Over the past few weeks, we witnessed history in the making in North Africa and the Middle East. The people’s power spreading like a highly contagious flu, forcing out undemocratic regimes across North Africa and the Middle East. It is interesting to see that coordinated efforts were underway in so many nations to call out for resignations of dictators. It is a time to make and renew commitment to serve the people. Era of hope, freedom in Egypt, Tunisia and soon in Libya on the door. And still so many more dictators to oust. Where is next? Morocco, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe… the list goes on. It is one of those times one can quote Sergio Vieira de Mello “…No one stands so high as to be above the reach of their authority. No one falls so low as to be below the guard of their protection”.
With the end of cold war, and the advance of democracy in governance around the world, there emerged an international consensus supporting the positive correlation between democratic governance, development, and human security to peace and security in Africa. In democratic societies, it is believed that citizens are entitled to determine the application of democratic government on the basis of their socio-cultural values, taking into account their specific realities. While there are universal values which are the common heritage of humanity, there are no ready-made recipes for democracy and governance. I accept as true that each society should generate its home-grown modalities for forging ahead in democracy and governance models. The North African experience proves that people have the power to bring an end to tyranty and bring in a system that works for the majority.
Following pro-democracy protests in North Africa, movements are underway everywhere in Africa. The potential and will power of the youth of today to live up to its history and surpass most expectations. With the right leadership and inspiration, selfless, dedicated and determined a young generation can become in short order when the time is right. The will of the people will soon be the basis of governmental authority and actions in Libya, Yemen and so on.
In this brief article, assessment will be made to see if the wind of change is coming to the dictatorial, ethnically biased and intellectually corrupted government of Melese Zenawi in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In Ethiopia the introduction of federal form of government in 1991 has marked a new chapter in the nation’s political history. Due to its magnitude, its multiple effects and increasing complexity, the introduction of ethnic federalism has been an issue of political significance employed both to justify and to criticize the idea of government and its intention to represent ethnicity.
Ethnicity in its conceptual framework encompasses cultural characteristics that connect a particular group or groups of people to each other. In his writing, The political economy of armed conflict, Hurrel P. describe the importance of ethnicity as…a potential basis for the political mobilization when ethnic identities overlap with and reinforced by salient territorial, political, social, and economic cleavage. For many Ethiopians, the development and increased participation of different ethnic groups in post 1991 political system is welcomed as a positive change that erodes the previous patterns of domination and facilitates aspects of local expression that were previously impossible. By strengthening identity, the government hoped that members of various linguistic groups in the country can come to feel more strongly identified with the central state, thus reducing the likelihood of violence and ethnic conflicts. This prelude to the focus of the state to change from promoting one language and its associated formulation of ethnicity, to promoting a multiethnic that encourages the distribution of ownership of political and other aspects of national life among the members of all ethnic groups. The overlapping political, economic, and psychological functions of ethnicity in multilingual state make group mobilization relatively very easy. If such societal position could be achieved, the prejudices and divisions surrounding language could be eroded and over time, rendered irrelevant without ever needing to contemplate the restriction or death of languages. An idea of unity based on a premise of diversity, and one that on closer inspection may reflect actual conditions and prevalent attitudes that already obtain in Ethiopia.
Over the years, there have been debates over the use of ethnicity as a structure for organizing society in Ethiopia. Often times there are substantial hostility and resentment felt both for rational and irrational reasons. In describing the risk of ethnic federalism and conflict in multi-ethnic society, Sociologist, Ballentine describe…grievances and insecurity bred by the systematic exclusion of ethnic minorities from political power and an equitable share of economic opportunities and benefits.
The problem with ethnic federalism in Ethiopia is in its practicality. Like many ethnically diverse states, the Ethiopian experience proved to be distressed by structural problems. Civil liberties are respected on a haphazard basis. Rule of law is more rhetorical than real. Few structures hold government officials accountable to citizens, and no innate sense of such responsibility tempers arbitrary decision making. After all, the dramatic and fundamental transformation in to a federation based on ethnicity, for instance was not subject to public debates. Geopolitical units once established are far from stable and are subject to constantly evolving processes of redefinition. At times it may not even be the inhabitants who are concerned about whether they belong to a particular geopolitical unit or another. Or whether their language is recognized as belonging to a particular established formulation of identity. Rather, it may be, others who claim to advocate for the rights of these people, but are, in fact, attempting to create political constituencies for themselves.
The establishment of ethnically defined federalism in many ways resulted but not limited to exclusion, migration and increases on potential damage in perpetuating and creating separate formulations of identity, up to destroying the unity of the Ethiopian State. The country tripled its ethnic clashes in all directions. In schools and universities, people have become more conscious and sensitive of their ethnic and religious backgrounds. Million believed to be displaced by ethnic clashes and thousands still sheltered in refugee camps in the neighboring countries. The inexperienced government, instead of trying to understand the true threat (issues) and develop strategies to manage the conflict, took sides and contribute its share to the violence in a number of places.
Conventional wisdom holds that government represent the people and rule as far as it represent the interest of the majority. According to the 2009 peace and conflict ledger, The Ethiopian Government still witness very low in human security and luck maturity in conflict management. A society’s well being depends on ensuring that all its members feel that they have a stake in it and do not feel excluded from the mainstream of society. This requires all groups, but particularly the most vulnerable, have opportunities to improve or maintain their well being. Government continued to indicate its euphemism for the systematic, deliberate isolation of different ethnic groups. Political appointment and commitment from ethnic groups calculated by loyalty to the party or the person in charge and meant only for symbolic purposes. The government’s heavy-handed dismissal of the political agenda of large segments of Ethiopian in favor of a united government is seen as ingrained bias by many.
Hence, the implementation of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia requires deep analysis of the opportunities and risks associated with it. In multiethnic country like Ethiopia federalism will play important role in harmonizing the interest and choices of several ethnic groups. Despite it is a current structural limitation, if it is properly coordinated and consulted with history, culture, tradition and way of life of the different groups, federalism can address the concurrent social, political, economic and cultural conflicts in the country. For that to happen, leaders must be willing, ready and flexible to accommodate diversity as the most likely means to achieve coherent and functional federalism, whether it is ethnic in character or not.
