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Statement on the resignation of Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn

Somali Region Alliance for Justice

Press Release:  

The Somali Region Alliance for Justice (SRAJ) welcomes the resignation of Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and hopes his departure will mark the beginning of a new political dispensation towards a just, inclusive, and democratic political order in Ethiopia.

The root cause of the current political crisis goes beyond personalities and the weaknesses of the outgoing Prime Minister, who in any case, had very little real executive power. Replacing Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn with a new face may thus offer the ruling party a short and temporary respite; but is not an answer to the problems the county is facing.

The crisis is systemic and only a serious reform agenda towards democratic transition can answer the legitimate aspirations of the abused Ethiopian people. The main cause of the crisis is the undemocratic and tyrannical behavior of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), and in particular the undue hegemony of the militarist Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) within the ruling party.

The EPRDF monopolized the political space for over two decades and fought its political competitors like enemies in the battlefield. As a result, today, Ethiopia, for all practical purposes, is a virtual failed state. There is no rule of law. The justice system is a sham. The security sector is acting with impunity. All avenues for peaceful political expression are closed. Corruption and nepotism has become the hallmark of the political system. The ruling elite has long turned itself into a greedy oligarchy.

These structural problems are not going to be fixed with symbolic gestures and change of personalities. EPRDF’s political monopoly must end if the country is to move forward and if Ethiopia is, finally, to shed its quintessential image of a militarist empire where successive governments treat citizens like subjects.

SRAJ regrettably notes that the people of Somali Region are the worst affected by the excesses of EPRDF. Under the rule of EPRDF, our people have been massacred, evicted, and their political and economic rights completely denied. The levels of atrocities in the Somali Region are incomparable, in severity and scale, to the equally appalling but significantly better situations in other regions. We demand an end to the widespread human rights violations and misrule in the Somali Region of Ethiopia.

We hope the resignation of the Prime Minister will usher a new era of political accountability and responsibility.

Mohamed Ismaaciil Sh. Cumar
Chariman, SRAJ

You can contact SRAJ on: [email protected] or [email protected]

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