A woman raised her hand to ask a question. No one had ever done that before. Perhaps it helped that there were only 20 people attending. I stopped my sermon and called on her. She said, “You say that the kingdom of God brings healing and hope to these African people. But if they’re all becoming Christians, why is there still so much strife and turmoil in these African countries? If they’re all Christian, why don’t they behave more democratically?”
Here’s the gist of how I tried to reply:
The announcement last Friday that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize is testament to both potential triumphs and perils of structural social change, even in a Christian nation.
I’ve written before about the remarkable leadership that Prime Minister Abiy (at 43 years old, Africa’s youngest leader) has given Ethiopia in since taking office on April 2, 2018, just 18 months ago. Many of my Ethiopian friends testify that he is a sincere, genuine evangelical Christian. At least 60% of the nation’s population (combining the Ethiopian Orthodox and evangelical Protestants) are Christian. Christianity Today writes about Abiy’s evangelical faith as he received this recognition:
His faith is seen as a driving factor in his push for peace. “There is something of the revivalist preacher in the way he evangelizes for his vision,” BBC News noted. “He has the energy, the passion, and the certainty.”
Ending a 20-Year War
In pursuing reconciliation with Eritrea, Abiy exercised sacrificial and courageous leadership inspired by the Sermon on the Mount—he literally turned the other cheek.
As Awol Allo explains in his article “Why I nominated Abiy Ahmed for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Abiy made good on his promise to end hostilities,
… by unconditionally accepting the terms of the Algiers Peace Agreement and the Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission, which handed the town of Badme, the flashpoint of the senseless 1998-2000 war, to Eritrea.
He did so against considerable internal opposition. In less than three months, the two countries signed a peace deal, normalizing diplomatic relations, opening phone lines, restoring air travel and border crossings, and reuniting tens of thousands of families splintered by the war.
In today’s world, nation leaders never seem give an inch, even for a larger good. Even worse, autocratic leaders seek legitimacy to remain in power by whipping up a constant “state of emergency” focused on external threats (for Russia and China, it’s often the US; for Europe and the US, it’s often immigrants).
Abiy did exactly the opposite in both cases. He gave up claims to a contested city and did so despite pressure from those who wanted to keep the conflict going forever.
Unfortunately, so far Eritrea has not followed him:
Mr. Isaias, the Eritrean president, used the dispute as a justification to suspend the Constitution in Eritrea and impose an unending state of emergency, allowing him to conscript a majority of the population into permanent, indefinite military service.
The policy, which is still in place despite the peace deal last year, has sparked one of the world’s largest and most prominent refugee movements, as Eritreans left their country in droves seeking asylum in Europe and North America.
Here is one source of “asylum seekers” who move across the face of our globe, simply seeking to live in peace. There are more refugees today than any time since the end of WWII.
Opening Up a Closed Society
The new prime minister surprised Ethiopians by taking actions no one had thought possible:
- he opened up the political space,
- released thousands of political prisoners,
- invited members of political groups previously designated as “terrorist organizations” back home,
- lifted the state of emergency,
- removed from office intelligence and army officers seen as complicit in the oppressive practices of the previous regime,
- appointed a gender-balanced cabinet, and took many other progressive steps.
The Nobel Prize announcement, quoted by Christianity Today, confirms the same list of Abiy’s remarkable work for peace and reconciliation. He spent his first 100 days as Prime Minister:
- lifting the country’s state of emergency,
- granting amnesty to thousands of political prisoners,
- discontinuing media censorship,
- legalizing outlawed opposition groups,
- dismissing military and civilian leaders who were suspected of corruption,
- and significantly increasing the influence of women in Ethiopian political and community life.
- He has also pledged to strengthen democracy by holding free and fair elections.
Taking so many concrete steps to open up a closed society met with violent responses from the entrenched status quo.
Abiy had only been in office two months when assassins hurled a grenade at him at a large public rally in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa. Several people died, although he was not injured. A coup attempt put down this past June killed the Army chief of staff and several regional leaders but did not target Abiy.
The Way Forward
A friend living in Addis Ababa emailed me after hearing the news of Abiy’s Nobel Prize:
It’ll be interesting to see what Abiy’s Nobel does in Ethiopia. It could and should be energizing, but I can see it being sucked into the vortex of negativity and attack. We shall see.
Regional, ethnic and tribal conflicts remain intractable and difficult to resolve. Hurts suffered over decades are hard to forgive.
Listen to Awol Allo’s extended analysis of what needs to come next to heal the divisions in Ethiopia. From my limited vantage point, he is not only on target for Ethiopia, but eerily describes our desperate need in the US as well:
Most importantly, true peace requires reconciliation and healing. Without a programme of national reconciliation, healing and peacebuilding that is credible, legitimate and has significant public support, it is very difficult to bring the country together around a common and inclusive vision for the future.
And true peace requires confronting the country’s contested past, repairing social tissues, mending deep fissures, and healing individual and collective traumas inflicted by decades of repressive rule. It requires overcoming the complex and multidimensional social and political cleavages that divide the county along a binary line and instituting a more equitable, fair and sustainable dispensation.
While Ethiopia’s destiny will be tied to the destiny of its neighbours in the Horn, Abiy’s legacy will be determined largely by his successes and failures at home.
How he addresses the structural uncertainties, and the competing and seemingly irreconcilable demands of the various communities in his country, will determine how we remember the legacy of Abiy Ahmed’s premiership, and Ethiopia’s first Nobel Laureate.
Jesus does not have a political party or political agenda. But Jesus does have incontrovertible, never-changing values for living in human community:
- grace toward enemies…
- welcoming outcasts (e.g. “tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners”)…
- affirming and defending the value and dignity of all people…
- acting in humility and never with arrogance…
- love that sacrifices for others, especially when they don’t deserve it.
We American Christians share many of the same challenges with our Ethiopian brothers and sisters.
We must share the gospel of Jesus Christ so that all people know they are loved by God and called into a relationship with him through his son Jesus. But we are also called, in ways small and large, to support God’s work promoting Jesus’ Kingdom values instead of the anger, condemnation and fear so many feel today.
May God’s grace empower our brother Abiy to continue to lead the way.
I was pleased to read the announcement last week that Aibey’s work in Ethiopia had been recognized with the awarding of Nobel Peace Prize. As I read the challenges for Ethiopia on its path to the way forward, I was struck with the enormity of the tasks which lie ahead, especially those of “reconciliation and healing.” This is a path needed not only in Ethiopia, but also in this country. Christians throughout the US are in the midst of battles with other Christians and these battles threaten not only the fabric of our country but also our shared understanding of what it means to be a Christian. In the US, true religious peace will also require reconciliation and healing on a national level. I pray that the leaders with such vision exist not only in Ethiopia, but also in the United States. I believe that is, indeed, God’s Will.