Rwanda's Kagame congratulates Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed on election as next PM

KIGALI, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda's president and chairperson of the African Union (AU) Paul Kagame on Wednesday congratulated Abiy Ahmed upon his election as the next prime minister of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia's ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), on Tuesday elected Ahmed as its new chairperson which effectively makes him the next Prime Minister of Ethiopia.

Kagame said on his Twitter that he made a telephone call with Ahmed to congratulate him and through him the entire EPRDF as well as people of Ethiopia for selecting him as next prime minister yet to be confirmed by parliament soon.

On behalf of other African leaders as the chairman of the African Union, Kagame expressed African countries' solidarity with the Ethiopian people and their leaders as "they continue to find from within and among themselves solutions to the recent political problems they faced."

Ahmed, chairman of Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO) which rules over Ethiopia's largest and most populous regional state of Oromia, will replace the outgoing Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

Desalegn had already resigned from his EPRDF chairperson position earlier in the day.

In recent months, internal political wrangling among four coalition partners of EPRDF, including Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, Amhara National Democratic Movement, South Ethiopia People's Democratic Movement and Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), has cast fears about the stability of the nation of about 100 million people.

Ethiopia is also reeling from persistent deadly protests since 2016 especially in the two most populous regional states of Amhara and Oromia over alleged political and economic marginalization. Enditem