Ethiopia’s new prime minister is the first Oromo to head the ruling EPRDF coalition in the country’s 27-year history. Some observers believe he can bring about change in conflict-ridden regions.

After weeks of negotiations behind closed doors, Ethiopia finally has a new prime minister. 41-year-old Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali is set to be confirmed on Saturday, but he has already become something of a sensation. He is the first Oromo chairman of the ruling four-party coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Although the Oromo ethnic group makes up a third of the country’s population of 105 million, so far they have always had a disadvantage against the older ruling Amhara group and the minority Tigre group. The latter has determined the country’s political and economic fortunes for a quarter of a century and control both the military and intelligence services.

The multilingual Abiy was born in 1976 in the Jimma region of western Ethiopia, the son of a Muslim father and a Christian mother. When violent unrest broke out between the two religious communities he actively engaged in a peace forum for reconciliation.

‘Charismatic and credible’

While still a teenager, Abiy reportedly joined the resistance movement against the “Red Terror” regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. After its demise he joined the Ethiopian army in 1993, where he first worked in the intelligence service and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the Rwandan genocide of 1994, he was deployed as a member of the United Nations peace mission and later served in the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Seyum Teshome is an Ethiopian blogger and university lecturer who was arrested by security forces in early March. Shortly before, he told DW he had previously praised Abiy’s qualities. “He has been overwhelmingly accepted by members of the opposition parties. He has strong willpower, great charisma, and great credibility.”

It was not until 2010, after heading the cyber-intelligence service INSA, that Abiy moved into politics and quickly rose within the ranks of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO). He was elected to the House of Representatives, and in 2016 he became the Federal Minister of Science and Technology in Addis Ababa. However, he soon returned to his native province of Oromia to take up the position of Head of the OPDO Secretariat.

At the end of 2015, Abiy found himself at the center of a violent dispute over illegal land-grabbing in the Oromia region. Although the controversial ‘Addis Ababa Master Plan’ was suspended in early 2016, the fallout continues to this day, with a death toll of thousands and many thousands injured. Abiy — along with regional president Lemma Megerssa — became one of the central figures of a newly awakened Oromo nationalism.