ADDIS ABABA (The Ethiopian Herald) – The National Dialogue Commission (NDC) has announced that identification of participants in national dialogue will be launched soon in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Gambella, and Southwest Ethiopia states.
NDC Commissioner W/ro Blen GebreMedihin told the Ethiopian Press Agency that preparations have been finalized to commence the national dialogue very soon. “We are finalizing all preparations and identification of participants will continue throughout the country. The preconditions to identify the participants have already been outlined,” she said.
According to W/ro Blen, participants identification will be given due priority to make sure represent all segments of community including traditional institutions, civil societies, and various associations, among others are perfectly represented.
On his part, the other Commissioner of NDC, Ambaye Ogato Anata (PhD), highlighted that the identification of participants in the rest states will be conducted following the completion of the task in the aforesaid listed states.
Thus, the identification of entire participants will be completed before the upcoming summer season. “Identification standards are different from state to state. We have outlined standards considering each state’s community structure and their social setting,” Dr. Ambaye said.
The standards of participant identification have been outlined after thorough discussions with various community representatives and think thank groups, he noted. He urged the media to play responsible role in supporting the process.
Accordingly, the agenda setting processes will be carried out after participant identification where different political parties, community representatives, among others are showing firm support to the dialogue process, Dr. Ambaye stressed.
The Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission is an independent institution established by the House of Peoples’ Representatives, the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly, to facilitate an all-inclusive national dialogue to lead the country and its 120 million people out of years of political turmoil.
Source: The Ethiopian Press Agency