PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
HAGER ADEN (የሐገር አድን ጥሪ):
A Call for an All-Inclusive Transitional Government for Ethiopia
Concerned Ethiopians & The Citizens Charter Group
Washington, DC: April 26, 2021
Ethiopia currently finds itself in multiple civil strife domestically and under unprecedented destabilizing attacks on its sovereignty by its implacable historical enemies and other geopolitical interests. It is veering toward state failure, a prospect with no winners in the long run at home and abroad. A group of concerned Ethiopians and civic groups have long been mulling over these dual challenges in search of a negotiated political settlement that will extricate the country from the quagmire of winner-takes-all ethnic politics.
As explained in the document we will release on Wednesday at the Press Conference, we firmly believe that the 2021 national elections under a discredited constitution cannot fix the countries myriad problems. The only viable solution to these structural problems is an all-inclusive, negotiated transition program that will usher in a new citizen-based constitution as a compact between Ethiopians and their government and a guarantor of the first democratic elections in Ethiopian history.
Here is our reasoning in a nutshell:
- Stopping the political violence by foreign-funded domestic terrorists, in which the Government itself has been implicated, and restoring the lives of innocent citizens is the immediate priority for all of us.
- Putting out the fires is necessary but clearly not sufficient. The country’s political and economic problems are profoundly structural. They will not, and cannot, be solved with make-believe elections under a polarizing and unamendable Constitution, deep insecurity, and an incapable government that continues to favor ethnic loyalty over merit.
- To build a legitimate democratic order, Ethiopia needs an inclusive political settlement. We must involve those political parties, civic organizations, and patriotic citizens, the litmus test being an unconditional commitment to the equality of all citizens, the unity of the Ethiopian people, and respect for Ethiopia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
- The Transition Roadmap we offer here requires establishing an inclusive national dialog, the election of an interim parliament (Shengo), establishing various commissions to clean up institutionalized corruption and discrimination, and the ratification of a genuinely democratic constitution.
- This proposal is only a recommendation for a fresh start. We invite all stakeholders to join the movement for an informed national dialog and refine the roadmap to make it legitimate and realizable.
We have just concluded three rounds of consultations with patriotic Ethiopians, civil-society organizations, and political parties to get feedback and obtain buy-in for the idea of a Transition Charter. We are now ready to address the general public, in Ethiopia and abroad, to stem the expanding civil wars and the civil disobedience currently underway.
We invite the media for a zoom conference on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, at 10 AM (EST) or 4 PM (ET). Please confirm your attendance so that we can send you the full text of the Declaration document at 9 AM on Wednesday. Thank you.
Email queries: Ethiopia@Hageraden.org
Here is the Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2022973932?pwd=dDNaRnZLYThnNnhyNVF1a20rbGlQZz09
Meeting ID: 202 297 3932
Passcode: Wri8Tb
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,2022973932# US (Washington DC)
+13126266799,,2022973932# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 202 297 3932
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbla1dDheA.