Taye Kebede
As
the unrest that erupted in some part of our country was not possible to stop
with regular legal structure, the House of federation has declared a six month
long state of emergence proclamation as per article 93 of the FDRE
constitution.
Article
93 sub article 5 of the constitution clearly states that ‘the
House of Peoples’ Representatives, while declaring a state of emergency, shall
simultaneously establish a State of Emergency Inquiry Board, comprising of
seven persons to be chosen and assigned by the House from among its members and
from legal experts.’
And
following this constitutional stipulation, the parliament has assessed and
passed the state of emergency proclamation proposed by the house of federation
in 15 days, while also naming member of the boards that would monitor the
implementation of the emergency as per the law.
Their
task will be overseen by the parliament in order to enable them carryout their
duties in an impartial and neutral manner. And the Inquiry board has started to
discharge its responsibilities given to it by article 93 sub-article 6 of the
constitution.
Out
of these responsibilities, the board has started to make public the names of
detainees within one month of their detention. And it has started its duties
yesterday. The board stated that the names of 11,607 detainees that have been
sent to regions and woredas with the reason for their arrest and place of
detainment. The place of detainment will be posted in detail at every woreda.
And the board also stated that family members and any close relatives can see
the detainee starting from November 3, 2016.
The
Inquiry board has also made official the place they are being hold. It was
stated that 410 people are detained in Addis Ababa center (captured from Addis
Ababa), 393 of them male and 17 female. 532 of the detainees are held at Bahir
Dar center (captured from north and south Gondar, eastern Gojjam and Awi zone),
441 of them males and 91 females. In addition, those detained in Dilla and
Yirgalem centers (captured from Gedeo zone) are 2114, with 2104 male and 10
females.
Those
detained in Zeway Alage (captured in Guji zones and western and eastern
Harrerghe) in total numbers are 3048, with 2957 male and 91 females. At the
Tolay center, 4329 people have been detained (captured from Kelem Wollega,
Arsi, western Arsi and eastern Shoa), 4193 male and 136 females. 1174 people
are detained in Awash center (captured from Finfine surrounding northern and
eastern Shoa), out of which 1172 are males and 2 are females. The Inquiry board
also stated that the detainees are held in a place that is not far from their
homes.
As
per the constitution, the board has also issued the reason for the arrest of
the detainees. They are: inciting unrest, terror and unrest; destroying individual,
public service institutions, and investments; looting government, public and
individual possessions and interrupting social services.
In
addition to these offences, the Inquiry board also stated that the detainees
are charged with blocking road and destroying vehicles; carrying out attacks
and killing security forces with bombs and arms; tearing and burning the
national flag; putting out flags of groups branded as terrorists by the
country; disseminating terror inciting messages of terrorist groups;
trafficking illegal arms and enable their use for unpeaceful acts; aiding and abetting,
and leading the unrest.
Truth
be told, I think the Inquiry board should be encouraged for coming up with such
result immediately after starting its work – also because the fact that the
task is the same as implementing the constitution. And this stops the law from
being violated as a result of the state of emergency. It also protects the
constitutional stipulation that states every man is equal before the law.
Notwithstanding
this constitutional procedure of the board, I think it should carry out the
responsibilities that are out on the constitution. Thus, the board should carry
out its constitutional responsibility and duties by executing all the laws that
are stipulated under article 93 sub article a – g.
So,
it should monitor and investigate if every action that is taken during the
state of emergency is in anyway inhumane. As it’s known, we should be exposing
the inaccuracies of the various extremist Medias, like VoA (the Amharic
section), and Medias with various political agenda and entities that wants our
country’s instability by showing the realities on the ground. And if there are
things disseminated by these extremists Medias that harbor their own political
agendas to discredit the state of emergency, the board should also carry out
its duty of exposing them by making public their manipulation.
For
instance, we are hearing some Medias saying ‘a mother was given her killed son’
as a result of the state of emergency. Of course if such thing has happened, it
is obviously a wrong thing to do. It is a criminal act. So, if such thing did
actually happen, actions should be taken based on tangible evidence. And it
should be understood that this falls under the responsibility and duty of the
inquiry board.
If
there is any inhumane act that is carried out by the executioners of the state
of emergency or by some individuals that operate to realize the agenda of some
anti-peace forces outside of the basic principle and procedure, the board
should expose such acts and take the necessary counter measures. If there are
issues or inhumane treatment on the part of the executioners of the
proclamation, either knowingly or unknowingly, and the board believed on those,
it is the board’s responsibility and duty to notify about it to the Prime
Minister or the house of federation and submit its views.
And
some foreign and internal forces that don’t want to see the peace and stability
of our country may wage a blackening campaign on the state of emergency. And
the inquiry board should be working on investigating the identity of these
forces and their lackeys and take the necessary action against them.
In
general, I say it should discharge the responsibility and duty that is bestowed
by the people and the constitution by bringing all those that perpetrated
inhumane things during the state of emergency to justice and prosecuting them.
Of
course the responsibility of the Inquiry board doesn’t stop with this. As the
board is accountable to the parliament, it is responsible to present its
suggestion to the house in the event of a request to extend of the state of
emergency is presented to the members of the parliament. Of course the owners
of the proclamation are the people.
And
they are protecting their peace by working with the security councils. As it
can be learned from history and our past experience, any act that is done by
involving the people will have great results. And as of now, in addition to
giving up those who were involved in the unrest to the authorities, the people
are creating stable conditions by protecting their own peace.
And
this situation is solving the very challenge that called for the declaration of
the state of emergency in the first place. As a result, the travel ban that was
imposed on foreign diplomats living here not to travel past 40 km radius from
Addis Ababa for their won safety has been lifted. The other procedures of the
proclamation will eventually be loosened as per the situation. And some of them
are already being loosened.
As
the board is given the responsibility to monitor the implementation of the
emergency, it will put out its own thoughts on the duration of the state of
emergency after evaluating the positive and negative changes seen on the
ground.
And
in this regard, I can safely say that it will play its own role in returning
back peace and stability of our country – as the works it has already carried
out points to that. As the works the inquiry board do give guarantee to the
protection of human rights, it should be strengthened.
In
general, those tasks that have been done above and the duties I suggested the
board to carry out, they should be maintained with their momentum. And for
this, every patriot citizen should put their own contribution.
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