Since 2020, a bloody conflict has been disrupting Ethiopia’s economic and political stability. To resolve this conflict, which pits the TPLF against the regular Ethiopian army, the National Dialogue Commission agreed at a conference held on Tuesday, November 21, 2023 to involve the ethnic minority populations in the country’s pacification process.
At the end of 2021, the Ethiopian Parliament voted for a law establishing a National Dialogue Commission, which it described as a good step towards resolving Ethiopia’s political problems and ending the country’s ongoing conflicts. However, in the course of 2022, numerous clashes were recorded in the states of Oromia and Afar between the Ethiopian army and TPLF rebels demanding the involvement of ethnic minorities in the country’s decision-making processes. With a view to finding a definitive solution to this crisis, the National Dialogue Commission announced at a conference on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, that it would involve ethnic minorities more closely in the country’s peace process.
The new inclusive dialogue would solve any discord that we used to have because it will be solved in a civil manner. And then we can amend our constitution , we can adjust anything that all Ethiopians would see themselves relevant to participate in this wider and broader process.
Redwan Hussien, National Security Advisor to the Prime Ministry – Ethiopia
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over ten million people are in need of humanitarian aid in the country. The World Food Program points out that « 40% of Tigrayans are suffering from an extreme lack of food ». The blockade of essential services, including banking, electricity and communications, has compounded existing problems, including East Africa’s worst drought since 2021.
Is it not time for us to come around the table and discuss our differences? That is the fundamental necessity. We’ve seen in Ethiopia that there was deep division. Be it at the political elite level or be it at the opinion leaders in the media or even at society level as well
Yonas Adaye, National dialog commissioner – Ethiopia
On October 2, 2016, Ethiopia was the scene of clashes between members of the Oromo population and the central government in Addis Ababa, while the traditional Oromo Irreecha festival was taking place in the locality of Debre. The town is located in the Oromia region, one of Ethiopia’s nine administrative regions, whose boundaries are defined by the ethnicity of the people living there. The Oromo minority now accounts for around 35% of Ethiopia’s population, and many of its members are at the forefront of protests against the government.
