On May 22, French President Emmanuel Macron received
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Paris. An almost unexpected visit, following the one on December 21, 2024 in Addis Ababa, with the declared aim of strengthening bilateral relations, based on a strategic friendship. The conversations between Abiy and Macron were “constructive”, wrote the Ethiopian Prime Minister on social media. Macron, for his part, stated on X that France sees a “prosperous and peaceful” future in Ethiopia.
France, however, was not the only European stop on the May tour.
A few days later, the prime minister flew to Rome to meet with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Leo XIV. He instead renounced the English stop. In London, in fact, the Ethiopian diaspora had taken to the streets, against his possible visit, denouncing the massacres taking place in the Amhara region and the arrests of parliamentarians and opponents in Addis Ababa.
Officially, the purpose of the European trip was to attract new investments in Ethiopia . In reality, Abiy aims to secure the political support of the European Union. France could convince its German partner, while Prime Minister Meloni could mediate with the most conservative European governments.
The Italian media, which according to recent data dedicate a meager 14% of their information space to East Africa, ignored the arrival of the Ethiopian prime minister, with the exception of the press agencies. On the other hand, Augustine Passilly, French correspondent in Addis Ababa, published an analysis of the trip in Le Point, also reporting sources useful for understanding its deeper purposes, beyond the apparent ones.
“The main element of this tour,” says Mahdì Labzaè, a researcher at the CNRS, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, and an expert on Africa, “was to gauge the reaction of the allied countries in the event of a new war against Eritrea. In addition, the regime, on the verge of bankruptcy, is desperately seeking funding.”
In addition to the diplomatic route, Abiy is also seeking military support from Turkey, which has already provided drones used in bombings in the Amhara region, and from the United Arab Emirates, which could support him in the event of a war against Eritrea.
According to internal sources, Ethiopian troops have been massing along the Eritrean border in recent months.
Desta Tilahum, secretary general of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party, also speaks about Europe, saying: “We need diplomatic relations with the European Union, but they must benefit the people, not just one leader. European politicians must know that in Ethiopia people die every day from hunger, internal conflicts, inflation. Children do not go to school, young people are forced to fight. I have never seen such chaos. If Ethiopia collapses, the world will suffer the consequences”.
The opposition, often silenced or repressed, fears that Abiy’s trip to Europe was used to raise new funds, not to alleviate the crisis, but to complete luxury projects and strengthen the government’s power. In Rome, the prime minister also met with Pietro Salini, CEO of Webuild, a construction company that should complete the Great Renaissance Dam, GERD, but who had complained about delays in payments.
Meanwhile, in mid-May, a massive strike by health workers broke out in Ethiopia, to protest against poor working conditions and low wages. Strikes were followed by repression, with hundreds of arrests, as reported by Amnesty International.
Abiy’s tour ended in the Vatican, with a meeting with Pope Leo XIV. On social media, the prime minister thanked for the “warm welcome” and for the common commitment to global peace. A message that sounds ambivalent, on the eve of a possible new conflict with Eritrea, feared by many.
