Tsedale criticised the world's media's attention to Abiy's 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, arguing that it was hysterical, naive and lacked historical and local perspective,[5] such as the Addis Standard 12 December 2019 "morning after Oslo" editorial.

[9] In an opinion piece published in The New York Times in early November 2020, at the beginning of the Tigray War, Tsedale complimented Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed for his initial democratisation of Ethiopia, stating, "Presenting himself as a reformer, the avalanche of changes promised by Mr. Abiy, who took over in April 2018, seemed to avert the worst of the country’s problems," but judged that afterwards, he "overreached", leading to the Tigray War.

She expressed her worry that "Free speech, civil liberties and due process [could] fall afoul of the turn to militarism and repression" and stated that Abiy appeared "not inclined to de-escalate".

[10] Journalist Abebe Gellaw responded, arguing that Tsedale should have criticised the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), for its three decades of "misrule, domination, exploitation, discrimination, gross human rights violations, and massive corruption".

Abebe stated, "TPLF has been throwing every spanner at its disposal to undermine and reverse the reform and wreak havoc across Ethiopia in its futile bid to retake the power and privilege it has lost."