Movement vows to unite Ethiopia opposition against regime

ESAT News (November 7, 2017)

The newly formed Ethiopian National Movement said on Friday that it would strive to bring more political and civic groups under its umbrella in order to create a bigger movement and an alternative political force for radical change in Ethiopia.

  Leaders of the newly created coalition called the Ethiopian National Movement have met the press on Friday at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.The movement was officially launched last Sunday at the signing ceremony and public meeting in Silver Spring Maryland.

The Oromo Democratic Front, Patriotic Ginbot 7 Movement for Unity and Democracy, the Afar People’s Party and the Sidama People’s Democratic Movement are the founding members of the coalition but the movement aspires to be as broad based as possible.

The leaders at the press conference said Western governments, including the United States have expressed concern that Ethiopia could be fractured if the opposition can come together as an alternative force. According to the leaders, the West would like to see a one and united voice from the opposition so they can engage the opposition as an alternative force, instead of dealing only with the rogue regime.

Responding to a question regarding hardline activists and political leaders, Leenco Laata, vice president of the Oromo Democratic Front and co

-chair of the Council of the Ethiopian National Movement said extremist political groups are not just limited in the Oromo community but also exist in other Ethiopian groups as well. He cautioned that if the mainstream political groups fail to organize and act, extreme groups will have the upper hand.

“All sorts of extreme elements have the right to express their opinions. There are extremists from all corners. We should not focus just on the Oromo. So long as the mainstream fail to deliver, the extremists will takeover. What we have to focus on is engaging the mainstream from all quarters…What we need to do is to get united and work on our messages to overshadow the extremist elements,” he said

Dr. Dima Nageo, Vice president of ODF and Chairman of the Executive Council of ENM on his part blamed the compounding political crises in Ethiopia on the weaknesses of the opposition camp.

“Ethiopian opposition political groups have been divided but the popular movement has not only managed to overcome the regime’s control mechanisms but it is also pulling communities and political groups together,” he noted.

Dr. Dima described the solidarity between the people of Oromo and Amhara, the two largest communities, as the biggest political development of the popular movement.

“The establishment of the ENM is therefore an important political development for the Ethiopian people. ENM is committed to bringing an end to the suffering of the Ethiopian people and usher in a new era of democracy and prosperity,” Dr. Dima said.

Dr. Kontie Moussa, Chairman of the Afar People’s Party said on his part that the essence of coming together in the coalition is to bring about a democratic Ethiopia. “What we see in Ethiopia is a collapsing regime that has so many fences of different laws like the state of emergency, the press law, the civic societies proclamation, all seem to be the last resort for the regime in its pocket to hang on to power.”

Dr. Kontie said the alternative political forces, like the new coalition, must be supported, a coalition, he believes, can provide a wide range of policies and solutions to the current crises in Ethiopia.

He specifically discussed the state of emergency as having a negative impact on the pastoralist community that he represents. The “red zone” that the regime declared in the emergency law and which is under the strict control of the military, passes along the Addis Ababa- Djibouti highway has a devastating implication to the pastoralist community in Afar region, according to Dr. Kontie.

“State sponsored terror and harassment of citizens is no more acceptable. The regime should be held accountable.”

Mr. Bekele Wayu, Chairman of the Sidama People’s National Democratic Movement, hopes the movement will fix the problem of fragmentation among the Ethiopian political groups and will be part of the solution to the political crises.

“We are organizing the people regardless of their ethnicity. We have to work hard to heal our wounds created in the past so Ethiopia can move forward,” Mr. Wayu said.

Award winning Ethiopian journalist, Reeyot Alemu, also shared her experience as a journalist in Ethiopia where the regime jailed her for four years on bogus terrorism charges for simply doing her job as a journalist.

“Ethiopian journalists have only two choices, bad ones. The first is to report only what the regime wants you to report. No critics. This will be ignoring the human rights violations, corruption and deep rooted poverty. The second option is to report the truth and face persecution by the regime. I and my friends chose the latter and had faced harassment and imprisonment,” said Reeyot, who is a producer with the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio, ESAT.

Reeyot is the winner of two notable international media awards, UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 2013 and the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism  Award in 2012.

The leaders of ENM have entertained various questions from the press. ENM leaders on the occasion vowed to work hard to bring the diverse political groups on board to make the movement a viable alternative  political force.