The outcome of party presidential primaries appears to signal the end of post-military elite political consensus. 

When conventional tools of resistance have failed or been compromised, humor has been a weapon of last resort for the African subaltern.  

When U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken traveled to Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal last week, he made a point of emphasizing U.S. concern about Ethiopia’s conflict. Blinken stressed that “it is imperative that the fighting stops” and that the United States fully supports former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the High Representative for the Horn of Africa for the African Union (AU), in his diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire that leads to political negotiations. Monday’s statement from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promising to personally “mobilize to the front to lead the defense forces” suggests those efforts are far from succeeding.

When the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) began generating electricity a few days ago, it marked a triumphant moment for a troubled country. Paired with the images of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s engagements at the recent AU and European Union-Africa Summits, in which he advocated for a stronger African voice in international decision-making, and the news that the Ethiopian parliament voted to lift the state of emergency that had been imposed late last year, the latest developments can seem like a return to form for Ethiopia and its relations with the rest of the world.

After years of negotiations, Egypt has written to the UN Security Council about what it considers to be Ethiopia's failure to reach an agreement over the filling and operations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).