Amhara Advocacy Group in Europe (AAGE)
Subject: A call to Professor Mesfin Araya
To Professor Mesfin Araya,
As a renowned academic and psychiatrist, your understanding of social psychology and the prerequisites for conflict resolution is beyond question. It is precisely because of your esteemed standing that we feel compelled to address you directly regarding the current trajectory of the national dialogue process.
We must underline the stark reality that a genuine national dialogue cannot flourish in an environment where the foundational pillars of peace are absent.
1. Respect for Freedom of Expression: A credible dialogue requires the protection of fundamental rights. Currently, the environment is characterized by a pervasive climate of fear, where dissent is met with imprisonment, torture, and extrajudicial measures. The still-unresolved killing of Engineer Simegnew Bekele; the detention of Members of Parliament Yohannes Buayalew and Christian Tadele, stripped of their parliamentary immunity; and the imprisonment of Meskerem Abera, journalist Sisay Gobeze, Tadios Tantu, and countless others serve as a somber testament to this reality.
2. Release of Prisoners of Conscience: Good-faith negotiation necessitates the release of political prisoners. The continued detention of numerous scholars, journalists, and opposition politicians — some coerced into signing forced confessions to crimes committed by the regime itself as the price of their release — renders any current process inherently illegitimate.
3. Inclusive Elite Bargaining: A transformative dialogue requires the participation of all key political actors. Yet a process that excludes critical scholars and stakeholders standing outside the ranks of Prosperity Party cadres and supporters cannot yield a sustainable or representative outcome. Prominent figures — including Lidetu Ayalew, Jawar Mohammed, and Gedu Andargachew — remain in exile or excluded; an initiative that isolates the primary stakeholders cannot produce a representative result.
4. Cessation of Hostilities: Dialogue cannot succeed while the state responds to regional grievances in Amhara, Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Tigray with heavy weaponry and drone strikes that destroy lives and property. Killing citizens as a first response to political dissent undermines the very premise of negotiation. Indeed, the process appears aimed at image-building and at prolonging the current rulers’ tenure — including a shift from a prime-ministerial to a presidential system — rather than at a durable solution.
In light of these structural impediments, a dialogue confined to regime cadres and select beneficiaries is not a vehicle for peace, but a mechanism for the consolidation of power.
Given your intellectual legacy, we urge you to reflect deeply on whether this process serves the Ethiopian people or a narrow political agenda. We hope that even at this juncture, you will disassociate yourself from a process that risks being remembered as a tool of dictatorial governance, rather than a bridge to reconciliation.
Respectfully,
On behalf of the Amhara Advocacy Group in Europe (AAGE)
amharaadvocacy.eu editors@amharaadvocacy.eu
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