Abiy Ahmed is Ethiopia’s new prime minister

Ethiopia’s ruling coalition elected yesterday Abiy Ahmed as the country’s new prime minister and chairman of the coalition, according to the Ethiopian News Agency. Ahmed succeeds Hailemariam Desalegn, who resigned suddenly last month over anti-government violence, particularly in Ethiopia’s restive Oromia region. Ahmed is the chairman of the Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization, one of the ethnic-based parties in the country’s ruling coalition. Desalegn’s resignation had sparked concerns here in Egypt that Ethiopia’s stance on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would shift once again when a new premier is sworn in. Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia are scheduled to hold the next round of trilateral talks on the dam next month.