Ethiopia’s Abiy the only African on Top 50 People of Decade list

Finfinne (Yeroo.Org) – Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed was voted as Top 50 People of the Decade by the London-based Financial Times newspaper. While honoring the 50 people globally “who shaped the second decade of the 21st century,” Dr. Abiy was named as one of the few “game-changing politicians” worldwide. 

Abiy was the only African on the list organized by a panel of FT reporters, who selected from powerful politicians, legendary athletes, successful businesspeople and inventors that influenced the world. The list included politicians like Former President Barack Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping; footballers Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo as well as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The Financial Times has previously recognized Ethiopia’s Abiy for creating peace with Eritrea as well as leading his Oromo people to unite Ethiopians by balancing ethnic diversity with national unity. The FT newspaper also said Dr. Abiy winning the Nobel Peace Prize “sends a message to Africa” about the importance of democratization and liberal reforms. 

A December article on Financial Times written by former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson advised Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to “split ethnicity from electoral politics” in Ethiopia, which mirrors the platform of Abiy’s new pan-Ethiopia Prosperity Party (PP) founded last month primarily by the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP).