Ethiopia’s Pivot from Institutionalised Regional Diplomacy to Populist Peacemaking

Ethiopia’s Pivot from Institutionalised Regional Diplomacy to Populist Peacemaking: Abiy Ahmed’s 2019 Khartoum Peace Initiative and Its Impact on Ethiopia-Sudan Relations

Author: Eliab Taye

This paper analyses the mediation initiative launched by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Sudan in June 2019, which facilitated political dialogue between the country’s soldiers and civilians. In the short term, it paved the way to a celebrated breakthrough. It also marked a significant step in the emergence of a new paradigm for Ethiopian diplomacy, based on advancing personalised foreign policymaking and marginalising longstanding foreign policy principles and institutions. The paper uses the concept of “populist peacemaking” to frame this pivot and analyses its impact on the relations between Ethiopia and Sudan.

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