An urgent call for National Dialogue

By Fesseha Nair

“The 127 man national council for democratic change must now act to resolve their internal problems by dialogue”

Writer

It is a mockery of sorts to accuse and blame each other by claiming , “ I have the legitimacy” but come together and evaluate the process of partnership- ENCDC since its foundation.

The ENCDC failed to build institutions of both legislative and executive bodies as well as the laws, procedures and norms by which they operate. Thus our struggle’s demands are fundamental and need clear methods of struggle to bring fundamental changes. The Eritrean opposition has experimented variety of means in the last 14 years,

–         Build Political Alliance

–         Organized national dialogue conference/2010

–         Commissions

–         National conference for democratic change/2011

–         Formed A national council for democratic change

to bring regime change in Eritrea. But all these approaches failed to unite and work together except deteriorated the spirit of mutual respect and trust.

It is not easy to evaluate the exact methods in transition from dictatorship to democracy and reasons that led to the result of the current situation of the opposition forces in Eritrea, but it would be useful to investigate the reasons behind the status quo in the opposition camp which might help us pick the mechanisms that could lead to our aspired democratic change

Two years has passed since the ENCDC was born in Hawasa- Ethiopia. The Eritrean National Council for Democratic change/ENCDC had adopted and embraced the national charter and roadmap but failed to implement these agreements except resulted in political bickering and conflict.

In this article I will be dealing with some proposals that can help the ENCDC to come to the table of negotiations rather than accusing each other who is on the legal side or not.

–         All the ENCDC members must adhere to the guiding principles of dialogue and have firm commitment that dispute will be settled peacefully- that can enhance the credibility of our struggle from dictatorship to democracy.

–         The initiative to engage in dialogue should be shared by all.

–         A dialogue must be inclusive and participatory to be legitimate and meaningful it must encompass all ENCDC grass-roots members.

–         The dialogue must fulfil these objectives. a/  articulated and critical analysis of the conflict. b/ foster national consensus on the challenges and opportunities f acing our struggle from dictatorship to democracy. c/ reaching an agreement on common national agenda.

–         Formulate an objective on this time of struggle and create consensus on national priorities.

–         Formulate a comprehensive national agenda to remove the dictatorship and lay foundations for democratic transition.

–         A national dialogue can help us towards democratic agenda and action plans that must be owned by the people.  It must not be limited at the leadership level but disseminated to the grassroots in order to achieve a strong national cohesion.

Conflicts are not all negativ but when actors attempt to resolve conflicts by moving outside established institutional frame work  they can create severe problems. The ENCDC should have solved its internal conflicts inside its established frame works- national charter, roadmap and organisational statute.

Disputes arisen inside the ENCDC should have been processed, debated  and reacted before it is publicized or be published in the media

The writer of this short article as the member of the ENCDC recommends that let us all be involved to bring the two bodies of ENCDC at the table and resolve the dispute by dialogue in order to get the credibility of our people as an alternative to the current oppressive regime of one man rule.