Political Quotes

“I rise today to call upon the administration to take urgent diplomatic action to address the escalating conflict in Ethiopia, a country in the midst of what many in the international community, including myself, had hoped would be a historic political transition to democracy. Instead the country is sliding into civil war. Unless the international community acts quickly to forestall further violence, I fear that bloody and protracted conflict is unavoidable. Ethiopians have long aspired to participate in a democratic system of government. For years, their leaders let them down, but in 2018, things appeared to change when in response to peaceful popular protests centered in Ethiopia's Oromo and Amhara regions, Ethiopia's ruling party elevated Abiy Ahmed to Prime Minister. Prime Minister Abiy undertook dramatic political reform in the first year of his administration, releasing thousands of political prisoners, inviting exiled opposition groups back home, and allowing the press to freely operate. Repressive laws like the Charities and Societies and Anti- Terrorism proclamations, which had long been used to stifle political dissent, were revised and replaced. The new government committed itself to free and fair elections and, for the first time in Ethiopia's history, introduced a gender-balanced Cabinet. Many Ethiopians and much of the international community rightly celebrated these achievements and looked to further democratic progress.…”