Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and his Deputy, Demeke Mekonnen, head out to plant trees after a longer than usual meeting in parliament on Monday, July 1, 2019. The Prime Minister was scheduled to present his administration’s performance report for fiscal year 2018/19 the week before. However, that had to be postponed because of the assassination of top regional government and military officials. That event cast a shadow throughout Abiy’s report, especially during the question and answer period with members of parliament. Issues of peace and security dominated the session. He has gone to great lengths to list the activities performed by his government to restore law and order.

Among these was the report that 48 alleged members of ‘‘terrorist organisations’’ have been intercepted and arrested before they committed acts of violence. He also said close to 800 suspects had been brought before courts for allegedly inciting and committing inter-communal conflicts. He reported 2.3 million people had been internally displaced, the majority of them because of these conflicts. About 2.1 million of them have returned since, he reported. Most of the questions raised by members of parliament were related to the assassinations. The usually calm and easygoing demeanour of the Prime Minister was nowhere to be seen. He sounded sombre and appeared angry at what happened. His answers showed his frustration and agitation. He has made his determination to enforce law and order very clear, saying, “We’ll put down our pens and pick up our Kalashnikovs to defend the unity of the country.”