Signs of United Nations Involvement in Ethiopia’s National Dialogue

September 28, 2022 

National Dialogue Commission, UNDP representative and Ministry of Finance representative signing the MoU

Borkena 

The United Nations Development Program has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ethiopia’s National Dialogue Commission. 

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance is part of the agreement too. It is said that the aim is to support the National Dialogue Process financially.  

The Agreement was signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. 

According to a report by Ethiopian State Media, it is a three years program. UNDP has committed itself to raising funds from development partners. It has also committed itself to spend $US 2.2 million from the UNDP coffer. 

UNDP is to administer the funds as a trust fund. 

Signatories seem to believe that the establishment of the trust fund will contribute in terms of helping the Commission in the effort to kick off an inclusive dialogue so as to get recommendations to resolve critical differences. 

Months after it was formed, the commission appeared before the Ethiopian Parliament in April 2022 to report its performance. It said internal and external interventions were among the major challenges it has faced. 

Radical ethnic Oromo nationalist groups, including the Oromo Federalist Congress under the leadership of Merera Gudina, have rejected the commission. These groups claim the process of establishing the commission was not inclusive.