We were there and traveling in a 4x4 last July/August. In the main the roads were fine. The only place where we had real diffcullties was between Axum and Debark. They are working on the road and it was a quagmire in parts. We have a fully kitted Defender with mud terrain tyres and we still had to be hauled up one stretch by a grader. It can be terrifying in the mud as the roads are often steep and winding with sheer drops.
If they have finished that stretch by the time you travel it should be a lot better.
The rains come and go earlier in the South so we had relatively little rain in South Omo. They do have some black cotton soil in the area (en route to the Mursi from Jinka for example) which is very very slippy so take great care if it has rained.
We deliberately chose some back roads eg Lalibela to Gheralta via Sekota. If you chose to you could find a route (in the north at least) that kept you entirely on the tar.
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