The Ethiopian Government’s Latest Communications Shutdown Derails the Country’s Transition into Democracy

Oromo Liberation Army rebels in February 2006. Photo by Jonathan Alpeyrie.

As Ethiopia experiences the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic during a time of civil unrest, an unendurable amount of pressure has been placed on the country’s healthcare system. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has responded to this crisis by declaring a national state of emergency, delaying the government’s transition into a democracy. Ethiopia’s lockdown has not only postponed the national election scheduled for August, but has also exacerbated the long-standing political tension in Oromia, the nation’s largest state. 

On March 27, 2020, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a statement highlighting its concerns about the Ethiopian government’s widespread shutdown of internet access and telephone lines in western Oromia. Under the pretense of security concerns, the shutdown was put in place on January 7 in the Kellem Welega, West Welega, and the Horo Guduru Welega zones of Oromia, all notably under federal military control. This shutdown has been deemed a violation of international law by blocking the essential exchange of information during the global effort to curtail the spread of COVID-19. The Ethiopian government has infringed upon Article 19 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the U.N.-sponsored treaty that protects the right to freedom of expression and access to information. 

The shutdown is a draconian extension of the decades-long armed conflict between the Oromo Liberation Front and the Ethiopian government, occurring against the backdrop of the nation’s transition into democracy. In order for Ethiopia to become fully democratic, the nation must, as a first step, immediately lift the blockage of telecommunications and the internet in Oromia. Depriving Oromian citizens of a platform that promotes freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and government accountability, denies them the opportunity of political self-determination. The access to digital knowledge is one of the most important features of a democratic society.  

Ethiopia is a multifactional nascent democracy that has experienced deep interethnic conflict and multiple waves of regime change over the past fifty years. In 1974, the Ethiopian Empire, dating back to the year 1270, was overthrown by the Derg, a Soviet-backed, communist military government. The provisional military junta of the Derg, led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, transitioned into the short-lived, socialist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia until the regime was toppled by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (E.P.R.D.F.) in 1991. 

The E.P.R.D.F. consists of four ethnofederalist political parties: the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the Amhara Democratic Party, the Oromo Democratic Party, and the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement. These factions dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 until 2019 when Prime Minister Ahmed unified all but the Tigray Front into the ruling Prosperity Party. 

During Ethiopia’s three-decades-long transition into democracy, the government has been unceasingly threatened by regional insurrection and has retaliated with political repression. The Oromia region has disproportionately borne the brunt of this tension. 

Oromia, one of the nine regional states, is the homeland of the Cushitic Oromo people, Ethiopia’s predominantly Muslim and largest ethnic group. The modern conflict in Oromia has been a resistance to the centuries of cultural and political dominance by the Amhara ethnic group. The Oromian insurrection began in 1966 when Tadesse Birru, the leader of the Oromian nationalist organization known as the Mecha and Tulama Self-Help Association, publically decried the “destruction” of Oromian culture by the Amhara. Fearing the potential of an Oromian separatist movement, the former Emperor Haile Selassie sentenced Birru to life in prison. Birru’s imprisonment added fuel to the Oromian cause and resulted in the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front (O.L.F.) in 1973. The armed separatists of the O.L.F. have contributed to the ebb and flow of violence in Oromia over the past fifty years.

Oromo Liberation Army soldiers in prayer. Photo by Jonathan Alpeyrie.

When Abiy Ahmed, a young reformer from Oromia, became the prime minister of Ethiopia in 2018, he brought hope for the end of the interethnic conflict. He ran on a platform of universal democracy and the rectification of the Oromo people’s marginalization. In 2019, Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the decades-long standoff with the neighboring nation Eritrea, disarming the O.L.F.’s armed-wing: the Oromo Liberation Army (O.L.A.), and lifting a ban on dissenting political groups, previously labeled as terrorist organizations. Despite his reforms, Ahmed is often contended to be an inconsistent supporter of democratic values through his violent repression of political dissent. 

The chief of the O.L.F., Dawud Ibsa, asserts that despite Ahmed’s assurances, there has been large-scale political repression in Oromia. The Ethiopian government denies the Oromia Support Group’s allegations that 64 extra-judicial killings and 1,400 instances of arbitrary detention took place last year. Former members of the O.L.A. have accused Ahmed of retracting his promises to the Oromo people, and the government, in turn, has accused the O.L.A. of violating their commitment to disarmament. In 2019, the fragile peace between the government and the O.L.A. shattered when the armed separatists completely broke off from the O.L.F. and began killing convoys of the Ethiopian army. Consequently, the government has declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law in the Oromian zones of Welega and Guji. 

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks at the World Economic Forum in January 2019. Photo by Benedikt von Loebell.

At a time when accurate information about COVID-19 is a matter of life or death, it is imperative that the Oromian citizens be granted their right to unfettered access to telecommunication and the internet. Furthermore, access to digital networks is essential for any nation’s transition into democracy; it creates channels for collective political participation and the creation of an educated voter base. 

In spite of its tenuous nature, the democratic project in Ethiopia is certainly alive. The postponement of the much-awaited national election, promised to be Ethiopia’s first free and fair, will exacerbate the tense political climate in Oromia. Yet, one comforting prospect from the postponement is that during this interim period, the Ethiopian government can proactively broker peace with the Oromian rebels to establish civil tranquility. For now, the international community should support the Oromian citizens’ right to participate in the democratic process.

Roshan Setlur is a freshman in Columbia College planning to study Economics, Political Science, and Linguistics. He is from New Jersey and is interested in the intersection between demographics, culture, and politics. You can probably find him exploring New York City’s diverse food scene.