The public needs clarification
AFD must come out boldly in defense of Ethiopian Unity and Sovereignty

By Andinet Semere
June 2, 2006

Given the long and unpleasant history of conflict and bloodshed of the innocent in the name of freedom, my preference would be to rename it as Alliance for Peace and Democracy (APD). That would allay our long-entrenched fears planted in our minds through decades of bloodshed and self-destruction.

I certainly applaud the new development since it may usher in a period of common sense and a period which heralds the beginning of the end of the Meles dictatorship. It would also send an unmistakable message to the misguided patrons of our brutal dictator that it is totally wrong to pour in billions of dollars, or participate in attempts to destroy the opposition, to prop up a tottering EPRDF regime so that Meles may continue with his killing spree under the flimsy excuse of Protection of Basic Services. This is also a clear message to the World Bank and its Country Director that it is senseless to be generous to a regime that is so widely opposed by the people in whose name the IFIs continue to deliver such ridiculously delivered support when their real objective is simply to prolong the brutal regime at all costs for their own ends.

Surely, a united opposition will deny EPRDF supporters the excuse that the removal of Meles will lead to chaos in Ethiopia. However, the principal cause of chaos in Ethiopia is EPRDF and its leadership which have consistently refused to sit with the opposition and negotiate conditions that will ensure peace and democracy. KINIJIT had shown great courage last September when it decided to ignore the heinous crimes against its supporters and the widely stolen votes, and submitted an 8-point proposal for negotiation. That proposal included the following necessary and sufficient conditions for joining the parliament:

1. The National Election Board needs to be restructured and be able to operate independently
2. All mass media, including the public mass media, should be free and available to all political parties.
3. The legal system must be able to operate independently without any coercion from the ruling party.
4. An independent commission should be established to investigate the June 8, 2005 killings of innocent Ethiopians.
5. The police and armed forces should be neutral and free from the influence of political parties.
6. Recent laws that have been passed at the concluding sessions of the last Parliament that deal with parliamentary procedures and governance of the City of Addis Ababa should be rescinded.
7. All political prisoners should be released, and opposition party offices that had been closed by the Government should be reopened.
8. An independent commission that is acceptable to all parties should be established to follow up that the above mentioned issues are resolved on a timely manner.

KINIJIT’s leadership had made this proposal to prepare a political environment conducive to the growth of a democratic culture in the country. However, totally frightened by the prospect of genuine democratization and encouraged by its misguided patrons, including the Charge d’Affairs of the US in Ethiopia, the response of the ruling party was to rudely round up the entire peaceful leadership and throw it into jail using fabricated charges.

Hence, the unmistakable message to Ethiopia then and now is that even the West is far from genuine about democratization in Ethiopia, and the chances of resolving the nation’s political problems through peaceful negotiations are appearing to be practically nil.

What is now being done, with strong encouragement from Donald Yamamoto and his colleagues in the US Embassy, under the guise of negotiation, is to put Beyene and Bulcha with EPRDF and make them talk for three solid months and come out with a copy of Chapter III of the Constitution, and then to sheepishly tell us, according to Dr. Beyene, that their agreement is an interpretation of the Constitution, presumably showing his ignorance of the fact that interpreting the Constitution is the constitutional responsibility of the House of the Federation.

It is all a drama to vindicate the actions taken against KINIJIT whose only crime is its strong faith in the Constitution and in the diplomats’ apparently slippery commitment for freedom and democracy. AFD may resolve the problems facing Ethiopia today, but it first needs to come out clearly on some critical national issues.

Our concerns begin in CHAPTER I where Art. 2 essentially says that ONLF and OLF will maintain their separatist programs to secede from Ethiopia. CUD will be making a big mistake by being a member of an alliance where ONLF and OLF continue to stand for Art. 39 of the Constitution.

However, this is not to suggest that they have to denounce the Constitution, but they have to clearly state in the Statutes that they stand with KINIJIT in upholding and defending the unity and sovereignty of Ethiopia. The removal of Art. 39, the most diabolical article in the Constitution, from the Constitution will eventually be done only through the democratic process, but the aspiration of AFD should include this principle as the core of the agreement.

Otherwise, what is the purpose of an alliance if it is all to buy time and prepare the opportunity to eventually go to war against one another to chop up Ethiopia after EPRDF?

Hence, CHAPTER II, which is on the aims of the Alliance, should start out by explicitly stating that :

“The aim of the Alliance is to establish a working environment to uphold and defend the unity and sovereignty of Ethiopia and : 1. ensure liberty, peace, justice, and the rule of law.
2. ………………………………………………….

This listing in the Statutes will then go down to sub-article 9 of the statutes, without any change. The next problem area is Chapter 5, sub-article 5.6, which again appears to uphold and maintain the separatist objectives of ONLF and OLF since it guarantees that they can expound “…their political beliefs…” of secession as before.

This is clearly no improvement over what OLF and ONLF stood for in the past. Hence, KINIJIT’s involvement in such an alliance has no positive purpose. In fact, it will work against KINIJIT and its entire support all over Ethiopia and in the Diaspora.

The Statutes also have some editorial and organizational problems as well, but they are minor by comparison. However, unconditional agreement on the unity and sovereignty of a democratic Ethiopia is a an essential prerequisite for the viability and existence of the Alliance.

Indeed, this is exactly what Mandela did during the very first encounter with Botha in 1989: he made it absolutely clear that he would negotiate with the Apartheid government only if it accepted the principle of a united and democratic South Africa. That is also where we must begin to ensure national support for AFD (APD). KINIJIT’s spirit resides only in a united and democratic Ethiopia !

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The writer can be reached for comments at andinnet@yahoo.com