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The former Coalition for Unity and
Democracy Party (CUDP) majority, held a
founding congress on Wednesday, June 18,
2008, after gathering the required
signatures to form a new party, Unity for
Democracy and Justice (UDJ).
For the first time in the nation’s political
history, UDJ’s founding congress elected a
woman as chairperson. A judge by profession,
Birtukan Midekssa, sat down with Capital’s
Kirubel Tadesse to explain what prompted the
group to form the party and also discussed
objectives over the next three years of her
leadership of Ethiopia’s newest political
party.
Capital: Speaking to Capital a
few months ago, you stated that the
formation of a new party was only among
options and you would wait for Hailu Shaul
(Eng) to return to the country before
persuing this [if at all]. That didn’t
happen as you had already started collection
of signatures before Hailu returned. What
changed in the last few months that caused
you to rush to set up UDJ?
Birtukan: Yes, we were waiting until the
National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE)
decides who will take the CUDP. The row was
between the majority of the members of
parliament, represented by Temesgen Zewide
and Ayele Chamiso’s group. Since the MPs
Temesgen represents showed interest in
working with us, we hoped to carry the CUDP
name and work together under the CUDP
umbrella if they win back the name. After
the name was awarded to Ayele, we were left
with only two choices; one was to further
seek the CUDP name in court and NEBE. The
second was to form a new party and engage in
the political process as soon as possible.
The supreme council had exhaustive
discussions in which we came
in agreement that even if the law wouldn’t deny us the name [CUDP], due to
the political conditions the country is in
and government’s interest that may influence
some institutions, the process would be long
and tiring. For a process that wouldn’t
guarantee the retaining of our name, our
efforts weren’t worthwhile and would make
our members suffer another period without
institutional protection and leaders. The
decision wasn’t that hard to announce to
supporters since their affiliation is with
the ideals our party holds and not with its
name only. The process didn’t exclude Hailu
Shaul (Eng). It is clear now that the
majority members of the former CUDP supreme
council are working with us and the council
could have suspended Hailu from his position
considering some of the serious faults he
has committed but it didn’t. Rather we
continued on our job, leaving the door open
for him to return at anytime.
Capital: Months before last
week’s election, quoting some MPs and other
sources,two Amharic newspapers reported that
you will be the chair of the new party and
Temesgen the deputy chair. The reports
proved to be true in last week’s election.
Isn’t it now fair to say that the election
was pre-calculated before it took place?
Birtukan: During the period the stated
reports were out, an election wasn’t even
raised as an agenda at UDJ meetings,
which was why we were very surprised with
the reports. Of course in one sense, it was
not too surprising since the MPs [even if
they are few] that tried to predict the
future outcome of our election had already
shown their allegiance to Hailu’s group.
Sadly, this minority group of the former
CUDP has been engaged in defamation so I saw
the reports as a continuation of this
activity. On the other hand, these MPs know
[actually it is an open secret] where our
members stand among the public and inside
the party in their support, so to color
their other claims with this truth, they
used the so called predication to serve
their interest.
Our election witnessed a very competitive
process in which until that the last minute,
the results especially for the top seats
were contested. Mostly the overall results
were unpredicted to which we have no regrets
since it is one aspect of democracy. It is
easy to see from the number of votes
candidates gained that it was a close call
for most of the executive and supreme
council seats. Some of the results were way
beyond any possible predictions, but nobody
had protested then and nobody now feels
dismay since it is a result of a democratic
process.
Capital: When will UDJ seek
accreditation from NEBE?
Birtukan: On our part, we have finalized the
preparation of all necessarily documents.
Our program and by laws were both prepared
in absolute accordance with the
constitution. Our founding congress has
elected party leaders that have signed
documents that show their commitment to take
their positions. We have collected
signatures [more than required] so there
isn’t a single task we didn’t perform in
order that there won’t be any legal hurdle
that will keep NEBE from issuing us an
accreditation certificate. We will submit
our request next week, we hope the process
will be a smooth one. If not, it would be
because of NEBE not us, but I hope it
doesn’t come to that.
Capital: One of the areas you and
Engineer Hailu were striving to win support
from was the support chapters established by
Ethiopians in the diaspora [Europe, North
America and Canada.] What is the status of
their cooperation with UDJ now?
Birtukan: We can not deny that the dispute
between us and Hailu Shaul had created some
confusion among our support chapters. But
understanding the difference was a
fundamental one, a majority of these
supporters have agreed to give their support
in a very short time, even at a higher level
than ever since they are all organized under
one umbrella association.
For example North American Supporting
Chapters Association, the strongest
network
in the U.S. is working closely with
us. They were following our founding
congress live. The same can be said for
chapters in Canada. In Europe the challenge
there is that the continental organization
that represents member chapters isn’t
performing efficiently due to its own
internal problems, but still, its individual
members are still with us, working
intimately. And generally we can state that
there was not that serious damage sustained
in our relationships.
Capital: How committed is UDJ to
respecting the existing law? In its program
UDJ says that it will change
some articles of the constitution. Another
issue I would like you to comment upon is:
support chapters were re-organized a few
months ago by a group that included Dr.
Berhanu Nega as a member. We are hearing
reports that these support chapters have
hosted some of Dr. Berhanu’s meetings , Will
UDJ break ties with these chapters if they
engage in supporting groups operating
outside the parameters of the country’s
laws?
Birtukan: There are two points here; the
first concerns amendments in the
constitution. From the very first day of the
former CUDP, fully respecting the
constitution and pressuring others to do the
same was our main target. Of course, the
country’s constitution isn’t the Holy Bible
or the Koran. It is a document in which the
people of the country decided to abide by
through consensus. Even if our constitution
has not entertained all interests and has
many pitfalls, we respect and urge
others to do so in fully adhering to it in
any of our activities. Our amendments will
follow as per articles clearly stipulated in
the constitution itself. Let alone our
constitution which has many shortcomings of
formation, any constitution may be amended
with the will of the people and lawful
procedures.
Concerning our support chapters I don’t have
any information that suggests their alleged
support to Dr. Berhanu. What
we have to understand here is that these
support chapters didn’t choose us by
accident, they wanted to offer their support
because they were in agreement with the
peaceful and peaceful only, means of our
party. That was the reason why they
supported the former CUDP and that’s why now
they support UDJ. For us peace is not just a
political option, it is the foundation our
party is built on. We are aware of the
meetings but we need to be clear that they
were not conducted to promote the May 15
Movement. The meeting’s agenda was designed
by the support chapters themselves.
Actually, the meeting in Canada was
conducted even before the movement was
launched. So far there was no point in which
these chapters question the peaceful means
at all. For example, the North America
Association has its own role which
stipulates that it can only support peaceful
political parties. I repeat, for us,
peaceful means of struggle isn’t a choice,
it is the essence of our party and an out
look we want to share with the whole nation.
Capital: There are claims that
while you were in the U.S., Doctor Berhanu’s
movement and UDJ have secretly agreed to
follow these two different strategies….
Birtukan:
Our
aim
is
of course, to introduce a new leadership for
the nation, and this is similar to the
movement, but what separates UDJ distantly
from the movement is that we value the means
we follow more than the end we would like to
reach. That’s why any claim or allegation
that associates us with the movement is
unfounded. Sadly, after nearly two decades,
Ethiopia’s political struggle is in a
dilemma in which the government claims
democracy is under progress while we see no
assurance for the non- violent political
parties. So for us the target isn’t firing
on the ruling party but rather building
democracy and empowering the democratic
institutions that make the people the real
source of power. To reach these goals, a
change of government isn’t enough, values
that encourage democratic system need to be
introduced. We have to have change, the
nation has to change for democracy to
prevail in our country; it isn’t in a single
day that a democratic system can take over,
but through the process of making the system
that our society can be empowered and
control the struggle and the process of
which it would eventually enjoy. When the
nation’s state of mind is set not to
tolerate dictatorship and sees that its vote
makes up institutions that guarantees its
freedom, it is after all this that we can
say we
have fulfilled our target, otherwise
changing the government at whatever means
hardly serves our party interest. And this
is a major position which makes it
impossible for us to have any ties with the
movement. There can be a lot of claims
asserted, but non-violent political struggle
remains a nonnegotiable belief we stand for.
Capital: After you obtain legal
status from the NEBE, what kind of relations
will you have with other opposition parties?
The opposition alliance in May 2005 was a
disaster afterwards, so do you think any
good can come out if the opposition works
together?
Birtukan: As stated in our party by laws, we
will work together with any political party
that follows peaceful means. We
can not say that the opposition alliance was
a total disaster. Of course there were
difficulties in leading the unified alliance
but we shouldn’t deny its achievements motivating the public to vote and
convincing people to trust in their ability
and have a say with their vote, is a major
accomplishment nobody can’t deny the
opposition alliance. What we shouldn’t do is
rule
out co operation but rather, we should think
thoroughly of what went wrong. Considering
the much diminished role the opposition has
now, the only way forward is cooperation
with one another and operating under one
platform.
Capital: Will you work with
Lidetu Ayalew’s (MP) party [Ethiopian
Democratic Party (EDP- Medhin)]?
Birtukan: Our main focus for the time being
is strengthening our internal structure.
Side by side we will look for areas we
can work together on with other parties but
to do so we first have to answer the
question of whether these parties are
genuine opposition; it is after this is
answered that we will try to examine areas
in which we can work together. Concerning
EDP, I think the issue has a question mark.
Capital: In your victory speech
at the closing ceremony of the UDJ founding
congress, you stated that three bills
[political parties, NGOs and press] would
challenge the peaceful political struggle,
why is that?
Birtukan: These three institutions [the
press, NGOs, and political parties] need to
operate in full freedom if we are to build
democracy. In Ethiopia journalism is related
with continuous charges and imprisonment; of
course, it had reached its peak
in 2005 when they were tried for genocide
and treason. Now we see tendencies of self
censorship in the press. In respect
to political parties and NGOs, the government is trying to close down
financial assistance and make it impossible
for them to operate. If you see the big
picture, it tells that the government is
trying to reverse the democratic process
back to the condition it was prior to the
2005 elections.
Capital: Will you participate in
the 2010 national elections?
Birtukan: As I stated earlier, our main goal
is bringing the people to participate in
peaceful political process of which an
election is one aspect of it. So we will
participate in elections as we clearly
stated in our program. Of course we have to
see what kind of features the 2010 election will have. If the recent local
and bi elections are anything to go by, it
is even hard to consider it as an election.
Capital: NEBE last week submitted
its report [accepted by a majority of MPs]
that stated the recent elections were better
than the 2005 national elections in a number
of ways; no long queues, efficient voting
process and record high voters, if you are
not ready to consider elections of such
description, by what means would you realize
your program?
Birtukan: There is a long time between today
and the 2010 elections. I am sure that
things will change for the better. I hope
that all interested groups such as the
international community and all the
opposition forces, can pressure for much
better conditions. If not, it will be
difficult to establish democracy.
Capital: What do you plan to
achieve in the next three years of your
leadership?
Birtukan: What I want this chapter to tell
about our party at the end is that we built
a party that has a well established
foundation. I wish to see a favorable
internal condition in our party that is
accountable, democratic and well structured
in
all roots of the nation to serve as a means
for the people’s question of democracy and
development.
Capital: At UDJ’s first press
conference, the concept of collective
leadership was introduced. According to some
critics the main reason for this move is the
mistrust among opposition groups. What is
your take on this?
Birtukan: I am not aware of this claim that
our collective leadership is a result of
mistrust and I certainly don’t agree with
it. Trust shouldn’t mean that power is
collected in one place. It is democratic
that responsibilities are distributed along
the line. It doesn’t mean that everything in
UDJ is conducted collectively but major
decisions will be addressed by institutions
and groups that have more members and
participation, but every elected leader in
UDJ has authority he or she is entitled to
alongside accountability as per our by laws.
In Ethiopia’s opposition party history there
is a clear reputation in encouraging
a single person to take on all major
responsibilities; this is what UDJ would
like to replace with collective leadership.
Capital: You are relatively young
for a politician; do you think you will
enjoy enough space to have a strong
leadership in UDJ?
Birtukan: I am ready to take on the
chairpersonship as the elected leader but we
shouldn’t forget that, de facto, I was
performing the task for several months. Even
if I can’t say it was 100% smooth, I haven’t
had conditions that have resulted in
impediments to my work. These kinds of
practices are not in our party’s tradition. |