By Mesle A.
Exactly 25 years ago, the main question pundits were asking was, how Ethiopia would disintegrate, like Somalia or Yugoslavia. After thousands of years, the survival of the state was questioned. The context of the times was similar to the fall of the iron curtain. About a million soldiers of a crumbling government were dispersed across the country. Ethnic-nationalist grievances and near 20 armed groups operating and exercising control over areas in the country. Most countries that were in similar conditions did disintegrate. Nations that were less diverse have broken into pieces. Hence, the pundits weren’t wrong to expect the same to Ethiopia.
How then, Ethiopia, with so much diversity and poverty, and coming out of a protracted civil war managed to avert that fate and turn its situation around? Unless we are going to throw it all at the feet of “luck”, there was definitely something we did right. Reassessing that and learning from it, it will help us to not divert from that path and correct its deficiencies.
A Magnanimous Winner;
In the aftermath of its military victory, the EPRDF, unlike most military winners, chooses to invite other insurgent groups into state formation. EPRDF was a champion of the nationalities right to self-determination in a bid to liberate the nationalities from national oppression, and it interpreted the national crisis as something resulting from national oppression. It considered the last two regimes that have defined the much broader notion of Ethiopian nationalism narrowly, structured the state accordingly and left the others at their mercy and fixing that wasn’t optional.
A national conference for this purpose was convened in Addis Ababa from July 1-5, 1991. The Conference resulted in the signing of the Charter by the representatives of some 31 political parties, the creation of an 87 seat Council of Representatives and the establishment of Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE).
The federal system that started de facto since 1991, and de jure following the adoption of the 1995 constitution attempts to end the cycle of political crisis by decentralizing power and resources to nine constituent states and two autonomous cities, and by ensuring self-rule to the ethno-linguistic groups at various levels.
The national conference adopted an interim constitution, otherwise known as the Charter for the TGE, Composed primarily of leaders of nationality-based parties spawned by the civil war. The conference reflected a dramatic shift of political power from the center to new politicians from hitherto marginalized regions. The Charter established the framework for the provisional government and guaranteed nations, nationalities and peoples to preserve their identity, administer their own affairs within their own defined territory, the right to participate in the central government based on fair and proper representation, and the right to self-determination.
It expressly empowered all legal and political responsibility for the governance of Ethiopia until it hands over power to a government that popularly elected on the basis of new constitution. Furthermore, the Charter empowered the TGE to establish by law local and regional councils defined on the basis of nationality.
In an attempt to address the nationality question, as already noted, the Charter pro-claimed the right of all nations and nationalities to self-determination, the preservation of national identities, of each group and the right of each nation and nationality, to govern its own affairs. The political action set in motion for sure was clear in bringing the notion of unitary state to an end, and was committed to devolve political power. This is in sharp contrast to the two earlier regimes. It was certainly an official acknowledgment of Ethiopia as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state. The emphasis on nationality and the listing of the hitherto forgotten nationalities in a legal document could only be considered as a reflection of that commitment.
One can state firmly in retrospect that, the TGE was the most legitimate and representative government that the country had had in its entire history. Although it was not elected, it was able to represent the major contenders of power and the then existing contending views. Certainly, it manifested a clear case of power sharing among major contenders. EPRDF leaders and those who took part in the conference all acknowledged that, they and their organizations held detailed discussions on the draft charter during the period preceding the conference.
One of the major tasks of the transitional Council of Representatives was to direct the process of constitution making and pave the way for a new national election based on the ratified constitution. A constituent assembly was elected in 1993, the TGE established a constitutional commission to prepare a draft instrument for submission to a specifically elected constitutional assembly vested with plenary power to promulgate an organic law. Again, opposition parties withdrew. Instead of debating the content of the constitution, they denounced the legitimacy of the whole project. The constitutional drafting process however, continued with the participation of diverse parties and societal groups.
In retrospect, the greatest credit for saving Ethiopia from disintegration goes to the document that resulted from the success of the Ethiopian revolution on May 28, 1991. The 1995 Federal constitution’s preamble is the statement that answered the questions of equality and gives recognition of Ethiopian people fought for. It says: “we, the nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia are…strongly committed in full and free exercise of our right to self-determination, to building a political community founded on the rule of law and capable of ensuring lasting peace…”
Hence, the constitution is a document that has effectively reversed the downward spiral, the civil war, and the dangers of disintegration.With a view to addressing the age old cause of the state crisis; the federal system intended to decentralize power and resources and resolves the “nationalities question” by accommodating the country’s various ethno-linguistic groups. The Constitution also emphasized that, it is built on the consent of the nations and nationalities and hence, places sovereignty with them. The nations and nationalities are also entitled to a full measure of self-government that includes the right to establish institutions of government in the territories that they inhabit and to equitable representation in state and federal government.
Ethiopia introduced the federal system against the background of a widely held skeptical view about federalism, both at home and in Africa at large. Despite the continent’s pluralistic nature and federalism’s promise to accommodate diversity, the overriding aim almost everywhere in Africa, except in Nigeria, the new developments in South Africa and the Sudan has been the pursuit of political unity and territorial integrity giving no political expression to diversity. Seen against this context the post-1991 Ethiopian experiment, stands as an exception.