atomic energy major Rosatom, Aleksey Likhachev announced.”
Notwithstanding the PM Abiy effort to run balance of multi polarity, he seems re-doubling its efforts in joining the Russia –Africa Summit. As usual elsewhere than Ethiopia, we don’t have to forget that government appears Oxymoron for its citizens. On the one hand the government has to be trusted so Abiy ought to be reliable negotiator for the citizens he is leading. On the other hand, the people are chartered to pose a benefit of doubt over the elected government through which accountability can only be maintained. In sum, there is a concession for logical skepticism over the conduct of the chief executive of the government such as Abiy Ahmed once shows up on international summit held at either Moscow or Paris.
I just heard that the national soccer team of the old country will be here in the US for friendly matches with different teams this week. You folks in the Atlanta area are the lucky ones to have the rareset chance the see one of the matches. I am ordering you to go out in droves and give those young men the moral support they need.
Also make sure to watch our daughter Naomi bint Girma and her team march towards the final in the Women’s World Cup being played in Oceania. So far she has been doing a commendable job deserved for starship. Go Naomi, go!!!!
My concern also includes some sort of a different nature. In regards to the current disturbance going on in Amhara region my hope is level heads will prevail and the region will regain peace and stability. My other concern is what will or may happen in the capital that will trigger a political tremor shaking up the whole country as it known today and for worse. You see we the generation of the 1960’s were used to hearing about one change of government after another in the then newly independent countries of Africa. Almost all of them were coup d’é•tat’s usually carried by corporals and 2nd lieutenants. It was like a pandemic spreading like Covid-19 of these days. There were some exceptions like Senegal, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Morocco. Majority of those coups were very violent and deadly to the sitting(overthrown) leaders. King Farouq of Egypt was very lucky that his overthrow did not happen in the 1960’s. But most of us used to think coup d’é•tat will never happen to the late emperor. Even though his undoing began with the widespread upheaval but the final straw was a gang of military officers who hauled him away in a Volkswagen Beetle and savagely bludgeoned him to death while in custody. One of my countrymen friends who was in the capital when the late emperor was taken into custody told me many students in the capital including himself took to the streets supporting the action of conniving officers not knowing or foreseeing what was afoot for them at a later date. These days we hear one overthrow of a ruling civilian government after another in that continent with a mysterious military officer appearing on the national TV telling his citizens the leader they elected with hard won voting right is no more. The new sheriff in town tells them ‘L’État, c’est moi’, all roads of governing lead to him! Just bear that in mind.