Haymanot Assefa NadewMaryland, USA — June 2026 Abiy Ahmed rose to power on a promise that felt transformative: peace after years of paralysis, unity after division, and prosperity after stagnation.
For many Ethiopians at home and abroad, that promise was not merely political branding.
It was a national wager on renewal.
Today, that wager looks broken.
Ethiopia remains burdened by conflict, displacement, and severe economic strain.
Families across the country continue to absorb the costs of violence and insecurity, while inflation and currency pressure have made ordinary life markedly harder.
Whatever hopes defined Abiy Ahmed’s ascent, many Ethiopians now see a government that has not delivered on its most consequential promises.
Showcase Development Cannot Mask National Crisis While the country remains under severe strain, the government has promoted highly visible urban renewal projects as evidence of progress.
The most prominent example is the widely publicized Corridor Development initiative in Addis Ababa.
Critics of this agenda argue that the narrative functions less as a development strategy than as a political communications effort—one that can obscure the scale of the country’s humanitarian and governance crises.
Urban Renewal and Displacement: Critics contend that, under the banner of modernization, redevelopment has displaced residents, disrupted neighborhood markets, and weakened heritage communities in the capital, often with inadequate compensation or recourse.A Contrast in National Priorities: Opponents argue that the emphasis on showcase projects in the capital stands in stark contrast to conditions in conflict-affected regions, where many communities continue to face displacement, food insecurity, and limited access to essential services.
Viewed in this light, Corridor Development is presented by opponents not as evidence of broad national progress, but as a symbolic project that projects order and modernization while deeper conflict, displacement, and instability persist beyond the capital.
A Politics Built on Shifting Enemies A central feature of Abiy Ahmed’s politics, critics argue, has been the repeated use of external and internal threats to consolidate support and frame his leadership as indispensable to Ethiopia’s survival.
That claim deserves scrutiny: no democratic system should depend on the permanence of a single leader.
Early in his tenure, the administration’s confrontation with the TPLF helped unify parts of the public behind the federal government, including many in Amhara and members of regional Fano groups who aligned with the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF).
After the November 2022 Pretoria Peace Agreement, however, that alignment deteriorated sharply.
Subsequent efforts to disarm Amhara regional forces became a major political flashpoint and, in the view of many critics, contributed to the escalation of armed resistance across the region.
The government now faces accusations that it has replaced one security narrative with another, using new internal enemies to justify continued centralization and emergency measures.
Critics argue that these policies have weakened, rather than stabilized, the state: Heavy artillery and devastating drone strikes have been turned against civilian infrastructure and historic towns in the Amhara region.Prolonged regional states of emergency have paralyzed local economies.Our historic external vulnerabilities have widened, with regional proxy dynamics and border anxieties alongside Sudan and Eritrea reaching their highest friction points in....
