Nor has Abiy done himself any favors with fellow African leaders. There is a way presidents and prime ministers speak to the public, and there is a way in which they talk among themselves. Abiy fails at the latter. He lacks candor and appears untethered from the reality that he has created. Many of his counterparts describe him as a naïf with a messiah complex. While African leaders will not publicly abandon one of their own, the shedding of African Union offices from Ethiopia to other capitals reflects Abiy’s declining diplomatic capital. Simply put, beyond Eritrean dictator Isaias Afwerki, who sees himself as Abiy’s superior, and Mohamed Farmaajo, Somalia’s president whose term expired three months ago, Abiy has no friends.
Abiye Ahmed’s days are numbered and Ethiopia’s Unity is also numbered.