Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Assassinations, Arrests Highlight Fragility of Ethiopia's Push Toward
Democracy

Salem Solomon

   Days after gunmen, led by a top general, killed five government
   officials, including a regional president and the army's chief of
   staff, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed planted olive seedlings at
   the National Palace in the capital, Addis Ababa, in their memory.

   Images of the symbolic tribute, distributed by the prime minister's
   office and aired on state television, showed a gentle and plaintive
   Abiy tending to the fragile young trees, a metaphor for the role he has
   cast for himself in Ethiopia's tumultuous transition to democracy.

   Speaking to lawmakers Monday, the 42-year-old leader, now in his
   sixteenth month on the job, took a tougher stance. "If there is anyone
   coming for the sovereignty of Ethiopia," Abiy said, "we are ready to
   fight, not with a pen, but with a Kalashnikov."

   Abiy's willingness to take up arms for the unity of Ethiopia
   underscored the gravity of the threat that the June 22 assassinations
   -- characterized by the government as a failed coup -- represent in the
   eyes of a reformist leader unwilling to let resistance to drastic
   change compromise national unity.

   But not all Ethiopians share his desire for integration -- or believe
   he has gone far enough to overturn his government's authoritarian
   legacy.

.