National Dialogue as a Means of Building Peace in Ethiopia: Lessons from Tunisia‘s National Dialogue

Abstract

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopian government has made National Dialogue on table with the objectives of, inter alia, solving the disagreement among politicians and segment of society on most fundamental national issues, enabling the creation of new political dispensation marked by mutual trust and ensuring lasting peace. And as there is no all-size-fit standard for implementation of successful national dialogue, it is wise to explore the experience of the States that have gone through successful national dialogue. Accordingly, Tunisia‘s national dialogue that was convened at the end of 2013 by Quartet, the winner of 2015 Novel Peace Prize, is found the most relevant experience to be explored. This article closely examines the historical development of Tunisia‘s national dialogue and extracts the pillars behind this successful dialogue so that Ethiopia takes the possible lessons amid making of its national dialogue. Accordingly, it is found that political commitment in cementing the legitimacy of the convener, avoidance of polarization among stakeholders, compromise of interests, by side negotiations and mediations among or/and between stakeholders, managing the effect of external actors, balancing of the inclusiveness and efficiency of the dialogue, balancing of the mandate and efficiency of the dialogue, change oriented discourse, and public buy-in are the pillars behind the successfulness of Tunisia‘s national dialogue. Thus, it is sound enough to recommend that Ethiopian national dialogue‘s stakeholders: the commission, the sitting government, the opposition parties and other groups to domesticate and utilize these pillars of successful national dialogue amid entertaining the ongoing national dialogue so that it will become remarkably successful.