Anthony Mitchell wrote some interesting points from the joint statement of CUD and UEDF. The fact that we have a joint statement by the two main opposition parties is a positive sign. Ethiopian Democracy needs a single voice. First: The opposition leaders characterize the current situation as a state of stalemate between the regime and the opposition. I am not really sure what the leaders mean by stalemate. Stalemate generally means that neither side is able to move forward. When the Ethnocratic regime rejects the popular vote and forms its own regime, can we call that a stalemate? I do not think so. I do not think there is a political or military stalemate in the current situation. The regime controls instruments of violence and imposes its will through the use force.
The joint statement declared that if the Meles group goes ahead and forms an illegal government, then the opposition and the people would exercise people power – demonstrations and strikes. The statement warns that these peaceful popular actions will become violent confrontations between the regime and the democratic opposition. We all know that the ethnocratic regime will use police and military force to kill and imprison any and all peaceful resisters. Is the opposition declaring to the Ethiopian people that the leaders have agreed to lead a people power democratic resistance both in urban and rural areas? If that is the true meaning of the joint statement, we are heading toward a clear strategy.
The statement correctly states that the purpose of people power action is to create crisis for the illegal regime and make it unable to exercise its illegal rule. The statement also correctly implies that the opposition is ready to revive the critical situation that was present in the month of May 2005. If that is what the leaders means, then we are entering an important phase in the democratic revolution.
Two: In order to avoid the inevitable development of a violent confrontation between the illegal regime and the democratic resistance, the joint statement proposed the formation of a national unity government [NUG], consisting of both the opposition and the ruling parties. NUG will exist for a limited time: it will create an independent election body, hold a new election and will dissolve when a legal democratic government takes power.
If this summary is an accurate view of the joint statement, then a strategy of court battle over the legality of the current vote is out of question. Once the opposition accepts the new Meles regime as legal and begins litigation of voting cases, any talk of NUG will be out question. Moreover, Meles will use the color of legality to kill and imprison any and all actors of the democratic resistance.
In my view, the clear strategy is (a) to declare the newly forming Meles regime illegal and (b) calling for the formation of an interim national unity government. If the Meles party rejects the idea of unity government and forms an illegal dictatorship, then the opposition must call upon the Ethiopian people to begin a national-wide democratic resistance. If these are the ideas of the joint statement, then we are in the right direction.
