Discharging responsibility for stability!

Tesfaye Lemma

Why does the Ethiopian government to declare a state of emergency?  In the same token, why do some groups undermining it as if it is fragile?The state of emergency has become effective since October 8, 2016 aiming to bring stability, maintain law and order through controlling destabilizing activities of terrorist groups.

Some three weeks ago, people have had difficulties to move from one place to another place in various places of the Oromyia and Amhara Regional States.  There were also problems to get transportation as roads taking to various parts of the country were closed. The violence  affected not only the people who work in the transport sector to cover their daily bread but also retarded all sorts of economic situation like trading, investment and other daily activities significantly.

The violent forces were closing roads that link Addis Ababa with various parts of the country and were damaging vehicles including public transportation traveling from one place of the country to another.  The violating forces were closing roads, making transportation of people and goods difficult.   A number of Ethiopians expressed their opinions via various local media that they accepted the state of emergency affirmatively as they believed it restores peace and security across the country. They believed that the State of Emergency will also help them to get relief their worries to send their children to schools in fear of violence.

They considered the emergency law a crucial element that has come at such a critical time to prevent the danger upon the Ethiopian people.  Following the State of Emergency, the governments with the collaboration of the people managed to identify the ringleaders who have been communicating with terrorist groups and foreign enemies to aggravate the lawlessness in the country.

The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ginbot 7 are the two terrorist groups who based abroad. These groups coupled with foreign enemies have been adding fuels to the violence in Ethiopia and diverted the very questions posed by the people about good governance and justice.

According to available resources, the Ethiopian authorities had detained 1,645 people since declaring a state of emergency in less than two weeks time ago in an effort to quell mass protests and violence aimed to destabilize the country.  Around 1,200 of the detainees were identified as ringleaders. Others participated as   coordinators, suspects and bandits, according to the body responsible to deal with the unrest.

In some areas of the Oromiya Regional State, violence broke out last year in connection to the Addis Ababa-Oromiya Special Zone Integrated Map aimed to develop the surrounding cities along with the capital city.  

The state of emergency was imposed not only after a surge in violence following a stampede at an Oromo religious festival that killed more than 50 people on 2 October, 2016 but also following a series of attacks on foreign and locally owned firms such as textile and cement factories as well as public institutions. The government is compelled to  enforce a 6 PM  to 6 AM curfew around economic pillars, infrastructure, mega  projects and investments in the country particularly in the Amhara and Oromiya Regional States.

As soon as the state of emergency was declared, some groups began blackmailing it as if it was imposed on the people. Those groups who were aggravating the violence and adding fuel to the demolishing activities of the terrorist groups immediately changed their propaganda to blackmail the intention of the government as if it stands against people; as if the state of emergency was undesirable and as if it designed to impose on others.

However, the reality on the ground is quite different. The government has  so many  reasons while  the State of Emergency. Firstly, the protest aimed to take the country backward. Ethiopia is now one of Africa’s fastest growing economies. This growth has become a severe headache to its enemies that they have been attempting to jeopardize this forward stride.

In connection to the economic growth, there is boosting of infrastructure and investment. Since the past two decades, Ethiopia has become the site of local and foreign investments. The violence also aimed to destroy these.   The violence has also aimed to jeopardize the boosting infrastructure and investment in the country.  Maintaining free economic transaction and health economic situation of the country is one of the very responsibilities of the government. As the recent moves were against this health economic transaction, the Federal Government has compelled to take such an action. 

Secondly, at the very beginning the people raised questions related to good governance and justice. They raised questions of opportunity to jobs, access to more social services and infrastructure.  However, the violence was turned into lawlessness by those groups who have destabilizing intentions.

In this regard, one of the first questions was about the Addis Ababa-Oromiya Special Zone integrated Map. Its aim was to favor those towns situated around the capital city in infrastructure and other basic social services in an integrated way with the development efforts of the capital city. As soon as the government learnt the people raised questions on it due to failure of communicating them effectively, it canceled the plan.  But the question was not really about the integrated map; rather it had another hidden agenda within it. Had it been for the integrated map, the violence could have stopped as soon as the government dropped it.

However, the question raised in connection to the integrated map was not the real agenda but used by those groups who aimed to create havoc among the Ethiopian people as a pretext. Although the government dropped that plan thinking that question might belong to the public, the violence continued and took another form. It aimed at distracting government and social institutions, private investments and public properties.

The terrorist groups OLF and Ginbot 7 coupled with foreign enemies who don’t want this country to develop and its people to prosper,   changed the stable situation into instable and the peaceful condition to havoc and  chaos. People couldn’t move and work freely. Even in some areas they were subjected to murderer.

The situation created in those areas has become so dangerous to the entire society obliging the government to discharge its responsibility of keeping law and order, maintaining peace and stability.  This has also compelled the government to declare the law.Thirdly, the violence in Ethiopia both in some areas of the Oromiya and Amhara Regional States were directly or indirectly sponsored and led by foreign enemies. The interference of Eritrea and Egypt was vividly observed.  

They provided technical and logistic support to OLF and Ginbot 7 to handle this havoc in Ethiopia in a bid to jeopardize the construction of the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam. Therefore, the violence in those areas weren’t simply public demonstrations requesting good governance and justice but vividly the invasions of foreign countries, which compelled the Ethiopian government to declare the short time law.   

Fourthly, the situations both in Oromia and Amhara Regional States has almost become out of the hands of the Regional Administrations.  The Federal Government has the responsibility bestowed on it by the constitution of the country, to interfere and find a mechanism to normalize the disturbed situation.

Finally, the main agenda of the protest is retarding the country backward; jeopardizing its fast growing economy and enhancing instability. This is the main agenda of those groups aggravating the violence and maximizing lawlessness. The entire situation threatens the country’s economic success and stability. The protests targeted foreign investors and set on fire dozen of companies.  It has become mandatory for the government to declare a state of emergency.  

Therefore, the reasons why the Ethiopian government declared the state of emergency is not due to the things some groups have been propagating. It is not to impose on justice; neither does it to narrow the participation of opposition political parties. In the real sense, it is to discharge its responsibility of keeping law and order, to guarantee the country’s security as well as maintain peace and stability.