By Staff Writer
(Nairobi, Kenya) — Delegates participating in the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (ENDC) sessions on the “Federal Cities Agenda” staged a walkout in Addis Ababa, protesting what they termed a last-minute attempt by ruling party officials to impose a pre-determined status for the capital.
According to reports by local news outlet Ethio Focus, representatives from Group 7—comprising delegates from diverse regional and ethnic backgrounds—abruptly exited discussions alongside participants from seven other working groups. Facilitators triggered the walkout after introducing an unvetted directive attempting to designate Addis Ababa as the official capital of the Oromia Regional State.
For the past four weeks, National Dialogue working groups have deliberated on four primary options regarding the future administrative framework and municipal boundaries of Addis Ababa:
- Establishing Addis Ababa as a special autonomous city.
- Retaining its status as a federal entity.
- Reorganizing the capital as an independent, self-governing regional state.
- Incorporating the city into the Oromia Regional State.
Delegates reported that initial working sessions yielded overwhelming support for maintaining Addis Ababa as an autonomous federal entity. In one representative 48-member working group, 44 participants voted in favor of the federal entity model, while only four supported integrating the capital into Oromia. Parallel discussion groups recorded similar supermajority consensus in favor of federal status.
Despite weeks of structured debate, participants revealed that over the past three days, facilitators introduced a new directive originating from the Prosperity Party office—an agenda item missing from the previous 30 days of consultation.
The directive required the 250-member consolidation groups to insert language explicitly stating that “Addis Ababa shall be the capital of Oromia and the seat of the federal government.”
“We will not sign this document,” protesting delegates declared, accusing committee scribes of discarding a month’s worth of democratic debate to substitute ruling party policy.
Exiting participants told Ethio Focus that non-Oromo delegates, joined by representatives across seven additional working groups, abandoned the venue entirely while workers prepared for an upcoming 500-member plenary session.
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The seat of government and the discussion to come up with a final decision is not always smooth sailing. Let’s hope they will accommodate and compromise. The Addis/Finfinnee issue has been a thorny one. In my humble opinion the Oromia Region can have its main office in the city but the city should have a federally sanctioned autonomous governance. It has been built and populated by citizens of every ethnic group in that country. It was not founded by Oromos only or Amharas only or Tigres, Afars, Somalis only. Above all it is the capital city of all of Africa.
If the PP or Abiy incorporates Addis Abeba into an ethnic enclave in to Oromia, the citizens of Addis should revolt. This ethnic enclave idea has to stop before it destroys the country.
My position on the Addis Ababa question is simple: I would avoid statements such as:
“Addis belongs to Oromia.” or “Oromia has no legitimate claim whatsoever.”
“The delegates are definitely correct because 44 out of 48 voted for federal status.”
All are unnecessarily polarizing and reduce a complex constitutional/institutional question to territorial identity.
✓✓✓✓✓
Oromia has legitimate historical, cultural, geographic and economic interests concerning Addis Ababa, and those interests must be recognized and institutionally protected.
At the same time, Addis Ababa is Ethiopia’s federal capital and home to citizens from all parts of the country. Its residents must have a meaningful voice in determining the political and administrative system under which they live.
Therefore, I support dialogue over imposition, constitutionalism over political expediency, and negotiated institutional arrangements over zero-sum territorial politics.
If the Ethiopian National Dialogue is to contribute to lasting national reconciliation, every major option—including the status of Addis Ababa—must be debated openly, assessed against evidence and constitutional principles, and decided through a credible consensus-building process.
The question should not be: “Who owns Addis Ababa?” The better question is: “What constitutional and institutional arrangement allows Addis Ababa, Oromia and Ethiopia as a whole to coexist, prosper and share legitimate interests fairly?”
That is the conversation Ethiopia needs.
በአዲስ አበባ ጉዳይ ላይ ያለኝ አቋም ግልጽ ነው፡ የኢትዮጵያ ዋና ከተማ ሁኔታ መወሰን ያለበት እውነተኛ፣ ግልጽ እና አሳታፊ በሆነ ሀገራዊ ምክክር አማካኝነት እንጂ—አስቀድሞ በተወሰነ የፖለቲካ ውሳኔ መሆን የለበትም።
ኦሮሚያ ከአዲስ አበባ ጋር በተያያዘ ህጋዊ የሆኑ ታሪካዊ፣ ባህላዊ፣ መልክዓ-ምድራዊ እና ኢኮኖሚያዊ ጥቅሞች አሏት፤ እነዚህ ጥቅሞች ዕውቅና ሊሰጣቸው እና በተቋማዊ አሰራር ሊጠበቁ ይገባል። በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ፣ አዲስ አበባ የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዋና ከተማ እና ከሁሉም የሀገሪቱ ክፍሎች ለመጡ ዜጎች መኖሪያ ናት። ነዋሪዎቿ በሚተዳደሩበት የፖለቲካ እና የአስተዳደር ስርዓት ላይ ትርጉም ያለው ድምጽ ሊኖራቸው ይገባል።
ስለዚህ፣ ከማስገደድ ይልቅ ምክክርን፣ ከፖለቲካዊ አቋራጭ ጥቅም ይልቅ ሕገ-መንግስታዊነትን፣ እንዲሁም “የአንዱ ትርፍ የሌላው ኪሳራ” ከሚሆንበት የግዛት ፖለቲካ ይልቅ በድርድር የሚደረሱ ተቋማዊ አደረጃጀቶችን እደግፋለሁ።
የኢትዮጵያ ሀገራዊ ምክክር ለዘላቂ ሀገራዊ እርቅ አስተዋፅዖ እንዲያደርግ ከተፈለገ፣ የአዲስ አበባን ሁኔታ ጨምሮ እያንዳንዱ ዋና አማራጭ በግልጽ ሊመከርበት፣ በማስረጃ እና በሕገ-መንግስታዊ መርሆዎች ሊመዘን፣ እንዲሁም ተዓማኒነት ባለው የመግባባት ሂደት ሊወሰን ይገባል።
ጥያቄው መሆን የሌለበት፡ “የአዲስ አበባ ባለቤት ማነው?” የሚል ነው። የተሻለው ጥያቄ፡ “የትኛው ሕገ-መንግስታዊ እና ተቋማዊ አደረጃጀት አዲስ አበባ፣ ኦሮሚያ እና በአጠቃላይ ኢትዮጵያ አብረው እንዲኖሩ፣ እንዲበለጽጉ እና ህጋዊ ጥቅሞችን በፍትሃዊነት እንዲጋሩ ያስችላቸዋል?” የሚለው ነው።
ኢትዮጵያ የምትፈልገው ውይይት ይሄ ነው።
Addis Ababa is established and built by all Ethiopians , over more than 100 years, from south to north and from east to west. Therefore, a claim that it belongs to one ethnic group is illogical. If Addis Ababa is forced to be under a regional administration, Ethiopia will no longer have a capital city. That means Ethiopia as a state will cease to exist. So, no one should entertain the selfish and backward idea. By the way, those who are calling for violence from the diaspora must be tracked and reported to their host countries.