From the few Ethiopians I know they been telling me that the govt has no control of most of the rural areas. They claim that outside Addis rebels control the countryside. As matter of fact most of Ethiopians in diaspora haven't been travelling back due to insecurity. According to one analyst the only reason the govt brought in Abyi is for him to try to negotiate a way out. However the rebels feel they are in a stronger position to be able to overthrow the govt and they have refusedcto negotiate.
One thing is that Ethiopian govt has tight control media and no information leaks out of Ethiopia easily. So it is hard to understand what is going on
I do hope abyi can midwife a solution that will keep the country united and hopefully it won't descend into a civil war. Most of Ethiopians fear that ethnic strife will take over if current reforms fail
May be Abyi should be bold enough and call for elections and hand over to whatever organized group that wins. Otherwise he will be hurried alive in adiss