There they would join thousands of other Ethiopians who had flooded into the city from across the country to hear their recently elected prime minister Abiy Ahmed speak that afternoon. Entrepreneurial young Ethiopian-Americans went up and down the line selling pins and T-shirts emblazoned with Abiy’s face. At times someone in the crowd would start a spontaneous chant of “Abiy” and people would enthusiastically chime in. Abiy is the first Ethiopian prime minister to come to the United States expressly to develop his ties to the diaspora community, largely because he is the first who would have been met with support rather than protest. On July 28, he came to D.C.—home to the greatest number of Ethiopians anywhere outside Africa—to make the diaspora a part of his reforms.

Source: Ethiopian News August 31, 2018 17:37 UTC