Abiy ahmed
Sudan's PM visits Ethiopia amid refugee crisis
It was the first visit by a foreign leader since fighting broke out in Ethiopia's Tigray region on November 4, creating a humanitarian crisis.
Ahmed assured the AU delegate that he will implement a string of interventions including responding to essential humanitarian needs.
The UN Security Council will convene its first meeting Tuesday on Tigray, where forces loyal to the region's ruling party have been battling Ethiopian soldiers for nearly three weeks, sparking a refugee exodus, civilian deaths and fears of broader instability.
The federal army says its forces are within 60 kilometres (37 miles) of Mekele, the Tigrayan capital and seat of the TPLF, ahead of a threatened all-out bombardment of the city of half a million people.
The Abiy government and its supporters are keen to dismantle the Tigray region’s autonomy. But why?
Abiy, last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, announced the campaign against Tigray's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), on November 4, saying it came in response to attacks by the TPLF on federal military camps.
Diplomats told AFP Saturday night that multiple rockets had struck the capital, Asmara, landing near the airport, though communications restrictions in Tigray and Eritrea made the reports difficult to verify.
A communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground, but Abiy on Thursday vowed to deliver a decisive win "in a relatively short period of time".
Fears are mounting over the prospect of civil war after Abiy Ahmed announced a military operation in the federal state, with which he is embroiled in a bitter feud.
According to the country's constitution, under a state of emergency the government has "all necessary power to protect the country's peace and sovereignty" and can suspend some "political and democratic rights".
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office defended the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to become Africa's largest hydropower plant, and said Ethiopia was working to resolve longstanding issues over the project with downstream neighbours Sudan and Egypt.
Beautification sites in Addis Ababa are "representations of how fast we can engage in projects, turn them around and deliver them for public utilisation".
The elections are just the latest example of how Tigrayan officials are increasingly acting like leaders of an independent state.
The ouster of Lemma Megersa, announced on Twitter as part of a broader cabinet reshuffle, underscores tensions between Abiy and other high-profile politicians from his Oromo ethnic group over how Ethiopia's democratic transition should be managed.
The heavy debt burdens of many African countries leave them ill-equipped to respond to pandemic-related economic shocks, as the cost of servicing debt exceeds many countries' health budgets, the statement said.
Abiy Ahmed released political prisoners and appointed former dissidents to high-level positions.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is hosting the country's prime minister Abiy Ahmed Ali at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Sunday afternoon.
Abiy, 43, won the Nobel for his efforts to resolve the long-running conflict with Eritrea.
The 43-year-old reformer will be under enormous pressure to live up to the "Abiymania" hype that has faded somewhat since he took office last year.