PROMINENT POLITICIAN JAWAR ET.AL THREATEN TO QUIT HEARING ATTENDANCE UNTIL COURT DECISIONS ARE RESPECTED

  The defendants on Jawar Mohammed’s file told the Federal High Court Lideta Branch, First Constitutional and Anti-terrorism Bench that they will no longer appear in court to follow their hearing.  The 21 defendants who appeared in court today expressed opposition to ‘mass killings and injustices across Oromia’ by holding a one minute prayer in honor of the victims.

Free Then All

The Federal High Court Lideta Branch, First Constitutional and Anti-terrorism Bench today saw the case of the defendants on Jawar Mohammed’s file. The court was set to hold the hearing that was directed to regarding the conduct of witness hearing which was referred from the Federal Supreme Court, 2nd Appeals Bench on May 19, 2021. 

The defendants presented their requests in writing, detailing the malpractices in the justice system that led them to request a two years long appointment until the next hearing.  At the last hearing the defendants requested the court to postpone their hearing until after the election. Jawar Mohammed, the first defendant on the file said “Our trials should continue after the election. You might as well adjourn the hearing until 2023 or 2025.”

The defendants listed down the case of many other detainees who are held under police custody despite court order for their release. In the letter, the defendants recalled incidents such as the execution of detainees, maltreatment of prisoners in detention and extrajudicial killings while also commending the efforts made by the court to maintain the rights of suspects. The defendants pointed out what they described as the inability of law enforcement institutions by saying “We no longer believe that court orders will be honored by the executive bodies.” the letter read, adding, “Maybe if the country regains peace after the election in two years time, we ask the court to postpone our hearing until then.” 

The prosecutor on its part explained to the court that it did not prepare for today’s hearing on the conduct of witness hearing after receiving the orders to conduct the hearing at the federal high court.    The court ordered the prosecutor to submit the threats it claimed were posed on its witnesses in   writing by June 7, 2021. The court gave an alternative appointment for June 17, 2021 to pass a decision on the matter. 

Regional states fear Ethiopia’s dissolution—it would be a nightmare scenario of dislocation and instability

 

Critics of Ethiopian federalism have valid arguments about problems inherent in the system but the remedy for this is revision of the constitution through the legislative process, not the whims of one man acting through brute force.

Nor has Abiy done himself any favors with fellow African leaders. There is a way presidents and prime ministers speak to the public, and there is a way in which they talk among themselves. Abiy fails at the latter. He lacks candor and appears untethered from the reality that he has created. Many of his counterparts describe him as a naïf with a messiah complex. While African leaders will not publicly abandon one of their own, the shedding of African Union offices from Ethiopia to other capitals reflects Abiy’s declining diplomatic capital.

Regional states fear Ethiopia’s dissolution—it would be a nightmare scenario of dislocation and instability—but many diplomats, including those traditionally friendly to Ethiopia, quietly question whether it is already too late. Abiy’s supporters may have justified his action in antipathy to federalism but by choosing unilateralism over negotiation, Abiy may have cemented his legacy not as a Nobel Peace Laureate, but rather as the man who ended a country whose history dates back millennia. It is time for the United States, United Nations, and Ethiopia’s neighbors to plan for its end as a unified entity.

National dialog is the only solution for the current political crises in the country

 National dialog is the only solution for the current political crises in the country

Abiy came to power on the back of the Oromo protests, a movement inspired by the Oromo national quest for self-determination and autonomy. Oromos made significant individual and collective sacrifices to democratize and consolidate the multi-ethnic federal system. Two years after riding Oromo nationalism to power, it is clear that Abiy has now completely betrayed the Oromo cause and the Oromo national question.

The first few months after Abiy Ahmed’s ascent to power were overwhelmingly hopeful. He embraced the language of human rights, the rule of law, and economic prosperity, and introduced progressive measures, enjoying praise at home and abroad.

Abiy spoke of peace, love, tolerance, and reconciliation. To give his rhetoric the appearance of substance and seriousness, he established the Ministry of Peace and a Peace and Reconciliation Commission and appointed a gender-balanced cabinet.

At the same time, Abiy was also doing something else. While projecting the appearance of a humble and unifying leader driving radical reforms under challenging conditions, he was also consolidating power and reorganising the army, the intelligence and security forces, the civil service, the ruling party, and the governance of regional states.

Three years after Abiy’s rise to power, the political landscape in Ethiopia is further polarized and Ethiopian society is even more deeply divided. Rather than promoting reconciliation, building consensus and cohesion among culturally diverse societies through constructive engagement across political and cultural fault-lines, the prime minister is promoting divisive imperial nationalism and laying the groundwork for his centralizing and assimilationist vision of the future.

Ethiopia was already on the verge of implosion last year before the conflict broke out. Abiy’s determination to impose his will by any means necessary, including war, sparked the Tigray inferno, plunging the country into the most perilous crisis it has seen in three decades.

Clearly, the prime minister has squandered a historic opportunity to build a new and inclusive society based on shared values and mutual respect. After the Tigray war, the path to building a democratic future will be enormously difficult, but it is still possible. What Ethiopia needs now is an inclusive national dialogue that would serve as an instrument of constructive engagement to secure a new political settlement that would allow Ethiopians to live together in peace and equal dignity. But doing so requires, among other things, confronting Ethiopia’s complex past and imperial legacy.