Content: Fineline

Who it is that midwifed the rapprochement between Ethiopia and Eritrea is a matter of dispute among pundits in the Horn of Africa. There are just too many global and regional actors who claim to have played a decisive role in breaking the impasse stayed in place for two decades between the two neighbours. The […]

Finally, the Chinese government sent its senior diplomat to Addis Abeba with a large entourage of aides. Foreign Affairs Minister, Wang Yi, was here last week on a three-day official visit, during a period when his country’s relations with Ethiopia reached a delicate point, gossip observed. Yi is not new to dropping by in Addis […]

The lovey-dovey relationship that has evolved between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and President Issayas Afeworqi is a source of concern for many. In particular, to the leadership of the TPLF. It is understandable, for Eritrea’s leader appears to be determined to exact his decades-long grudges, seeing the TPLF as his mortal enemy that needs […]

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has been busy this past week meeting with groups within and outside of his administration, including heads of foreign missions and international organisations. With the first, he briefed European diplomats based in Addis Abeba on the reform agenda he has been pursuing. But he was more excited in showing them […]

On Saturday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) inaugurated yet another industrial park, albeit modest in size, near the town of Jimma, Oromia Regional State, an area not far from where he was born and grew up. Built by a Chinese company at a cost of more than 6o million dollars, the park was to be […]

The Office of the Prime Minister has introduced the public to a new logo, bearing the architectural design of a building that was built under the Dergue. Circular in shape and with a pine background in colour, it appears that the White House inspired the picture, perhaps revealing the temptation by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed […]

Yet again, last week saw another season where federal authorities made a wave of arrests of senior government officials suspected of alleged corruption. This time around though members of the deep state – the high brass military officers – have been rounded up, including Kinfe Dagnew (M. General), former chief of the state-owned Metals & […]

The cosiness between the Ethiopian authorities and their new allies in the Middle East appears to have reached a new level, gossip observed. The emirs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were instrumental in brokering a deal to normalise relations between foes in the Horn of Africa, thus the shuttling of leaders between Addis Abeba, […]

To the fury of British diplomats in Addis Abeba and the horror of their bosses at the Home Office, the Ethiopian government has abruptly cancelled the participation of its senior officials at a high-level investment conference scheduled for mid-week in London, gossip disclosed. No less than five ministers, including Worqneh Gebeyehu (PhD), minister of Foreign […]

As was expected, Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has consolidated power after being reelected by the Revolutionary Democrats in Hawassa last week, with votes that amount to near unanimity. Of the 180 Council members of the EPRDF, only three failed to show up, including Getachew Assefa of the TPLF, the controversial former spymaster, gossip disclosed. Getachew was […]

The Revolutionary Democrats, under the leadership of their young and popular leader Abiy Ahmed (PhD), are entering into the uncharted sea, gossip observed. Beginning this week, they will start their most anticipated convention in the town of Hawassa, the seat of the Southern Regional State. Hawassa will host the EPRDF Congress for the third time […]

The Revolutionary Democrats concluded their council meeting on September 16, 2018. It was held ahead of the most anticipated Congress scheduled for the first week of next month in the town of Hawassa. The council meeting was called immediately after the EPRDF Executive Committee met two weeks ago, where Chairman Abiy Ahmed (PhD) presented a […]

For a casual visitor, Addis Abeba looks lately like a city where there is a fierce electoral battle between determined contending parties. Supporters of political groups and their leaders, as well as activists with varying ideological persuasions, all returning from exile, are adorning the city streets with flags of different colours, subtly representing their preferred […]

During one of his North American tours, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) was asked whether the ruling coalition, the EPRDF, is weakening as a result of inter-party infighting among its leaders. His prompt answer was negating the premise of the question and affirming that the EPRDF has never been stronger in its existence as it […]

The administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has formed its Economic Policy Council in the past few weeks, gossip disclosed. Remaining inactive for a couple of years now, the Council is a club of high brass in the economic sector, proposing policy measures to ensure macroeconomic stability, claims gossip. For a change, it is […]

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) will soon travel to the United States to address an estimated 40,000 members of the Ethiopian Diaspora at a Washington D.C. convention center, gossip says. Despite the excitement in meeting an otherwise hostile audience to his predecessors, Abiy leaves behind pockets of hotspots at home, claims gossip. The most recent […]

The city of Addis Abeba is the most relegated member of the federation in getting what is promised in Ethiopia`s constitution: the right to self-rule, claims gossip. A mayor of a native has never governed it, while the most substantial compositions of its legislative house, the cabinet, and general managers of almost all the districts […]

Despite a popular enthusiasm and an air of hope out in the public domain, there has yet to surface substantive policy reforms by the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD), claims gossip. Nonetheless, there is a hyper movement in the officialdom, where individuals are moving around. This is truer in the area of the […]

Senior government officials from Eritrea have spent a couple of days last week in Addis Abeba, for the first time since that bloody but senseless war with Ethiopia two decades ago. The Emirs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have played the most crucial role in helping the two parties pass their stalemate since the […]

The speed at which Abiy Ahmed (PhD), chairman of the ruling EPRDF, takes things has begun to unnerve many in the party, gossip observed. His popular rhetoric may have pleased a large number of the public, but his accountability lies with the 180-member EPRDF Council that has elected him a couple of months ago. As […]

To describe the series of changes in the corridor of power as significant is an understatement. In less than three months, Ethiopia has seen changes of The guard in its most powerful institutions, beginning with the ruling EPRDF chairmanship and the Premiership. No less has been the shift in power with the cabinet, the many […]

In 60 days, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has made several public addresses, and  he no doubts has galvanised a large part of the populace that has been disgruntled with the policies of his party over the years. To his domestic audience, Abiy says the right words as he makes the kind of gestures the international […]

Who would have thought a few months back Lencho Leta and company would be received in Addis Abeba with official pampering when they arrived at the Bole International Airport? Last week, the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) made that point, sending its chief security advisor, Abadulla Gemeda, to greet them at the VIP […]

For many people, last week`s cabinet reshuffle by the administration of Abiy Ahmed (PhD) was a jolt out of the blue, gossip observed. It was not that a reshuffle of a cabinet down the road, under a new Prime Minister, was unexpected; but, that it would come sooner than three weeks since his confirmation to […]

It has been two weeks since Abiy Ahmed (PhD) was confirmed by parliament as Ethiopia`s Prime Minister and he has been busy chairing the cabinet meetings ever since. However, his tour of the nation, delivering motivational speeches to an animated public, featured prominently in his première. The latest in the series of public addresses will […]