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A30    world news
               Diahuebs 25 November 2021

                               Sweden’s first female prime minister quits hours later


                                                                      cial Democratic party, decid-                             spokesperson  as  the  party
                                                                      ed  it  was  best  to  step  down  Andersson said that “a coali-  chose to resign from the gov-
                                                                      from  the  post  more  than  tion  government  should  re-  ernment.
                                                                      seven  hours  after  she  made  sign if a party chooses to leave
                                                                      history by becoming the first  the government. Despite the  The  other  Green  Party
                                                                      woman to lead the country.   fact  that  the  parliamentary  spokesperson  Per  Bolund
                                                                                                   situation  is  unchanged,  it  said  “that  is  something  we
                                                                      ”For me, it is about respect,  needs to be tried again.”  deeply regret.”
                                                                      but I also do not want to lead
                                                                      a  government  where  there  Even though the Green Par-   Earlier in the day, Andersson
                                                                      may be grounds to question  ty pulled its support for her  said  she  could  “govern  the
                                                                      its  legitimacy,”  Andersson  government, it said it is pre-  country with the opposition’s
                                                                      told a news conference.      pared  to  stand  behind  An-  budget.”
                                                                                                   dersson in a new vote to tap
                                                                      Andersson, who was finance  a prime minister.             The  approved  budget  was
                                                                      minister  before  briefly  be-                            based  on  the  government’s
                                                                      coming  prime  minister,  in-  But the Greens said it was in  own  proposal  but  of  the  74
                                                                      formed parliamentary Speak-  the best interests of the party  billion  kronor  ($8.2  billion)
            (AP)  —  Hours  after  be-   get  proposal  was  rejected  in  er  Andreas  Norlen  that  she  to pull support for her after  that the government wanted
            ing  tapped  as  Sweden’s  favor of one presented by the  is still interested in leading a  the  budget  defeat  in  parlia-  to  spend  on  reforms,  just
            first  female  prime  minis-  opposition  that  includes  the  Social Democratic one-party  ment.                   over  20  billion  kronor  ($2.2
            ter, Magdalena Andersson  right-wing  populist  Sweden  government.                                                 billion) will be redistributed
            resigned  Wednesday  after  Democrats.  Sweden’s  third-                               “We have a united party be-  next year, Swedish broadcast-
            suffering  a  budget  defeat  largest  party  is  rooted  in  a  Norlen, the speaker of Swe-  hind us saying we can not sit  er  SVT  said.  The  approved
            in parliament and her co-    neo-Nazi  movement.  The  den’s  349-seat  parliament,  in  government  that  imple-   budget aims at reducing tax-
            alition partner the Greens  vote was 154-143 in favor of  said he will contact Sweden’s  ments  a  policy  (the  Swe-  es, increased salaries for po-
            left  the  two-party  minor-  the opposition’s budget pro-  eight party leaders ”to discuss  den  Democrats)  negotiated.  lice officers and more money
            ity government.              posal.                       the situation.” On Thursday,  We  must  look  our  voters  in  to  different  sectors  of  Swe-
                                                                      he  will  announce  the  road  the  eye  and  feel  pride,” said  den’s judiciary system.
            The government’s own bud-    Andersson, leader of the So-  ahead.                      Marta  Stenevi,  Green  Party

                          Ethiopian leader called war ‘epitome of hell.’ Now he’s back


            (AP)  —  Ethiopian  Prime  Minis-   spokesman said.                     state of emergency, want to see Abiy  closer to Ethiopia’s capital, with the
            ter Abiy Ahmed is already a veter-                                      gone, by force if needed.           Tigray  fighters  newly  on  the  move
            an at surprising the world in just  The prime minister is no stranger to                                    toward Debre Sina, less than a day’s
            three  years  in  power.  He’s  done  war.  As  a  teenager,  he  joined  fight-  The  deeply  religious  prime  minis-  drive from Addis Ababa. The fighters
            it again this week by announcing  ers  who  eventually  overthrew  the  ter came to office preaching national  are also trying to cut off a crucial sup-
            that, after a year of waging war, he  country’s Marxist Derg regime, then  unity, and representing it as well. The  ply line from neighboring Djibouti, a
            will lead it from the battlefront.  signed up for the new government’s  son  of  a  Christian  and  Muslim  and  further  threat  to  Africa’s  diplomatic
                                                military.  He  took  part  in  Ethiopia’s  of mixed ethnic heritage, he shocked  capital.
            Abiy’s rule has been short in the vast  war against Eritrea as a radio opera-  Africa’s second-most populous coun-
            sweep of Ethiopian history, but he has  tor,  serving  at  the  border  in  Tigray,  try  by  apologizing  for  the  past  gov-  Accordingly,  a  growing  number  of
            spent almost all his life preparing for  and later became a lieutenant colonel.  ernment’s abuses. Tigrayans have re-  countries  have  told  their  citizens  to
            it. Told as a child by his mother that                                  called cheering him on, at first.   leave immediately. And the U.S. has
            she  believed  he  would  lead  Ethio-  Now roles are dramatically reversed.                                told Americans  again and again that
            pia, he now speaks of martyrdom, if  The Tigray fighters Abiy once called  “War is the epitome of hell for all in-  no  Afghanistan-style  evacuation  is
            needed, to hold the nation together.  friends are  now the  enemy, and the  volved,”  Abiy  said  in  his  Nobel  ad-  coming for them.
                                                Eritrean soldiers he once fought have  dress in those earlier days.
            Abiy rocketed to office out of seem-  been allowed to join the war as Ethio-                                The war, Abiy said in announcing his
            ingly nowhere in 2018 with vows of  pia’s allies.                       Now  the  hardened  positions  by  the  move to the battlefront, “is a struggle
            dramatic reforms to a long-repressive                                   warring sides, each believing they can  that determines whether we exist or
            national  government.  He  also  an-  Years after his career turned from the  be victorious, have tested the efforts  not. But we will definitely win. It is
            nounced he would make peace with  military to politics, Abiy faces a bat-  of mediators from the United States  unthinkable  for  Ethiopia  to  be  de-
            neighboring Eritrea after years of bit-  tlefield challenge he has never faced  and African Union. Abiy believes the  feated. We are in a time when it re-
            ter  conflict.  For  that,  the  youthful  before: Commanding an army.  Tigray forces will be pushed back into  quires to lead the country by paying
            prime minister was awarded the No-                                      their region, U.S. envoy Jeffrey Felt-  the sacrifice.”
            bel Peace Prize.                    But the prime minister is known as a  man said this week. But he added, “I
                                                man with a sense of destiny.        question that confidence.”          He  called  on  fellow  Ethiopians  to
            Then, less than a year later, Abiy an-                                  The war front, Feltman said, is edging  meet him there.
            nounced his military was at war with  He “clearly has a personal sense of his
            the leaders of Ethiopia’s northern Ti-  right to be ruler of Ethiopia and take
            gray region, who had dominated the  on the responsibility it entails,” said
            previous  national  government  but  Christopher Clapham, a retired pro-
            quickly found friction with the prime  fessor associated with the University
            minister. Political differences turned  of Cambridge.
            to gunfire in November 2020.
                                                Overseeing the fracture of Ethiopia,
            Tens of thousands of people have been  a  nation  with  a  3,000-year  history,
            killed since then, and close to half a  would be a “massive blow” to Abiy,
            million people inside Tigray now face  Clapham said, and by heading to the
            the  world’s  worst  famine  crisis  in  a  battlefront he is following the tradi-
            decade,  one  that  the  United  States  tion of emperors.
            has called “entirely man-made.”
                                                But  emperors  can  fall,  and  govern-
            The  45-year-old  Abiy  has  now  ments,  too.  The  rival  Tigray  forces,
            plunged into the fight, arriving at the  whose  advance  on  Ethiopia’s  capital
            battlefront on Tuesday, a government  in recent weeks prompted a national
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