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A consortium of the Joint Council of Political Parties, Destiny Ethiopia and Yehasab Ma’ed (Plate of ideas), in concert with the Ministry of Peace, plans a national dialogue initiative called the Multi-stakeholder Initiative for National Dialogue (MIND-Ethiopia). ).
The Initiative that was made public at a press conference in Hotel Marriot Addis October 8, 2020 came on the heels of an elevated political outlook in the country, where the government is being criticized by international and local groups for imprisoning politicians and intervening in the internal affairs of opposition political parties.
On the other hand, the political tension between the federal and regional Tigray government following the postponement of the general elections originally scheduled for late August has reached an all-time high as the newly formed Tigray regional government denies legitimacy to the federal government while that the federal government severed its ties to the newly instituted Tigray government and cut subsidies to it.
MIND-Ethiopia, which recognized the contribution of scattered past efforts to conduct a national dialogue by demonstrating the possibility of reducing polarized politics in the country through roundtables, also noted that there are limitations to these efforts as an agenda too narrow, deficits in inclusiveness, lack of coordination and fatigue of the participants due to calls from different bodies on the same topic.
“Understanding that the country immediately requires a concerted effort for a coordinated and inclusive national dialogue,” MIND-Ethiopia reasons, the entities that were making efforts independently have come to do the same in a coordinated manner and a memorandum has been signed. of understanding with the Ministry of Peace to help in this process.
In a process of preparing the tactical plan that the participating organizations went through, various issues were discussed and a code of conduct was prepared and signed to go beyond simply planning what to do.
The goals of the national consensus process will be to bring various contentious issues to the table and discuss them one by one to create a common understanding step by step, says the MIND-Ethiopia press release. To this end, the Initiative will bring together broad and inclusive agendas from academics and various members of society. It will also be a continuous process that includes the exchange of experiences from other countries and implementing the same comparing it with indigenous knowledge, it was revealed.