Is an all-inclusive conference a panacea for Ethiopia?
Sudan Tribune, Sudan - January 31, 2008
The Ethiopian political landscape is heavily crowded with a myriad of conflicting interests. The visions espoused as well as the means chosen to pursue them are also divergent. While those operating in the political process hope against hope that their deliverance will come from the ballot box, those from outside look towards popular insurrection and armed resistance as a way out. Interestingly enough neither the former nor the latter is unequivocally and fully committed to its chosen mode of struggle.
The “legal” opposition is unconvinced that EPRDF would relinquish power through the ballot box. The sobering experience of the May 2005 election can only bolster this conviction. Their choice of this means of struggle is also not based on a principled belief that the “legal” route is inherently superior to the armed in defeating tyranny. It is partly predicated on the belief that the EPRDF is more vulnerable politically than militarily.
At times the opposition blames the resistance for providing the EPRDF with a pretext to justify its draconian measures under the guise of maintaining not only peace and security but also national unity. The threat of insurgency, however ineffective, enables EPRDF to equate all dissent with subversion. At the same time, they welcome and look to the pressure exerted on EPRDF by the resistance to create more openings, breathing space, in the political process. The opposition is therefore ambivalent: while publicly shunning the resistance, it secretly wishes its success. This is one of the sources of its internal discord ...