MOMBASA, Kenya — Declaring “a true measure of leadership is not indispensability,” Ethiopia’s prime minister on Wednesday urged the next steps in the country’s sweeping reforms as the ruling coalition that has led for decades opened its first congress since he took power in April. A true leader produces qualified successors and makes “herself/himself redundant,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told the gathering, according to Twitter posts by his chief of staff, Fitsum Arega. Ethiopia since 1991 has been led by the coalition and allied parties that hold every seat in Parliament. Ethiopians have long expressed grievances over the country’s federal structure that is largely based on ethnic lines and has been held together by the ruling coalition and its security forces. “He is the only figure within and outside the ruling coalition with the political capital and cultural appeal to steer Ethiopia through this difficult and complex period of transition.”——Anna reported from Johannesburg.

Source: National Post October 03, 2018 10:23 UTC