neamin zeleke in washington, dc, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. agree with me that given the appointment of a new prime minister, this is a moment of hope and opportunity for ethiopia? yes. we see some opportunities and definitely hope, but the challenges and the political crisis facing ethiopia are really enormous and he has, on his way, way too much complex problems to tackle. so there is hope and there is an opportunity, if he uses it, if he has the political will to use the opportunities to make substantive political and economic reforms. the reforms may come but should we pause forjust a moment and reflect on how symbolically important it is that here we have a man who is, first of all, the first muslim to be leader of ethiopia, but also a man who comes from the oromo ethnic part of the country and therefore breaks the monopoly on power that has been held by the tigrayans inside the ruling coalition for the last quarter century or so? so, would you accept that this does indicate a wind of change sweeping through your country? well, first of a

my guest is neamin zeleke, one of the leaders in exile of an ethiopian opposition movement which hasmbraced armed resistance to the addis regime. so, how real is the threat of conflict inside ethiopia?