Ethiopia ruling coalition to nominate new prime minister

Ethiopia's ruling coalition is expected to meet this week to choose a new prime minister, most likely from the populous Oromo ethnic group to try and dampen the discontent behind recent anti-government demonstrations.

The change in leadership follows the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn last month. He is the first ruler in modern Ethiopian history to step down; previous leaders have died in office or been overthrown. He said he wanted to clear the way for reforms.

The international community is closely watching the developments in Africa's second most-populous nation which has a booming economy and is a staunch Western ally in the fight against extremist militancy.

The coalition is made up of four region-based parties but is dominated by the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front. The Tigrayans are a much smaller ethnic group than the Oromo who are from Ethiopia's most populous Oromiya region and have long complained of being sidelined from political power.

Their criticism of a government development plan for the capital Addis Ababa in 2015 sparked wider anti-government protests that spilled over into attacks on foreign-owned businesses in 2016. This plunged the country into a crisis and there are still sporadic protests. "Our people should take a leadership role because this is a moral question. Our people want this. We want this," Lemma Megersa, the Oromiya region's president, said in a speech last month.

Global strategy companies including Teneo Intelligence and Eurasia Group have been predicting an Oromo prime minister as the most likely candidate because it would help tamp down protests.

The government has declared two states of emergencies as it tries to calm the political unrest. Since the first one ended in August, it has introduced a series of conciliatory steps, including the release of more than 6,000 prisoners this year.

The government declared a second state of emergency the day after Hailemariam's resignation in February and protests started up again. On Friday, parliament voted to ratify the state of emergency, although 88 legislators rejected it. The previous state of emergency passed unanimously.

Opposition leaders say they want more than prisoner releases. They want the government to reform the strict laws that sent them to jail in the first place.

Those include laws passed in 2008 and 2009, including an anti-terror law with a vague definition of offenses and another that limited foreign funding for pro-democracy groups. Human Rights Watch has said the legislation was being used to criminalize free expression and peaceful dissent.

"There are laws that the government uses to stifle peaceful activity," said Bekele Gerba, a former Addis Ababa University lecturer and opposition party leader who was among the thousands of prisoners freed this year.

SS