[ad_1]
As a common recipe for healing the wounds of the past, national reconciliation, national dialogue, and national consensus are the remedies most frequently suggested by different political actors, elites, academics, and notable public figures in political, social, economic, and political affairs. Historical Ethiopia.
Although the concept is repeatedly expressed and suggested as a recipe for healing wounds, the outcome of such initiatives to address past political and historical divisions does not appear adequate to achieve its desired goal.
Politicians, mainly in the opposition camp, have been repeatedly promoting the idea of national reconciliation and consensus agendas, at least in the last two decades. However, officials of the then head of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) rightly rejected the idea. Furthermore, apart from suggesting the need for national reconciliation and consensus, it is not yet clear what would constitute the agenda; and who would really be the participants and facilitators of such an initiative.
However, the idea seems to gain momentum once again; especially after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) assumed the highest echelon of power in the country two and a half years ago. One of the decisions the prime minister made after assuming power was, indeed, to establish different institutions to address the issues of national reconciliation and consensus. Specifically, in February 2019, parliament adopted a proclamation allowing the establishment of a national reconciliation commission, the first of its kind, in an attempt to institutionalize such initiatives; although some politicians still question its mandate and the selection process of its members.
According to different literatures, any country undergoing a transition, whether from protracted civil war to civilian government or from dictatorial regime to democratically elected government, is tasked with dealing with and rectifying the irregularities of its predecessors in order to build a unified political system. and inclusive, which in turn makes the future of that particular country hopeful and bright.
Therefore, a country in transition must address all the tragedies and egregious human rights violations that occurred in the past, so that it can move forward smoothly. While it is a challenge for a country struggling with many problems to fix it and move on, it is equally necessary to unravel the truth, rectify the victims, and hold the perpetrators to account.
According to the report of the Initiative for Transition and Inclusive Peace, published in 2017, national dialogues provide an inclusive, comprehensive and participatory official negotiation framework that can resolve political crises and lead countries to political transitions. With mandates that include political reform, constitution-making, and peacebuilding, national dialogues are convened to address issues of national concern, typically long-standing causes of conflict that have been brought to the fore by political protests or armed insurrections.
According to the same report, national dialogues are typically convened at times when the fundamental nature or survival of a government is questioned. Therefore, they are generally intended to be a means to redefine the relationship between the state, political actors and society, through the negotiation of a new social contract. In those historical moments, pro-change and anti-change forces are destined to emerge.
Six factors of the political context play a decisive role in influencing the results of national dialogues, namely: resistance or support from national elites, public support or frustration, support or resistance from regional and international actors, existing dialogue culture, experiences of previous negotiations and violence.
Similarly, six other processes are also In determining the results of national dialogues, the factors that shape the results are, representation, number and selection of actors, decision-making procedures, choice of mediators and facilitators, duration, support structures for the actors involved and the formation of coalitions among the participants. actors.
Working for reconciliation between various sectors of Ethiopian society should be a priority to help achieve and maintain stability, according to several political commentators. Failure to address the root causes of violence and ethnic conflict risks undermining hard-earned economic and social gains and threatens the political stability of Ethiopia and that of the entire East African region, they argue.
National reconciliation, consensus and dialogue do not happen naturally or out of the mere desire to have it; instead, it requires active efforts and planned interventions that include the active participation of all stakeholders. From now on, if such initiatives were to achieve the desired goal and provide real change, the design, implementation, and management must match the realities on the ground.
Therefore, efforts to address these issues must be viewed from this perspective, many argue. A recently started effort to discuss the matter, a consortium of the Joint Council of Political Parties, Destiny Ethiopia, and Yehasab Ma’ed In concert with the Ministry of Peace, it plans a national dialogue initiative called the Multi-stakeholder Initiative for National Dialogue (MIND-Ethiopia).
MIND-Ethiopia, which recognized the contribution of dispersed 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 issues of too narrow agenda. , deficits in inclusiveness, lack of coordination and fatigue of the participants, due to calls from different bodies on the same topic.
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 do this, the Initiative will bring together broader and more inclusive agenda items from academics, as well as from various members of society. It will also be a continuous process, which includes sharing experiences from other countries, and implementing the same comparing it with indigenous knowledge, it was revealed.
However, many still suggest that such initiatives must be comprehensive and take the recent arrest of politicians as an obstacle to achieving the desired goals of the consortium and suggest that the participation of the general public through different stages is essential to achieve the desired result. . And they advise both the newly established consortium and the commission to learn some lessons from the national model of consensus and reconciliation of Tunisia, South Africa and Rwanda to achieve successful results.
Similarly, advocates of national reconciliation and consensus claim that, while identifying and reaching agreement on the root of the problem, political consensus on the agenda and its process is an essential precondition for its contribution to stability and stability. peace. According to these advocates and various literatures, political consensus on the agenda and the process is important because political support gives the agenda legitimacy, which in turn increases the social and political cost of non-compliance.
Furthermore, the complex context of horizontal and vertical violence in Ethiopia with a multitude of actors requires the restoration of social cohesion. Building mutual respect as the basis for non-violent interactions in the future requires restoring the status of individuals in society and clarifying the truth regarding past violence. Involving community members, elders, and religious leaders in the process is therefore indispensable, many suggested.
