OPINIONBy Dawit Endeshaw
The narratives vary and lives have been lost but the option for constructive dialogue remains
Almost three weeks since the mass protest began in parts of Oromia State, official statements emanating from different bodies indicate that the government and opposition parties stand polarized on the issue of the public unrest. A number of incidents that occurred in random locations of Oromia resulted in death and injury with various players steering the unrest, as well as the way forward to resolve the situation.
Goverment's briefing on November 16, 2015, given by Getachew Reda, head of government Communication Affairs, said that it is a movement steered by different actors including registered political parties that took part in the most recent general election. There intent, he claimed was to manipulate genuine concern of the public following unclear understanding of the proposed Integrated Master Plan for Addis Abeba & Oromia Special Zones.
"The fact that the Addis Abeba & Oromia Special Zone Integrated Master Plan was at a draft stage could not actually allow it to be tabled for public discussion," Getachew reiterated, justifying the gap in understanding. "I'm not going to get into a dirty laundry list of who these groups are," he continued.
Carefully avoiding specific figures, the Minister admitted that there was significant loss of property and human life.
A day earlier on November 15, 2015, Forum for Democratic Dialogue, Medrek, came up with the specific number of 32 people dead, identifying them by name and the places at which they were shot. Later in the week Merera Gudina (PhD), the Party's head of External Relations updated that figure to 75 during a telephone interview with Fortune.
Towns such as Wellega, West Harage, West Shewa and south-western Shewa are among the areas listed by Medrek, while the government has identified selected areas including west and south-west Showa, areas not directly affected by the Integrated Master Plan.
Even the narratives of the root cause of the problem, though aligned to a certain extent, are still divergent in terms of emphasis given.
To some degree, government acknowledged the impact of lack of good governance, while Medrek attributes that as the underlying cause of how and why the unrest began and spread.
"The cadres of Oromo Peoples Democratic Party (OPDO) have played a role of land grabbing of the poor farmers," the External Relations Head argued. He went on to mention an incident in Ambo in which land occupied by a school was grabbed by these cadres," giving the violence a wider base and bigger scope.
The government's version of events insists that the violence was fuelled by external intervention. Its proposed solution to the internal crack of understanding is creation of a wide-based discussion platform. Opposition, on the other hand, proposes cancellation of a proclamation recently promulgated by Oromia House of Council, a.k.a. Cheffe Oromia, which, from their perspective was the immediate cause of protest and unrest.
In the midst of last week's highly polarized argument and counter argument, including the contagious information chaos promulgated particularly on the social media platform, the Addis Abeba City Administration made a controversial announcement claiming that the Integrated Master Plan was simply a draft document and the office that carried out the technical study had completed its job and had therefore been closed since 2014.
Contrary to this announcement, the project had recently declared opening a public tender to purchase stationery and other office supplies. On page six of the December 11, 2015 publication of Addis Zemen newspaper, the supposedly defunct office announced as a part of the current budget year, a bid for the purchase of eight items, namely, printers, tyres, audio visual equipment, computers, uniforms for guards and colour ink for printers and photocopiers.
As the suspension of the office was announced on the state media, Fortune contacted officials of the office but none of them was willing to respond. When Fortune's reporter, accompanied by a photographer visited the office's premises on the 10th floor of Yeha Building in front of the National Stadium early on the morning of December 18, 2015, they were stopped by security guards who said there were no staff members in the rooms rented by the office and for the time being they had stooped their official job.
"It was since yesterday that the staff have stopped working," said one of the security guard.
On the same day Fortune confirmed with a call to the project office, using a number provided in the tender announcement referred to above, and was told that the bids were cancelled.
The announcement made by the City blames individuals, without specifying who exactly who these individuals are, for fabricating the tenders and employment announcement in the name of the office.
"We only receive official advertisement inquiries with a stamp in it from our customers," said Anteneh Haile Berhan, Advertisement & Marketing Development head for Ethiopian Press Agency, publisher of the Addis Zemen newspaper.
The controversy continued gaining momentum, and winning attention of international media as well as international community.
The US Embassy in Ethiopia has added its voice in response to, sending out an official statement by Mark Toner, deputy spokesperson, declaring the concern of the US government and calling of the Government of Ethiopia to permit peaceful protest, urging the protesters to refrain from violence, and all actors to commit to constructive dialogue.
Source: AllAfrica
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