Whereas the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has been a key ally of the United States and an important economic and security partner, as well as a major troop contributor to international peacekeeping; Whereas, in January 2018, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front declared that it would pursue reforms in response to intensifying antigovernment protests that began in late 2015; Whereas Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed spearheaded significant and commendable reform measures following his selection in April 2018, including releasing thousands of political prisoners, inviting exiled political opposition back to Ethiopia, negotiating a peace agreement with Eritrea, lifting bans on over 200 websites and improving media freedom, closing the notorious Maikelawi prison, repealing the draconian Charities and Societies Proclamation and the Antiterrorism Proclamation, appointing a gender-balanced cabinet, reforming electoral laws and the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, taking steps to privatize the economy, and promoting private sector investment; Whereas key challenges, including recurring ethnic and intercommunal clashes and increasingly polarized political views that have spurred violence, threaten to impede Ethiopia’s democratic progress; Whereas ethnic, intercommunal, and intracommunal violence since 2017 caused the death of hundreds and displaced more than 3,000,000 Ethiopians, including over a million people displaced by conflict and violence in 2019 alone, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center; Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic led the Government of Ethiopia to declare a state of emergency and indefinitely postpone elections originally scheduled for August 2020; Whereas the killing of prominent Oromo musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa on June 29, 2020, sparked more than a week of violence and arrests, contributing to growing concerns about instability