ADDIS ABABA – This year’s Hessian Peace Prize, which is awarded by the federal State of Hessen in Germany, went to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, according to Ethiopian Embassy in Germany.
The prize is the culmination of the things the Prime Minister did in the short time since taking office in April 2018. In his first year in office, Prime Minister Abiy released dissidents, fired corrupt officials, and sealed a historic reconciliation. For this, he now receives the Hessian Peace Prize.
The Premier has become the hopeful, especially through the conclusion of a peace treaty with the neighboring country of Eritrea. For 20 years, the two states had been at a state of no war no peace. Domestically, he initiated political and economic reforms in the multi-ethnic nation of 105 million people.
Abiy has scheduled free elections for May 2020. This year, his campaign to plant four billion trees for residents across the country made headlines. The decision to award the Ethiopian was made public by the members of the Board of Trustees Karl Starzacher (Chairman), Boris Rhein (President of the Landtag, CDU) and Nicole Deitelhoff (Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research. The award ceremony will take place on 23 September in the Landtag), it was learnt.
The Ethiopian Herald, August 28/2019
BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
