The Nobel Committee’s Silence on Abiy Ahmed Is a Crisis of Principle
By ALULA FREZGHI
In 2019, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering peace with Eritrea after decades of hostility. The moment was hailed as transformative a handshake across a contested border symbolizing a new era for the Horn of Africa. But six years later, that promise has collapsed. The peace initiative for which Abiy was honored has been reversed, and the region teeters once again on the edge of war.
The Nobel Committee now faces a moral reckoning. Its continued silence on Abiy’s conduct threatens the credibility of the Peace Prize itself.
This is not a case of failed optimism. It is a case of betrayal.
Unlike other controversial laureates whose later actions may have disappointed or diverged from their earlier promise Abiy’s case is singular. He did not merely fall short of Nobel ideals; he actively dismantled the very achievement that justified his award. The rapprochement with Eritrea has been hollowed out, replaced by shifting alliances, internal wars, and renewed hostility. The Horn of Africa, far from being stabilized, has become a theater of repression and geopolitical brinkmanship.
Three facts make this case unprecedented:
*The Peace Was Not Sustained, It Was Undone
Abiy’s award was based on a single act: a peace agreement with Eritrea. That agreement has since unraveled. Today, Ethiopia and Eritrea stand on opposite sides of regional tensions, and the threat of renewed conflict looms large.
* The Prize Was Exploited for Power, Not Peace
The Nobel gave Abiy global legitimacy at a critical moment. He used it not to deepen reform, but to centralize authority, suppress dissent, and wage war. The prize became a political asset, one that masked repression behind the veneer of international acclaim.
* The Committee’s Silence Erodes Its Moral Authority
By refusing to reconsider Abiy’s award, the Nobel Committee risks endorsing a paradox: that peace can be honored even as it is actively reversed. This is not a question of political complexity, it is a question of institutional integrity.
To rescind Abiy Ahmed’s prize would not be a political act. It would be a moral correction. It would affirm that the Nobel Peace Prize is not a lifetime immunity, but a recognition contingent on sustained commitment to peace. It would send a message to future laureates: that the honor carries responsibility, and that betrayal has consequences.
The Nobel Committee must choose: precedent or principle. If it chooses silence, it risks becoming irrelevant in the very struggle it was created to honor.
The Horn of Africa deserves more than symbolic gestures. It deserves accountability.
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