Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, has come under pressure to appear before the media in Oslo this week when he collects the Nobel peace prize on Tuesday.

Senior officials of the Norwegian Nobel Institute have said the 2019 winner’s refusal to attend any event where he could be asked questions publicly is “highly problematic”.

Olav Njølstad, the secretary of the Nobel committee, said it would “very much have wanted Abiy to engage with the press during his stay in Oslo”.

“We strongly believe that freedom of expression and a free and independent press are vital components of peace … Moreover, some former Nobel peace prize laureates have received the prize in recognition of their efforts in favour of these very rights and freedoms,” he said.

Nobel peace prize laureates traditionally hold a news conference a day before the official ceremony, but Abiy has told the Norwegian Nobel committee he does not intend to do so.

Neither will the 43-year-old leader take questions from reporters after his meeting with the Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, nor participate at a traditional annual event with children celebrating peace at the Nobel Peace Center museum.

Njølstad added that the committee’s concerns had been made “very clear to the prime minister and his staff”.

Abiy was awarded the Nobel prize for the peace deal he concluded with neighbouring Eritrea last year, three months after coming to power in 2018. The agreement resolved nearly two decades of military stalemate following a border war that ended in 2000.

Timeline Abiy Ahmed's achievements Show Abiy Ahmed becomes prime minister of Ethiopia after a leadership election among the ruling coalition, following the surprise resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn in February. Abiy frees thousands of political detainees, including the opposition leader Andargachew Tsege, who had been facing the death penalty. Abiy invites him to his office within 24 hours of his release. Parliament approves lifting the Ethiopian national state of emergency, two months before it is due to expire. Abiy agrees to accept a 2002 border ruling giving disputed territory to Eritrea. The war between the two has raged on and off since Eritrea gained independence in the early 90s. A grenade attack targeting Abiy kills two people, and injures more than 165. The blame is placed on internal factions opposed to reform. The Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki hosts Abiy in Asmara, more than two decades since Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders last met in person. Cheering crowds line the streets, and direct telephone communications are restored between the countries. The two leaders sign a joint declaration declaring that the “state of war that existed between the two countries has come to an end”. With both countries having reopened their embassies, and commercial flights between the two capitals resumed, land border crossings between Ethiopia and Eritrea are reopened for the first time in 20 years. Five days later a peace agreement is signed in Saudi Arabia. Abiy appoints women to half of the ministerial posts in the country, including Sahle-Work Zewde as the first female president. He receives an African excellence award for gender from the African Union for the move. Abiy’s rule is not without its problems. It is estimated that more than a million Ethiopians were forced from their homes by ethnic violence in 2018, and he attracts criticism for initiating a programme that seems determined to drive people back to their homes, even if it does not seem safe. Ethiopia makes headlines around the world for planting 350m trees in a day as part of the government’s national “green legacy” initiative. According to the UN, Ethiopia’s forest coverage was 4% in the 2000s, down from 35% a century earlier, and to address this citizens are being encouraged to each plant at least 40 seedlings, in order to grow 4bn trees. Abiy Ahmed wins the 2019 Nobel peace prize

The former military intelligence officer has pushed through reforms at home, dramatically changing the atmosphere in what was regarded as a repressive state. Measures have included the lifting of a ban on political parties, the release of imprisoned journalists and the sacking of previously untouchable officials, some of them accused of torture.

In November, Abiy faced perhaps the most serious crisis of his term in office after the death of scores of people in a wave of violent disorder.

Abiy’s press secretary, Billene Seyoum, said it was “quite challenging” for a head of state to find enough time for the extensive Nobel programme, particularly since “domestic issues are pressing and warrant attention”.

Abiy would attend essential events in consultation with the Nobel Institute “to honour and respect the Nobel tradition”, she said.

At the same time, “the humble disposition of the prime minister, rooted in our cultural context, is not in alignment with the very public nature of the Nobel award”, Billene said. “The prime minister is … grateful for the recognition.”

Norwegian media have raised concerns that the Nobel prize committee have “once again made a problematic choice”.

Other winners have failed to engage with the media. The former US president Barack Obama also declined to speak to reporters when he won the peace prize in 2009 – and Abiy has rarely given interviews since taking office last year.

Analysts say Abiy’s reforms have lifted the lid on long-repressed tensions between Ethiopia’s many ethnic groups and unrest is expected to worsen in the run-up to the country’s election in May.

When announced earlier this year, the Nobel chairwoman, Berit Reiss-Andersen, defended the choice of Abiy, saying that though some people might have considered it too early to give the Ethiopian leader the prize “it is now that Abiy Ahmed’s efforts need recognition and deserve encouragement”.

Abiy is expected to give an acceptance speech on Tuesday at Oslo City Hall before officials, including Norwegian royals, after receiving the 9m kronor (£721,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma.

Abiy also is to meet with Solberg and open a Nobel prize exhibition during a private ceremony. Billene said Abiy was “one of the most accessible Ethiopian prime ministers to date in public and media engagements”.