The Nobel Prize awarded to Abiy Ahmed is “a great shame” for the Committee

“The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Abiy constitutes a great embarrassment to the Nobel Committee [norueguês, que decide o Nobel da Paz. Os restantes cinco Nobel são concedidos por instituições suecas], definitely. It is a great damage to the reputation of the award that was awarded last year to a war leader, furthermore, accused of widespread war crimes, crimes against humanity and even genocide, as already warned by non-governmental organizations. as Genocide Watch and the United Nations Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide [Pramila Patten]. This is shameful for the Nobel Committee ”, he considered in statements to Lusa. Kjetil Tronvoll, professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations of Bjorknes University College, Norway.

Ana Gomes, former MEP candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, considers, on the contrary, that “Abiy deserves credit for opening Ethiopia like never before “and that” the Nobel Prize was awarded as an incentive to continue on this path of democratization. “Ana Gomes visited Ethiopia in February 2019 and ensures that this time, for the third time he was in the country, he found “the population happy to have an opening like never before.”

“At the same time, Abiy I had many problems, because I faced tremendous fronds organized by TPLF, not only in Tigray, but in other parts of the country, “added the former MEP, who in 2005 led a European mission of 200 observers to the legislative elections in Ethiopia, during the Meles regime Zenawi, and since then she has remained linked to the country, which appreciates and knows her as “Anna Gobese“.

The Popular Liberation Front Tigray (TPLF, the dominant party among the four regional parties that formed the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF, also in English), the ruling coalition in Ethiopia for the past three decades to last year. THE TPLF It was the only opposition party in the Ethiopian Parliament and headed the regional institutions of the state of Tigray, in the north of the country, until he fled with the federal military operation that began on 4 November latest.

“I think the Nobel Prize was given to him as an incentive to continue on this path of democratization, but when I went there I was clear that it was very complicated and that they were going to torpedo him. And he was perfectly aware of that,” added the presidential candidate. .

Kjetil Tronvoll rather, it says that Abiy Ahmed made clear “various withdrawal trends” throughout 2019, which should have pushed back the Nobel Committee in its intention to award the prize.

“My criticism is that it was too great a risk for the Committee in October 2019 awards the award to Abiy, when he learned that the two aspectskey justifications for the award, peace process with Eritreia and the process of internal reforms had stopped. They made a clearly wrong judgment and did not consider what happened in the run-up to the disclosure of the decision itself, “he explained. Kjetil Tronvoll.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee spoke mid November “deeply concerned” about the conflict in the Tigray and called for an end to violence. “The committee is closely following developments in Ethiopia and is deeply concerned,” its secretary, Olav, said at the time. Njølstad. “We repeat today what we said earlier, that is, that all parties involved share the responsibility to stop the escalation of violence and help resolve disputes and conflicts through peaceful means,” he added.

Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army to Tigray, State of Ethiopia in northern Ethiopia, on the border with Eritreia, to replace the leaders of the TPLF, which had been challenging the central government for several months, for “legitimate institutions” and ledthe before justice.

So far, there is no precise assessment of the number of deaths and injuries as a result of the conflict in Tigray. The clashes have forced more than 50,000 people to seek refuge in neighboring Sudan and have displaced more than 63,000 people within the region, according to the United Nations.

Also read: UN concerned about reports of refugees returning to camps in Tigray