[checklist][/checklist]Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s announcement that he was calling it quits came after years of growing instability and protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions of the country, and heavy-handed response from security forces.
Reports suggests that about 800 protesters were killed in 2015 and 2016, and thousands more were jailed, many of them without trial including top notch politicians and government critics.
Desalegn announced his resignation on television, saying it was “vital in the bid to carry out reforms that would lead to sustainable peace and democracy.” It was however unclear how the transition would pan out.
His departure as prime minister and chair of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition comes as Ethiopia faces a crisis on how to deal with the mass protests by members of the nation’s two largest ethnic groups, the Oromo and Amhara.
Government has been unable to regain control or to respond adequately to protesters’ demands for freedom of speech and the entrenchment of democratic ideals.
A state of emergency has since been declared by the Ethiopian Cabinet, known as the Council of Ministers due to the vacuum.
The hard-line approach to the protests has divided the government. Under intense pressure from the Oromo and Amhara parties in the EPRDF coalition, Desalegn announced reforms last month, promising that all political prisoners would be freed and that a jail in the capital, Addis Ababa, known for torture of dissidents would be closed.
Meanwhile, jubilations erupted in the streets after the announcement of his resignation, which came on a day a prominent group of journalists and opposition figures was freed from jail.
Desalegn stated that the country was at a “gravely concerning stage,” adding that it was important to offer answers to the questions Ethiopians were raising and the need for fresh hands in taking the country through reforms and economic progress.
His departure throws open a succession struggle that will determine whether the nation whose political climate has been unstable and has experienced successive droughts will adopt a more reformist, democratic approach or pursue the authoritarian repressions of government critics.
