Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was sworn in on Monday for a new five-year term, after his party scored a landslide win in June elections.
“I, Abiy Ahmed Ali, today in the House of People’s Representatives, accept the appointment as prime minister, as I pledge to undertake responsibly and with faith to the constitution the responsibility placed upon me by the people,” he said while being sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice Meaza Ashenafi.
Abiy Ahmed was initially appointed after several years of anti-government protests in Ethiopia, and promised to move past the country’s authoritarian past, in part by holding the most democratic elections in its history.
The former Nobel prize winner’s appointment this time however risks being undermined by growing concerns over the war in the north.
By the time voters cast their ballots in June, tens of thousands had been killed in the Tigray region and hundreds of thousands faced famine-like conditions.
Since then, fighting spread to neighboring regions while Tigray fell under what the UN describes as a defector humanitarian blockade, with supplies struggling to read the region.
Several opposition parties opted to boycott the polls, complaining that their candidates had been arrested and their offices vandalized.
In Tigray, no voting occurred, and races for 83 federal parliamentary seats had to be delated due to security or logistical issues.
The international community’s relations with Ethiopia have further soured last week after the foreign ministry announced the expulsion of seven senior UN staff members.
UN sources told AFP that the officials left the country on Sunday.
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