The Council of Ministers of Ethiopia on Saturday has decided to take out the names of Ginbot 7, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) from terrorist group list.
The decision has followed Ethiopia’s Parliament ratification of Amnesty Bill on Friday. Now the decision of the Council of Ministers is expected to be approved by the Parliament. The Bill enables the country to completely free anyone charged and/or prosecuted from whatever crime she/he has done in the past.
The came after the new leadership of the ruling party decided to end internal and neighboring political conflicts peacefully by involving all parties. As a result the country has released thousands of political prisoners over the past few months.
The new Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed has also traveled to the neighboring countries as well as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to elaborate on the new conflict-free policy of Ethiopia.
As a result he managed to meet with exiled Ethiopian politicians and citizens while helping the release of Ethiopian prisoners from Egypt, Kenya, Sudan, among others. Some of the released belong to the groups the country designated as terrorists.
The three groups along Al Shabaab and Eritrean government were designated as terrorist group by Ethiopian Parliament in 2009.
In relation to improving the repressive laws such as the anti-terrorist laws, civil society and press laws, among others, the country has now established a council that looks into the reformation of the overall justice system.
Through his new conflict-free, mutual interest based and peaceful regional integration approach, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed has also succeeded to bringing South Sudan opposition head Dr. Machar to Addis Ababa last week for the face to face talks with President Salva Kirr for the first time in two years.
Ending the two decades ‘no-peace, no-war’ situation with the neighboring Eritrea, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy has also managed to welcome the Eritrean delegation last week who came to Addis Ababa accepting his call to end the dispute peacefully.
Now the he is expected to meet with President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea in the coming days, according to the state media reports who quoted the ministry of foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.