Ethiopia..a national dialogue that includes a referendum on secession
The Ethiopian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Radwan Hussein, announced that his country is in the process of conducting a comprehensive national dialogue, leading to a permanent solution to the internal conflict, especially the holding of a referendum on secession.
In an interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency, the minister said Ethiopia is moving forward to give expanded political space through dialogue, including holding a referendum on secession backed by the controversial Article 39 of the constitution.
Article 39 states that “every nation, nationality and people in Ethiopia has an unconditional right to self-determination, including the right to secede,” a controversial provision for decades.
People dream of a picture of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in military uniform, during a rally organized by officials in Addis Ababa.
He added, "The new comprehensive dialogue will resolve any dispute, because it will be resolved in a civil manner, and it is open to any reasonable discussion that may culminate in a referendum. We can amend our constitution so that all Ethiopians see themselves as interested in participating in this broader process, and there will be no moral reason to raise arms."
On the possibility of including the Tigray People's Liberation Front in the dialogue, he said that it is "difficult to speculate," noting that the Front is not the "only component" that represents the Tigrayan people, and that it "made it difficult for itself to achieve a civil solution," as he put it. .
He added that if the MILF surrenders its weapons and some criminal entities within it, there are many possibilities.
On Thursday evening, the Ethiopian government announced the end of its recent military operation against the Tigray Liberation Front, with the achievement of its main objectives.
On Monday, the Tigray Liberation Front announced that it had ordered its forces to withdraw from the neighboring regions and areas and return to the Tigray borders, calling for peace with the Ethiopian government.
The war in northern Ethiopia broke out in November 2020, between the federal forces and the Tigray Liberation Front forces that control the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, after the Ethiopian government announced the postponement of the September 2020 elections due to the outbreak of the new Corona virus, which was rejected by the regional authorities, who were determined to Conducting elections within the region.
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