On Saturday, Ethiopian formally launched National Dialogue. In December 2021, National Dialogue Commission was formed by the Ethiopian Parliament. Several major political and armed players rejected the commission.
Representatives of the general public, political parties, the three organs of the government (executive, legislative, and judicial), institutions and societies attended the launching ceremony that took place at Adwa Memorial Addis Ababa. Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed also attended.
In his remarks at the launching event, Chief Commissioner of the National Dialogue Commission Prof Mesfin Araya said that, withstanding several challenges, the National Dialogue Commission is working to bring togetherness and national consensus. So far, representatives to take part in agenda gathering have been elected from more than 1,000 districts located in 10 regions and city administrations in the country, Prof Mesfin said, adding that the agenda gathering process has also kicked off in Addis Ababa.
Major opposition parties are boycotting the commission. Caucus of Opposition Parties (COP), a group of more than 10 opposition political parties refused to be part of the commission. COP has major political parties like Oromo Federalist Congress, Oromo Liberation Front, Ogaden National Liberation Front and others as its members. COP has been calling for a more inclusive and empowered national dialogue commission where government attends as a participant not as a convener.
Major armed groups too rejected the national dialogue commission. Fano groups in Amhara and Oromo Liberation Army in Oromia rejected the commission. Fano group have announced that they do not want to talk until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is in power. OLA held two round of talks with government in Tanzania last year but the talks failed.
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF, which was the main party in EPRDF alliance which ruled Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018, is not part the national dialogue too.
With major players out of national dialogue commission, its chances of bringing about a real change in Ethiopia are very slim.
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