What EPRDF is saying is "short of insurgency, you cann't ..." Dr Merara Gudina

What EPRDF is Saying is "Short of Insurgency, You Cannot Force Me ..

The Reporter (Addis Ababa)

INTERVIEW
November 26, 2005
Posted to the web November 29, 2005

The National Electoral Board (NEB) recently made a decision to recognize Tolossa Tesfaye as chairman of the Oromo National Congress (ONC) whose groups unseated the party's founder and leader, Dr. Merera Gudina.

Dr. Merera vowed to challenge the decision in court and accuses the ruling party of orchestrating to weaken the ONC.

The Reporter talked to Dr. Merera on the crisis that his party is facing currently. Excerpts:

What do you think is the Election Board's decision based on to say that At Tolossa, not you, is the leader of the ONC?

I think the board's decision is the result of a pressure that comes from the government led by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). We have been repeatedly saying for years now that the Electoral Board could not be free and independent.

Now, unless the board is working to fulfill the wishes of the EPRDF government, there is no logical basis for the board to pass such a judgement. By the way, it is not the board that took the decision. Rather, it is the secretariat of the board which passed the decision. The law that regulates the registration of parties does not give such power to make decision to the secretariat. The decision shows that the government and its security apparatus have made extensive preparations to arrive at this point.

How?

First, they armed two members of our party who defected and forcefully took control of our offices, documents etc. One of them was even apprehended by the police while threatening our two parliamentary members with pistols. It's the government's people who were leading the operation against us behind the scene.

We have notified the police about the problem, the courts, the Electoral Board etc. The problem is that all of them didn't react. It seems that they have been ordered not to take any step regarding our complaint.

For instance, the group that rebelled within our party made a double (fake) seal after failing to obtain the original one and has been using it for some time. We told the proper authorities to stop this. We also presented evidences. But the board and the police didn't make any move to enforce the law.

The rebels have been calling illegal meetings using this seal for distributing letters that makes it look like a legal one. One such meeting of the party was called. Those who were called to attend mostly comprise their friends, and even their girl friends in some cases. We received reports that many members of the OPDO (Oromo People]s Democratic Organization), one of the four EPRDF member parties), also attended the meeting posing as ONC members.

Those who called the meeting are the ones who were suspended due to lack of discipline. Then they announced during the meeting that they have elected a new central committee, executive committee etc. while the existing committees have no idea that such election was being held. This is not legal. The NEB, too, recognized the resolution passed by such an illegal meeting.

On the contrary, they told us that the board did not recognize the meeting we had called earlier as legal. Many times, they used to tell us that they did not receive our documents and letters, which we gave to the board. When we confronted them with evidence that they have received our letters, they simply said that it could be lost.

In my opinion, this operation to weaken us is undertaken by security forces. We even notified the prime minister. But from the outset, they took the stand to weaken the ONC. The electoral board is forced to be involve in this shameful act.

What can EPRDF benefit by weakening ONC? Some argue that more disintegrated oppositions are difficult to handle and such strategy could backfire.

What EPRDF says and does completely differ. Before the May 2005 election, they were praying for a strong opposition. When they faced that opposition, they resorted to another game.

Well, weakening the opposition has benefits for the ruling party. Our party posed two big challenges to EPRDF.

First, the OPDO, the Oromo party belonging to the EPRDF, is seen by many Oromos as the "bastard" son. So the majority of Oromos do not have cordial relationship with EPRDF. We showed that we can reach the Oromo people and have their support. It was also seen that millions of supporters of the banned Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) were coming to us.

During the election, the former Defense Minister Abadula Gemeda and Oromia region President Juneidin Sado in Arsi lost to our candidates, for instance. This rang a bell at the EPRDF camp that our candidates could defeat their big politicians. We won in many constituencies in Oromia.

The second challenge we posed was that we chose a path against EPRDF's devide and rule. We argued that the Oromos struggle must go hand in hand with the struggle of other peoples of Ethiopia. Going it alone may not work.

We were working closely with the South alliance. Moreover, we were able to work with parties that are said to be coming from the Amhara areas. Of all the Oromo parties, we were the only ones to work with all the parties coming from different ethnic groups. This neutralizes EPRDF's divide-and- rule approach.

This is not to the liking of the ruling party. EPRDF's leaders warned us to either be neutral or leave the UEDF (United Ethiopian Democratic Forces) in which the ONC is a member party. This is not a secret.

Did they specifically ask you to do that?

They made it plain to us in different ways and at different times. Security force members tried to convince our members to do that. Otherwise ONC's existence will cease.

We in turn made it clear that we will follow a path which a useful to our people. I think this is our biggest crime, in their eyes.

The other faction in ONC relates the problem to you i. e. you become a dictator and run a one-man show. Do you have any comment?

Our party doesn't have any internal problem. For instance, take Tolossa who led the rebellion. He was member of the traffic police who was fired from his job for disciplinary reasons. We used to support him for six or seven years. He didn't have any political problem with us.

The main reason is our strong performance amongst the Oromo people. But to cover this, they are saying that ONC leaders, us, are working with the enemies of the Oromo people. We didn't submit to the dictates of the ruling party. For example, they accuse UEDF of doing this or that many times. But for most of the time of the UEDF's existence, I was serving as a chairman. They have sold out our party, ONC, without competitive bid price.

Instead of the group which Tolossa led, more qualified people are included on our side. Tolossa is just a private, and his other cronies did not even finish high school. They are not qualified.

Of the 39 ONC parliament members, 37 are with us. Of the 37, 27 of them are central committee members of ONC. If Tolossa can get away with it, I wonder how he can be the leader of many educated party members.

Can education only qualify one to head a political party?

Excluding my educational qualification, putting Tolossa there will be imposing a party without any intellectual base on the Oromo people. This is an insult to the people.

I have no opposition to any one forming a party as long as they have support. What I oppose is the role of the electoral board in conducting an operation to come up with such a party similar to OPDO.

With whom are the ONC MPs siding? With you or the OPDO?

37 of the 39 parliament members are still with us. The board's decision is an imposition on these parliament members.

What choice are left for you? Will you go to the courts? If so, do you expect any result?

We will try the courts.

Have you submitted your case?

Yes, we did that. We will try to exploit every legal means. But what must be clear is that you just cannot suppress the struggle of the Oromo people.

If you fail in courts, will you form another party and retains your parliamentary seats?

That is one of the options.

But did you consider it so far?

It is an option. We will consider many options in the future. What you have to know is that the era for independent political organizations is coming to a close. The main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP), was attacked. Our party ONC is the second. This is a clear signal. What this means is that you can stay as a party if you are either a weak party or a loyalist party. The political situation in Ethiopia can be exposed to more danger.

Some are of the opinion that the ONC and UEDF are also to blame for weakening the opposition camp. While UEDF calls for demonstration on Oct. 2, CUDP lend assistance. But while CUDP called for peaceful struggle a month letter, UEDF, including ONC, didn't extend similar support. They argue that this gave EPRDF a breathing space.

People might have different opinion. We talked to CUDP leaders many times. Which way of struggle is preferable? Is it better to join parliament and continue the struggle? Or is it better to boycot parliament? We deliberated on these options extensively.

We had one problem. The opinion in Oromo areas is that boycotting parliament is not popular. Fourteen years ago OLF quit the transitional government. Since then, Oromo people have been subjected to persecution. Thousands have been arrested and killed.

Unless you have good options, you may not go far. We took this option seriously. As I said, boycotting parliament is not popular amongst Oromo people.

However, even this option could run its course in time, i.e, the parliamentary option. For instance, my assessment could now differ from the previous one. The era of independent political parties seems to come to an end. I said, "it seems", not definitely. For instance, parliament is no longer a place for free debate.

If you say boycotting parliament is not an option, how preferable can engagement be?

That's what I'm trying to explain. We will try to consider every option to wage the struggle. For instance, the peaceful struggle we called for is short of the use of force. The distance that EPRDF has gone is not acceptable for me. The failure of the international community to seriously warn EPRDF is also not acceptable.

What EPRDF is saying is "short of insurgency, you cannot force me to come to a negotiating table". So it is bit difficult to go further.

Then what remaining option do you have? What is the point of staying in parliament?

Well, political parties always consider different options. We may decide that sitting in parliament is meaningless at one point. If the parliamentary procedures are to continue this way, there is no point to sit there for five more years.

Look, there are also other political parties with their own agenda. For instance, the attempt to weaken the ONC is beneficial to OLF only, not OPDO. OLF may say, "look what Merera tried is useless. So, like what we said earlier, the EPRDF government cannot come to a negotiating table without the use of force. Oromos must stand by our organization." So many undesirable things might come in the future.

As a student of political science, I want to say that the time for one group domination in Ethiopia has passed. EPRDF better understands that. One group cannot lead Ethiopia dictatorially, cannot give or take away democracy, or cannot bring peace and democracy. That time has just passed.

Other political groups might emerge and follow the path they choose which in my opinion, can plunge the country into another round of civil war, and I fear that war may precipitate into an ethnic based conflict.

There is a conviction that UEDF no longer exists. Due to your joining parliament, other member parties in the Diaspora are no longer with you, and the election board decision to recognize the faction led by Ato Tolossa is a problem for you. So can you say UEDF still exists?

That is not the case yet. Disagreement differs from divorce. We have not reached the point of divorce yet. Yes, there are disagreements. Whether we will narrow our differences or not, is yet to be seen. How ONC will fare in the future, how its relation with the UEDF must be, is not decided.

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