A major rift has erupted within the Ethiopian national reconciliation process as multiple delegates participating in the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (ENDC) staged a dramatic walkout in Addis Ababa, protesting what they termed a last-minute attempt by ruling party officials to impose a pre-determined status on the capital.
According to reports by local news outlet Ethio Focus, representatives from Group 7—a coalition of delegates spanning diverse regional and ethnic backgrounds—abruptly exited the “Federal Cities Agenda” sessions alongside participants from seven other working groups. The mass exit was triggered after facilitators introduced an unvetted directive aiming to designate Addis Ababa as the official capital of the Oromia Regional State.
The disruption comes after four weeks of structured deliberations centered on four primary administrative options for the capital’s future framework and municipal boundaries:
-
Establishing Addis Ababa as a special autonomous city.
-
Retaining its existing status as a federal entity.
-
Reorganizing the capital as an independent, self-governing regional state.
-
Incorporating the city into the Oromia Regional State.
Delegates reported that initial consultations yielded overwhelming support for maintaining Addis Ababa as an autonomous federal entity. In one representative 48-member working group, 44 participants voted in favor of the federal entity model, while only four supported integration into Oromia. Parallel working groups recorded similar supermajority consensus in favor of preserving federal status.
Despite weeks of debate, participants revealed that over the past three days, session facilitators attempted to bypass the working groups' findings by introducing a new directive originating directly from the Prosperity Party office—an agenda item completely absent from the previous 30 days of consultation.
The staged walkout underscores deep political sensitivities surrounding the governance and administrative identity of Addis Ababa, casting a shadow over the independence of the commission's proceedings moving forward.
