Dissidents due back following Ethiopia reforms

NAIROBI: The leadership of an exiled, previously outlawed Ethiopian dissident group has announced plans to return home in the wake of reforms led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, elected in April.

Patriotic Ginbot 7 was labelled a “terrorist movement” by the Ethiopian government in 2009 under an anti-terrorism law that rights watchdogs said had been used indiscriminately to silence dissent.

The organisation is led by Berhanu Nega, an economics professor and former mayor-elect of the capital, Addis Ababa.

The group “has come to the conclusion that the reforms taking place in Ethiopia have formed a situation that enables the organisation to return to the country and provide its own contribution”, it said. “The organisation’s leadership will return to Ethiopia within a month and officially launch its political activities.”

Most of its senior leadership is based in the US, with some in European countries.

The announcement follows a parliament ruling in July that removed Patriotic Ginbot 7 from the government’s list of banned groups, and the release from prison of Andargachew Tsige, Patriotic Ginbot 7’s secretary-general. Also removed from the list were the Oromo Liberation Front and Ogaden National Liberation Front – movements that have sought self-determination in Ethiopia’s Oromiya and Somali regions.

Abiy is championing widespread reforms in the nation of 100 million people, which have included release of thousands of jailed dissidents and moves to open the economy to private sector players.

He has condemned abuses by security forces, likening it to state terrorism. Ethiopia has also forged peace with sworn enemy Eritrea, ending a lengthy military standoff that followed the devastating 1998-2000 border war. – Reuters