How An Exiled Activist In Minnesota Helped Spur Big Political Changes In Ethiopia
In person, Jawar Mohammed is quieter, smaller than the big persona he has built online.
To see him, you arrive at what looks like an old embassy residence in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. It's hulking and white, multiple stories, surrounded by tall walls. You're frisked by plainclothes security officials and then guided through a series of empty rooms, one covered in Oriental rugs. Finally you reach his small office, where he is sipping tea, monitoring his phones and keeping up with the latest political action on his laptop.
At 32, with a mischievous smile and a round, boyish face, he keeps the air of a start-up CEO, but Jawar is without a doubt the most controversial man in Ethiopia. The previous government branded him a terrorist, because from exile in the U.S., he created a media network and used it to bludgeon that government — one of the most brutal regimes on the African continent.
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, the ruling party, was armed to the teeth and controlled the executive branch, parliament and judiciary for almost three decades. An airtight intelligence operation meant there was little they didn't know, so any potential dissent was dealt with swiftly and violently. There is no comprehensive count, but human rights groups have for years decried vast abuses by the government.
"This was one of the most powerful regimes in
