Ethiopia: UDJ and the growing opposition alliance

February 23rd, 2009 | EthioPolitics.com |

By Kirubel Tadesse, Capital

The Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, formed by the former Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP) leaders, has put its cards in with the expanding Forum for Democratic Dialogue opposition alliance.

Another party, Ethiopian Democratic Unity Movement (EDUM), also joined the Forum to take the member parties’ number to eight.

After months of deliberations, UDJ’s national council has broken the deadlock for the party by voting to join the forum first initiated by four political groups and two known personalities, former president Dr. Negaso Gidada, and former minister of defense Seye Abreha.

According to UDJ vice chair Dr. Hailu Araya, the executive council was mandated to facilitate the party’s membership in the Forum during its February 7th meeting.

MP Bulcha Demeksa, Chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement, which is among the founding members of the new alliance, explained to Capital UDJ’s acceptance was automatic.

“There was no negotiation of any sorts, as the forum will now decide what kinds of groupings among members will best serve the political struggle,” Bulcha said. “UDJ, like any other member, will have an equal say.”

During the Forum’s press conference last Friday Yakob Hailemariam (PhD), Vice Chair of UDJ, explained that it was because of the failure of the former coalition that it took months before UDJ decided to join the Forum.

“It is now a clean sheet,” Dr. Yakob said. “We will decide what alternatives best serve us all in the political process.”
In discussion forums the alliance has previously organized, various papers focusing on agendas ranging from the ruling party’s revolutionary democratic ideology to the nation and nationalities question have been discussed.

According to the press statement released last Friday, the Forum, which includes Somali Democratic Alliance forces (SDAF), the Arena Tigray for Democracy and Sovereignty (Arena), OFDM, UDJ, UEDF and EDUM, is a critical body for the opposition to continue as a strong political force.

“We will soon deliberate on how to proceed and go to the electoral board to seek accreditation,” Professor Beyene Petros commented to Capital.

Each party represented by one official and the two individual founding members will, starting from this week, negotiate the manifesto the Forum will be governed by.

The Forum has various alternatives to consider including a coalition, front, similar to the ruling party’s approach, or merger as per the Political Parties Registrations law.

“We have to assess each others’ stance on many issues and see if we can come up with a common platform,” Professor Beyene had commented to Capital when the Forum was first launched last year.

Now, the study period seems to be over and the group will test its popularity in next year’s election if it manages to form some kind of grouping.

Analysts argue that the Forum will be challenged as the public is still upset with the dismantling of the former CUD and the popularity of the ruling party best explained by the growing number of members.

However Gebru Asrat, former member of the ruling party who now chairs the Forum, says numbers aren’t everything.

“If you remember the Ethiopian Workers Party [Derg regime] too had claimed such figures; just as EPRDF now claims to have over four million members” a confident Gebru explained. “But the question is how EPRDF is recruiting these members.

Students are becoming members for job opportunities and civil servants and farmers sometimes feel obligated to join in order to keep jobs and land.”