Ethiopia’s political tug of war

The conflict between PM Abiy Ahmed’s party and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front is escalating

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed believes he is a man of destiny. As a child, his mother had prophesied that her son would become a great ruler one day. The Prosperity Party the former intelligence officer launched, disbanding the multi-party coalition that brought him to power, is said to derive its name from an evangelical faith. Whatever his predilections, the Ethiopian leader has, since being catapulted to premiership in April 2018, stumbled from one crisis to another, imperilling the country’s recent economic record. When Mr. Abiy commanded a military offensive in November in retaliation against a Tigray rebel attack on federal army barracks, his reputation as a reformer and peacemaker already lay in ruins. He dismissed opposition to the use of force, insisting that the law-and-order operation would be wound up within weeks. For months, he denied the involvement of neighbouring Eritrean forces in the conflict. In March, Mr. Abiy likened Tigrayan fighters to “flour dispersed by the wind.”