Ethiopia: A National Dialogue in the Shadow of War
Posted: 3 September, 2026 Filed under: Derara Roba | Tags: armed conflicts, civilian abductions, constitutional estrangement, ENDC, Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission, frustration, human rights violations, Human Rights Watch, Oromo Liberation Army, political willingness, Tigray People's Liberation Front, Tigray war Leave a comment
Author: Derara Roba
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
1 Introduction
After a long wait, the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (ENDC) launched a national conference in Addis Ababa on 15 July 2026. Aimed at moving towards consensus after years of war, human rights violations and constitutional estrangement, it was framed as a historic move.[1] Yet, the conference is unfolding while the sound of the guns has not been silenced. The paradox of “national” dialogue, which is supposed to be nationally engaging, convened amidst the war and the urge to start war, is what this piece problematises. It attempts to question whether the dialogue is an instrumental means of establishing legitimacy rather than a genuine forum for representation. In this piece, it is underlined that the continuation of the national dialogue, while the guns are not falling silent and there are indications of Ethiopia moving into large-scale war, should not be considered a mere backdrop to the dialogue; rather, it implies a framing of who should be represented.
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