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Tamerat Negera is an Ethiopian journalist, analyst, and a commentator on Ethiopian politics. He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to his mother Daditu Tucho Jote and his father Seargent (Hamsa Aleqa) Negera Feyisa Gurara. He is married to Weyzero Selam Belay since 2019.
He started his professional career in 2002 as a radio journalist on the Hiyaw Tesfa Pentecostal Radio (HITPAR), an affiliate of the International Bible Reading Association (IBRA). Later, he joined the former Addis Neger newspaper, [1] where he worked as a journalist and editor-in-chief. Addis Neger was among Addis Abeba's popular newspapers in its heyday. Founded in 2007 by six journalists, including Tamerat Negera, the fame of the newspaper and its contributors rose rapidly due to its presentation of credible and meticulously researched content. However, Addis Neger stopped printing suddenly in December 2009. Tamerat and his colleagues in exile stated that they had learned the government was preparing to bring charges against them.
During Ethiopia's heavily contested May 2005 national elections, Tamerat was elected as a people representative for the Addis Abeba City Council. The election was considered the first genuinely competitive multi-party election that the country had experienced in its political history. And Tamerat was a candidate of one of the coalition groups that formed the main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) (popularly known as Kinijit). [2] The CUD was a coalition of several parties, and Tamerat was a member of the Ethiopia Democratic League (EDL). Despite the positive developments of the pre-election period, the post-election period was marred with widespread violence as the ruling party would not accept some of the polling results. The ruling party, the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), suppressed the CUD and imprisoned thousands of people. Military and police officers then killed about 200 opposition protesters, and many journalists and politicians were jailed for the next two years.
Tamerat, exiled in the United States for nine years, never stopped from voicing his opinions about national integrity, equality, freedom of expression, and protection of human rights. Since 2018, and after returning home following PM Abiy Ahmed's lifting of the criminalization against exiled opposition figures and journalists, [3] [4] he continued spreading his messages, at times through successful social media campaigns.
Tamerat had been encouraging a democratic and nonviolent political transition in Ethiopia in his journalistic works. After his return from exile in the United States, Tamerat co-founded the Terara Media Group. He is known for his aversion to ethnic nationalisms, ethnic federalism, and ethnic politics at large and eventually became a staunch critic, if not the leading figure of opposition to the current ethnic federalist arrangement of the country and its constitution. Ethnic federalism redesigned the country along ethnic lines following EPRDF's ascent to power in 1991. Tamerat argued that ethnic federalism has been a potential cause of the many catastrophes Ethiopia finds itself muddled in, namely: ethnic cleansing, identity-based mass killings, millions of internally forced displacements, military and arms races between the regional states, and the like. [5] He staunchly argued that if a solution wasn't found soon enough, Ethiopia would find itself in an unintended and unmanageable crisis that could potentially disintegrate it, like the former Yugoslavia. Ethiopia needs to rethink its ethnic federal arrangement, remains his major concern. And in addition to commenting on what he deems is Ethiopia's period of political disorder and lawlessness, Tamerat has, on several occasions, bitterly criticized the autocratic Eritrea and its despotic ruler. [6]
Tamerat Negera was in jail from 10 December 2021 [7] until 6 April 2021 for charges relating to his work on Terara Network, [8] an Ethiopian media on YouTube he co-founded and managed. The court granted him bail for 50,000 Ethiopian Birr on 5 April, and he was released from prison on 6 April, after 118 days in prison. [9]
The politics of Ethiopia are the activities associated with the governance of Ethiopia. The government is structured as a federal parliamentary republic with both a President and Prime Minister. The government is multicameralism with a house of representative and a council. The term politics of Ethiopia mainly relates to the political activities in Ethiopia after the late 20th century when the democratization took place in the nation. The current political structure of Ethiopia was formed after the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) overthrew dictator President Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. General election was held in June 1994 and Ethiopia has maintained a multiparty political environment till today.
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front was an ethnic federalist political coalition in Ethiopia that existed from 1988 to 2019. It consisted of four political parties, namely Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM). After leading the overthrow of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2019. In November 2019, the EPRDF was dissolved, and Prime Minister and EPDRF chairman Abiy Ahmed merged three of the constituent parties into his new Prosperity Party, which was officially founded on 1 December 2019.
General elections were held in Ethiopia on 15 May 2005, for seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives and four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this election would be proof that more democracy would come in this multi-ethnic nation; international elections observers from the European Union (EU) and the U.S.-based Carter Center were present to observe the results. This election succeeded in attracting about 90% of the registered voters to the polls. A government ban on protests was imposed throughout the election period.
The Coalition for Unity and Democracy, commonly referred to by its English abbreviation CUD, or occasionally CDU; its Amharic abbreviation, used in Ethiopia, is Qinijit; in English writing often referred to as Kinijit) was a coalition of four existing political parties of Ethiopia which combined to compete for seats in the Ethiopian General Elections held on May 15, 2005, and around the end of that year, became a full-fledged political party. Its leader was Dr. Hailu Shawul. It dissolved in 2007.
Berhanu Nega is an Ethiopian politician who is serving as the current Minister of Education of Ethiopia. He previously was the mayor elect of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the 2005 Ethiopian general elections. He is a founding chairman of the Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice and a Deputy Chairman of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), for whom he served as chief election campaign strategist. He is also the co-founder and leader of Ginbot 7, an anti-government rebel group. Until mid-2018, he was labelled a terrorist by the Ethiopian government.
Lidetu Ayalew is an Ethiopian politician who is the founder and the leader of the Ethiopian Democratic Party. He was a deputy chairman and chief spokesperson of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), during the 2005 Ethiopian general election.
Abiye Teklemariam Megenta, also known as Abiye Teklemariam, is an Ethiopian print and radio journalist who co-founded the defunct Addis Neger, which was the largest private newspaper in Ethiopia before its closure in December 2009. Three top editors of the newspaper quietly slipped out of the country, accusing the Ethiopian government of relentless intimidation, harassment and persecution. Abiye, who was the newspaper's executive editor, had left the country two months earlier for the United Kingdom. On a BBC interview, he staunchly defended the decision of his colleagues to leave the country, claiming that the government's plan to bring charges against the newspaper's top editors made their tasks impossible to carry out. Presently, he is a vocal democracy activist and a student in Oxford, England.
The Ethiopian Democratic Party is a political party in Ethiopia. The result of no less than five mergers of liberal and conservative liberal opposition parties, it could trace its roots to the Ethiopian Democratic Union, which mounted armed monarchist resistance to the Derg in the immediate aftermath of the overthrow of Haile Selassie I. In the legislative elections held on 15 May 2005, the United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin, as it was then known, was part of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, that won 52 out of 527 seats in the Council of People's Representatives. It won no seats in the 2010 elections.
Mesfin Negash is an Ethiopian journalist, political commentator for Addis Neger and columnist for Sampsonia Way Magazine. He is a graduate of Addis Ababa University where he studied political science.
The Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was an era established immediately after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) seized power from the Marxist-Leninist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) in 1991. During the transitional period, Meles Zenawi served as the president of the TGE while Tamrat Layne was prime minister. Among other major shifts in the country's political institutions, it was under the authority of the TGE that the realignment of provincial boundaries on the basis of ethnolinguistic identity occurred. The TGE was in power until 1995, when it transitioned into the reconstituted Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia that remains today.
Ethiopian nationalism, also referred to as Ethiopianism or Ethiopianness, is a political ideology centered on the unification of Ethiopian identity. Originated from throughout ancient history, the Aksumite Empire was the first kingdom for their unified civilization and social integration to adopt the name "Ethiopia" under Ezana's reign in 4th century. For more than a century, Amhara ruling elite used the ideology to pursue an assimilation policy and consolidate power. Moreover, the notion of Ethiopian integrity was reinforced by Battle of Adwa, an important event where Ethiopia defied European colonization by defeating Italy in 1896.
Andargachew Tsege, also known as Andy Tsige or Andy Tsege, is an Ethiopian politician. He is the chief executive officer of ESAT, a nonprofit independent media outlet in Ethiopia. He previously served as the secretary-general of Ginbot 7, a political party that was labeled as a terrorist group by the Ethiopian government until 2018. On 23 June 2014, he was abducted by Ethiopian security forces while in transit in Yemen's Sana'a International Airport and held at an unknown location in Ethiopia. On 29 May 2018, he was freed by the Ethiopian government following political reform by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Abiy Ahmed Ali is an Ethiopian politician serving as the third Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018, and as a leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea". Abiy served as the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first person of Oromo descent to hold that position. Abiy is an member of the Ethiopian parliament, and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party.
The 2021 Ethiopian general election to elect members of the House of Peoples' Representatives was held on 21 June 2021 and 30 September 2021. Regional elections were also held on those dates.
The Prosperity Party is a political party in Ethiopia that was established on 1 December 2019 as a successor to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) by incumbent Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The merger into a countrywide party is part of Abiy's general policy of distancing the country's politics from ethnic federalism. It ran for the first time in the 2021 general election.
Awol Kasim Allo is an Ethiopian academician, author and lecturer who started teaching law at University of Keele in 2016.
Abiy Ahmed became the Prime Minister of Ethiopia on April 2, 2018. He was formerly the chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) from 2018 until its dissolution in 2019 when it was replaced by the Prosperity Party.
The Ethiopian federal constitution (1995–present) formalizes an ethnic federalism intended to undermine long-standing ethnic imperial rule, alleviate ethnic tensions, promote regional autonomy, and uphold unconditional rights of self-determination and secession, in a state that contains over 80 ethnic groups. But it is controversial, both with Ethiopian nationalists, who regard it as undermining central authority and promoting ethnic tension and with ethnic federalists, for whom the unfolding of its under-defined elements may add up to authoritarian centralisation or even continued minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPDRF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalisation, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify authoritarian state policy.
Democratic backsliding in Ethiopia is ongoing, most notably under the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Since assumption of power in April 2018, Ahmed has played crucial role of reforms in the Ethiopian politics and reversal of policies implemented by the former ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Abiy immediately gained public approval and international recognition owing to liberalized policymaking including in media outlets, gender equality, internet freedom and privatization of economy. Furtherly, he was also warmly gained accolades for ending 20-years conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, from which he awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, being the first Ethiopian to earn the title. Thus, by 2019, Ethiopia was topped in 19 position out of 100 in Freedom in the World chart, signalized significant improvement from the past decades. In December 2019, he formed the Prosperity Party by dissolution of EPRDF and merged all its ethnic based regional parties while the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) refused to obey, resulting intense face-off with the federal government. He promised to hold free and fair upcoming election; although due to COVID-19 pandemic deterioration and other security and logistics issues, the election was postponed indefinitely in mid-2020. Opponents called this action as backdrop to "reconsolidate dictatorship" and "constitutional crisis". On 9 September 2020, the Tigray Regional election were held as the federal government deemed illegal election. According to the electoral commission, the TPLF won 98.2% of 152 seats were contested. The federal government and the Tigray authority relations aggravated by late 2020, culminating the Tigray War.
Tamagne Beyene is an Ethiopian human rights activist, former actor, comedian and media personality. Born in Gondar, Tamagne was recruited to the Gondar Traditional Group in 1981. He soon joined the Ethiopian National Theatre in 1983, performing as comedian, actor, singer, drummer and saxophonist.
