Being Noah Tesfaye #37: A New Future for Ethiopia and Eritrea

If I could describe being both Ethiopian and Eritrean in one word, based on the history, it would be conflict. Ever since we rose up and defeated the communist regime known as the Derg, Ethiopia and Eritrea have fought over regions they share borders, especially at Badme, a town in Eritrea. For the past twenty years, there has been unofficial war between the two nations, which cost the lives of over 70,000 people.

For a brief recent history, the main jist is that the former prime minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi did not follow through with a peace agreement signed in 2000 between him and President Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea. This led to a sudo state of war and conflict for the past decade and a half or so. After Meles died and his successor, Hailemariam Desalegn stepped down a few months ago, Ethiopia finally had an election this year. Its winner, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, is the first president of Oromo descent, the ethnic group who was in severe conflict with the Tigray TPLF party and with the government, which resulted in numerous state of emergencies and countless deaths.

What makes Abiy so different from any Ethiopian prime minister thus far is that he has been extremely progressive. Like insanely progressive. He has a masters from the UK and a doctorate from Addis Ababa University, and he’s only 42! He and his chief…