Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (ENDC), an independent federal institution established to facilitate inclusive dialog, says it is open to welcome armed groups in the country and allow them to reflect their interests in the national dialog “as long as they put down their arms”.
This is indicated this morning in the capital Addis Ababa by Commissioner Dr. Tegegnework Getu during a discussion ENDC held with representatives of local media and social media influencers. He stated that any armed group interested to be part of the national dialog is most welcomed by the Commission as long as that group to put down their arms and choose to advance its cause using peaceful dialogue. “We are willing to go extra miles to welcome them [any armed group],” he said.
Began its operation about eight months ago after established by the Ethiopian Parliament to facilitate an all-inclusive national dialog to bring national consensus on some the major controversial issues, which often lead the country to into deadly clashes and ethnic based violence.
The members of ENDC have so far visited different parts of Ethiopia and discussed with the people on the ground about the national dialog the Commission is planning to conduct within the coming 28 months.
Except conflict areas such as Tigray and around Wellega in Oromia region, ENDC team has engaged with the people living in most parts of Ethiopia, according to the commissioners briefing.
ENDC is currently engaged in the process of launching dialog at grassroots level (Wereda / district), zone, regional, federal levels. In addition, the Commission has also planned to include Ethiopians in the diaspora to be part of the national dialog.
The dialog at the early stage includes helping the different community structures from all corners of Ethiopia including farmers, pastoralists, the youth, women, business communities, people with the disabilities and the diaspora, etc, to hold meetings and identify their priority agendas, and nominate their representatives who can reflect their views interests, aspirations at the national dialogs where all representatives will convene at later stage.