The Truth and Reconciliation Committee of Ethiopia!

I am back for my third posting. This time, I am going to put forth my own unrefined idea of bringing about political change in Ethiopia.

Of late, there has been numerous debates as to whether armed struggle or peaceful struggle is the best way forward to bring about political change in Ethiopia. Since this post is not about those debates I will not comment on it except saying that I am against using any kind of violence to bring about change in Ethiopia.(let's leave the details of why for now, shall we?)

However, neither side seems to have been able to show any visible progress in terms of bringing about the desired political change on the ground.

Shouldn't there then be a middle ground, a compromise between the two approaches? I remember, right around the time the Ginbot 7 movement was born, they didn't clearly define (or it was not clear for me)what exactly it would include when they said their method of struggle will include all means to bring about regime change. Therefore, I speculated that may be they mean that we shouldn't be bound by unfair laws and regulations enacted by the regime and that we should carry out the struggle based on internationally recognized norms of peaceful struggle whether the government in power allows it or not (" E-higaw gin selamawi tigil).

So, I am still wondering what happened to this idea. Was it ever raised? If yes, why was it disposed then?

In any case, I would like to propose the following scenario based on the above formula(ye tigil silt).
Steps:
1- All opposition groups (including those who do not believe in the sovereignty of a country called "Ethiopia") form a coalition or a kind of transition committee or shadow government or call it whatever you want.

2- They agree on whether to hold referendum or not and when to decide the issue of complete autonomy for various groups (people).

3- Outline what institutions are necessary to establish for a peaceful and meaningful transition to happen until a government elected by the people takes power. Decide who will head these institutions (I am talking about naming individuals), the funds they need and other inputs they will require. These institutions should be ready for activation hours after the collapse of the current government in power.

4- Establish a Truth and Reconciliation Committee composed of prominent elders and religious leaders. (Finally, I have come to the central message of this post wheew!) The roles such an institution played in bringing about change in South Africa can be seen here. But, I am suggesting a modified version of that commission in that it will start work NOW. According to this plan (some of you may like to call it dream), the TRC of Ethiopia will work under the same simple principle that the TRC of South Africa worked: amnesty from prosecution in exchange for disclosing the truth about the crimes committed thus far and in exchange for information that can be used to bring about regime change. This committee needs to have substantial funds and diplomatic capital at hand to guarantee the repatriation to a third country of government (military) officials and their families to guarantee their security. The amnesty should be given to any one who is willing to take it including individuals at the helm of power (no need to call names I guess). In addition to allowing to bring down the regime from power in no time, this would allow to break the cycle of violence that would result by following a reconciliatory approach (as opposed to a Nuremberg style of serving justice). The amnesty should be offered not only through media channels but also through personal contacts (reaching out to the other side- has any opposition leader done that yet? pick the phone, do a little chat and try to reach out to the EPRDF people at a personal level? Requires substantial courage I guess.) and directly by the TRC members.

6 - Devise an emergency economic plan of action that would be implemented on day two of the transitional government.



Since I am just one ordinary citizen (netizen), I presume my ideas could be a bit idealistic (or even naive)for someone who is a tenured politician or a lawyer. But these ideas arose out of the fear of the unknown on day two after the political change that all of us so much desire becomes a reality (I am assuming you will not have read thus far if you doubted the inevitability of change- sooner or later, to the benefit of the people or to their detriment).

We shouldn't seek change for the sake of change- instead for the betterment of our people's lives. In that case, we should have a carefully thought out PLAN OF ACTION. That is why I am asking you, the reader, to improve these recommendations or even throw them out and come up with your own. I will then be happy to let you post it on this blog (I want to recruit co-authors for this blog) so that others may also read it. Who knows, this may result in motivating our politicians to take a new direction in their quest to bring about political change in Ethiopia?

May God bless Ethiopia. Amen.

Who Should Read/Write on this Blog

This is the second post on this blog. In my first blog posting, I tried to set out the kinds of things we are interested to discuss: bringing about genuine, total and internal change in Ethiopia.

I mentioned that we should discuss how to bring about change in three arenas: political, economic, and social aspects of life in Ethiopia. Notice that the major theme of this blog is how to bring about change not whether change is necessary or not. If you are someone who is not convinced that there is any need for political, social or economic change in Ethiopia, please do not waste your time by reading or commenting on this blog. Go read the many web sites and blogs out there busy composing a countless list of the ills in our country.

If you are already convinced that change has been overdue for a long time in Ethiopia and you are tired of consuming a long and daily list of human rights abuses of the EPRDF government in power in Ethiopia, its incompetence to bring about economic change and various other ills in the social fabric of the country, this is your place to be.

But, remember this is not the place to just list our problems and blame someone for them. Shouldn't we go at least one step further than and suggest NEW solutions? Isn't it time to look at NEW ways of even the way we want to bring about change?

We want to bring about regime change or build democratic institutions in Ethiopia. How should we go about it? Aren't there ways of effecting this that hasn't been thought about before? The same applies to our economic as well as social problems.

Please discuss by joining this blog (on the bottom left of this page)or you can even make a video comment, post it on YouTube put it here (again on the bottom left of this page). Leaving a video comment will be a good way of expressing your ideas in Amharic with the added benefit of including visual data.

"Be The Change You Want To See!"

Most of us aren't happy about the fact that, as a nation, we are listed at the bottom in most statistical tables (education, economic development, per capita income blah blah blah).

It is very easy (and is most often done) to point fingers at who is responsible for this. The question is, has that helped us to change our situation? Not yet (at least)! It is "human nature" to be defensive when accused even if there was one group responsible for every problem in Ethiopia. Hence changing that group is not possible from outside just by listing its ill doings.

There must be a totally new perspective to look at our situation and help us change our social, political and economic reality that we are in currently.

What is that new perspective that will help us change totally and from with in? I will not tell you my thoughts on this because I want to hear from you, the reader, first. I refuse to believe that there aren't a few Ethiopians from the 80+ million who can come up with a new and novel idea for total change in Ethiopia.

Please leave your comments below and start inspiring others.