The trial and death of Socrates by drinking the hemlock might be considered as a dramatic moment in Greek philosophy. It was also a unique moment when accused and accusers faced one other in a tragic moment that claimed the life of an honest man who lived and died for what he believed was the truth. Socrates asked for mercy from his accusers were determined to see him dead. Reconciliation or clemency was unthinkable at the time and the world has witnessed many unjust trials and death since Socrates. The world has deeply changed since Socrates’ time even though innocent lives continue to be lost for one reason or another. Fortunately for humanity, it has now found the courage to face the truth, tell the truth and achieve mercy and reconciliation. This is indeed a great moral achievement. Nations as well as individuals can now attain moral redress by squarely facing the truth and have developed the capacity to deal with tragedy in a more humane way even if this is done after the tragic events. It is obvious that the political background to the establishment, operation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa is drastically different from the one in Ethiopia. South Africa dealt with 400 years old history of Apartheid and the crime committed during the long period of racial abuses. The temporal difference between the two countries is also different. Although no time frame is already given as to the focus of the truth commission in Ethiopia, it would be safe to assume that it might look into the political and human rights injustices of the last 45 years since the overthrow of the imperial regime in February 1974 until the present time In South Africa, the idea for national reconciliation gained important ground after the defeat of the Apartheid regime and the advent of Nelson Mandel to the country’s presidency. The NTRC came into being in 1996 after a relatively short period of negotiations between the ANC and the defunct Apartheid regime. The necessity for a TRC was all the more felt because Mandela and the top leadership of the ANC believed that the country could not go forward without the truth being reveled about the most flagrant human rights abuses, both from the white minority regime and its cohorts as well as from the side of the liberation fighters. The report about the TRC findings also condemned killings and torture carried out by the ruling African National Congress (ANC), saying ANC arguments that those acts were committed in pursuit of a just cause did not absolve the party of responsibility. In particular, the commission reprimanded Winnie Madikizela Mandela, the former wife of President Mandela. Winnie Mandela and her bodyguards, known as the Mandela United Football Club, were implicated in several killings in the late 1980s. Other prominent figures to come under scrutiny included Zulu leader and Inkatha Freedom Party founder Mangosutho Gatsha Buthelezi. In the 1980s Inkatha and the ANC engaged in battles for control of black townships, leaving thousands dead. Inkatha was supported in this fight by the white-led government, which hoped to foster divisions within the black population. The fundamental purpose of the TNC in South Africa was to bring victims and perpetrators of atrocities face to face so that both sides could confess what had happened to them and achieve reconciliation. The South African TRC time frame was between 1960 and 1996 focusing on what happened to victims and perpetrators during this period. Apartheid in South Africa lasted for 400 years. The TRC covered only 36 years of abuses and injustices. The time frame for the Ethiopian TRC, might cover a little more than 45 years, starting with the 1974 Revolution and going down to the present. In the case of South Africa, Nelson Mandela chose longtime human rights activist Desmond Tutu to chair the proceedings. Nobel Peace Prize winning Archbishop Tutu was a grand figure of the anti-apartheid struggle who commanded huge popularity, trust and respect both among the black and white populations. He subsequently proved his mantle by leading the TNC to a satisfactory conclusion. What can Ethiopia learn from the South African experience of TRC? There are important points that can serve as reference points in guiding the Ethiopian TRC which should be mandated to bring face to face alleged perpetrators and victims of human right abuses in the country in the last 45 years. If the process has to start with the Derg regime, it will have to bring both victims and alleged victimizers face to face in the same hall to hear them confess about what happened to them. Some people might argue that the case of the Derg crimes were settled by the Prosecutor General many years back and the perpetrators received their punishment and were released following a government pardon. This is far from the truth. The objectives and modus operandi of the court that ruled over the Derg officials and the present TRC are quite different if not diametrically opposed. The trial of Derg officials was a politically motivated and controlled from above in order to administer what could be termed as selective justice. As such it was a trial and not a truth and reconciliation process whose actors are often victims and perpetrators. . Even in the case of the Derg, it is not too late or irrelevant to administer, Truth and Reconciliation by bringing victims and their relatives face to face with former military officials in a ceremonial gesture to let the past be dead and buried. Not doing so would leave the wounds open and fester at the cost of both victims and victimizers. One of the chief objectives of TRC is to bring about a kind of mental relief or psychological catharsis to both parties. In addition to the Derg and its victims, what were known as members of the civilian Leftist movements such as EPRP and Meison should be part of the process of reconciliation because these parties have their respective share of responsibility in the atrocities committed during the shameful Red Terror period. The leaders of these parties are alive and can come together face to face with their alleged victims and confess their guilt and ask for redemption. The former top officials of the EPRDF who are allegedly involved in alleged gross human rights violations and their victims should also be called to the TRC forum in order to bear witness to what happened in the last 27 years and asked for clemency and reconciliation with the nation and its people. In the case of South Africa for instance there were also top security officials of the Apartheid regime who order a number of killings and abductions and tortures were invited to the TRC forum. This can also be the case in Ethiopia where the alleged crimes of former EPRDF officials can only be negligible compared to what 400 years of Apartheid had done to the black majority. Thus, the TRC should rather be a comprehensive and all-inclusive and soul searching process that would pave the way for the healing of the national psyche. It should also be an unprecedented moment in Ethiopian history where people would come forward and tell the public that they really made serious mistakes or were the victims of atrocious deeds. The TRC should rather be the beginning of the healing process of the national psyche and not a moment of revenge. It should be a catharsis, a national soul- searching, honest, and should lead to mutual reconciliation and self-reconciliation. It should be a moment of deep regret and deep psychological reinvention. It is a test of courage and the moral standing to face the truth squarely and achieve freedom from guilt. It should also be a dramatic moment for the nation’s history and a lesson to the coming generation. The objective of TRC is not punishment but a moral redemption and pardon. That is the mark of genuine TNC as we saw it in South Africa. The most important lesson the Ethiopian TRC should take from the South African experience is therefore this dramatic moment of collective catharsis resulting from truth telling, honest confession and the healing of the nation’s soul. It may also be a unique opportunity and a moment of opening the Pandora Box if necessary in the interest of posterity, genuine unity and collective salvation so that there will be no more killer and killed, torturer and tortured, victim and victimizer, the way we know it in this country for a long time.
The Ethiopian Herald February 17/2019
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
