Being able to engage in dialogue with others is an important tool for peacefully resolving conflicts at every level: political, societal, and personal. The ability to interact respectfully with other people despite differences in backgrounds, beliefs, and opinions is essential for peaceful coexistence.
Dialogue is a key to promoting inclusivity, engaging women, youth, marginalized groups, and anyone that is normally not at the centre of peace negotiations. The aim of dialogue is to engage diverse and divided communities in a constructive conversation in order to break down stereotypes and rebuild trust.
Conducting National Dialogue is a new phenomenon for Ethiopia. Though it is a fundamental issue for a given country so as to ensure peace and prosperity, unfortunately, the country had been revolving in the vicious cycle of poverty and backwardness due to the absence of national dialogue. When there is a regime change, officials come up with certain thoughts and wage struggle for the realization of their dreams without consulting others. Without taking the lesson from preceding one, the next regime that comes to power attempt to start a new project just from the scratch. Our past trajectories were full of such patterns.
National dialogue is now a prime attention of the government of Ethiopia. Indeed, there is nothing better than that for the east African country these days. Since day one of Prime Minster Abiy (Ph.D), the government officials have traveled to every corner of the country and talked people who represent the society on various political, economic and social affairs of the country. Recognizing age-long ideological differences within the society, the government has come up with the idea of consultation.
In order to realize the national dialogue, the government has established a legal and independent entity called Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission. The Commission has begun a task with a vision of facilitating the dialogue process. Understanding that it is a burning issue for the country, the commission has been striving to facilitate everything possible.
The Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission has come to effect since February 23, 2022. Since then, the commission has been undertaking a number of preparatory activities including holding discussion with potential stakeholders to grasp experiences that would help to conduct successful national dialogue in the country.
The government of Ethiopia has shown its commitment through providing due support to make the ongoing task of the commissions effective. Apart from providing every-assistance, the government has made the commission free from any sort of political influence. Local and international organizations are also supporting the commission in a bid to realize its vision.
The Commission is now expected to reveal its schedule to start conducting the historic national dialogue soon. So far, it has been gathering and identifying pertinent points of talk through participating people that represent the society at large. The final goal of the dialogue is bringing national consensus among the people, and bridge the ideological differences and build common narrative.
In the national dialogue which is scheduled to be held soon, the idea of every human being should be included. If there be an idea left out during the course of the dialogue or a perception of each and every segment of the society marginalized, it will be hard as it will drag us to former situation. Thus, all segments of the society will be given equal participation and voice during the course of the national dialogue.
The national dialogue commission is meant to pave the way for national consensus and keep the integrity of the country. In order to make it a success, development partners are expected to strengthen the support provided to the commission both in cash and kind. Together we can make the dialogue fruitful. We should open for the dialogue, as it would bring us to harmony. If we properly entertain our differences, our journey to prosperity will be tangible.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 22 MAY 2024
