Last year he won the Nobel Peace Prize. This year, he went to war.

But to those familiar with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s life and political career, his morals haven’t changed.

A onetime soldier, his country’s current fight has ignited a refugee crisis and may further unsettle the precarious Horn of Africa region. A Pentecostal Christian in a religiously diverse nation — still the youngest leader on the continent at age 44 — he’s shown a penchant for shaking up the status quo.