From Nobel laureate to global pariah: How the world got Abiy Ahmed and Ethiopia so wrong

The Ethiopian Prime Minister's fall from grace has confounded many observers. But diplomats, analysts, acquaintances, journalists and others who have followed his career closely say that even at the height of "Abiymania," there were warning signs.

It was July 2018, just three months after Abiy Ahmed had been appointed leader of Africa's second-most populous country, and his star was rising both at home and abroad. Excitement was surging into an almost religious fervor around the young politician, who promised to bring peace, prosperity and reconciliation to a troubled corner of Africa and a nation on the brink of crisis. But even in those early, optimistic days of Abiy's premiership, as he kickstarted a flurry of ambitious reforms -- freeing thousands of political prisoners, lifting restrictions on the press, welcoming back exiles and banned opposition parties, appointing women to positions in his cabinet, opening up the country's tightly-controlled economy to new investment and negotiating peace with neighboring Eritrea -- Berhane Kidanemariam had his doubts.