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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000536 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRAZER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ET
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: OPPOSITION MUSTERS QUORUM TO TAKE OVER 
ADDIS CITY COUNCIL 
 
 
Classified By: Charge Vicki Huddleston for reason 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  After several failed attempts, candidates 
elected to the Addis Ababa Regional Council under the CUD 
banner in May 2005 have finally mustered quorum to take over 
the government of Ethiopia's capital city.  Since the 
official deadline for registration has passed, Prime Minister 
Meles -- at the Charge's request -- agreed to accept a 
petition from at least 69 council-members elect pledging to 
take their seats "without preconditions."  Meles told the 
Charge Feb. 20 that the National Electoral Board (NEB) would 
have to certify the group's 71 signatures as genuine, after 
which the NEB would forward a request to Parliament to reopen 
the registration period.  Parliament is out of session until 
mid-March, but a political commitment from PM Meles could 
guarantee legislative approval earlier.  The would-be Addis 
City Administration must still wrestle with what to call its 
coalition, since the name CUD remains verboten, and public 
anger is still widespread over the continuing detention of 
other CUD leaders.  Comment: While this initiative remains 
fragile, its successful completion will constitute a major 
achievement on the road to Ethiopian democracy.  Objections 
from the Diaspora and jailed CUD leaders notwithstanding, an 
opposition-controlled city government offers a real 
opportunity to reduce political tensions, open new political 
space and give the party formerly known as CUD a concrete 
platform.  Today the organizer of the effort, Ato Ayele, 
turned over the petition to the NEB with 70 signatures of 
would be city administrators.  The NEB will verify the 
signatures and send the petition to the Parliament.  The PM 
says he is pleased.  Let's hope there are no slips between 
the cup and the lip.  End Summary. 
 
Last-Ditch Petition Drive Goes Over the Top 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Addis Ababa Regional Council member-elect Ayele 
Chamiso and a group of associates finally rounded up an 
adequate number of signatures on Feb. 19 to take over the 
administration of Ethiopia's capital "without 
pre-conditions."  Internal divisions within the party 
formerly known as the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) 
had derailed earlier efforts over the last two months to 
muster a quorum of 68-71 council members to take over the 
city.  Some council members-elect had previously opposed 
taking office until Berhanu Nega, the CUD leader who was 
informally selected by the coalition to serve as mayor in 
September 2005, was released from jail.  Others had insisted 
on taking office under the banner of the CUD, despite the 
fact that the party is no longer recognized by the NEB. 
Ayele, formerly member of the UEDP-Medhin component of the 
CUD, apparently overcame these objections after conveying to 
other council members-elect the strong desire of the 
international community that opposition representatives take 
the reins in Addis Ababa in order to advance the democratic 
process.  Charge Huddleston and other Western diplomats had 
met with Ayele and other council members-elect several times 
in January and February to encourage their efforts.  The 
Charge also interceded directly with PM Meles to allow more 
time for enough former CUD-members to come forward.  The idea 
of a formal petition to reopen the registration process 
emerged from the Charge's meeting with CUD representatives in 
early February and was subsequently -- and somewhat 
reluctantly -- accepted by Meles, who said it would be "a 
miracle" if Ayele were successful in gathering enough 
support. 
 
Next Steps:  NEB Verification, then Parliamentary Approval 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) In a telephone conversation with the Charge Feb. 20, 
PM Meles indicated that the NEB would accept the petition 
from City Council members-elect as long as it could verify 
that the 71 signatures were genuine.  If the petition checked 
out, Meles said the next step would be for the NEB to forward 
a request to Parliament for approval to reopen the formal 
registration process.  Parliament is currently out of session 
until mid-March, but approval for the request would be a 
foregone conclusion if the GOE supports it.  Ayele told the 
Charge Feb. 20 that his group would in fact benefit from an 
interval of several weeks before the changeover took place in 
order to prepare for the new responsibilities. 
 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000536  002 OF 003 
 
 
Challenge One: Continued GOE Harassment 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) If the current initiative continues to prosper, the 
new government of Addis Ababa will face some daunting 
challenges.  The first is continued GOE pressure on and 
harassment of CUD members.  The City Council organizing 
committee chaired by Ayele told the Charge, EU Troika 
representatives and the French Chair of the Ambassadors' 
Donors Group (ADG) on Feb. 20 that the GOE continued to 
follow them everywhere they went.  One woman, Etalemahu 
Worku, claimed that security agents had warned her in January 
to cease her involvement with the CUD or the kindergarten 
that she runs would be closed down for "administrative 
reasons."  She refused to comply, but remained concerned. 
The group claimed that 30 Council-members elect from Addis 
had been arrested immediately following November 2005 riots, 
but that 14 had since been released.  Others remained in 
custody, some still without charge.  Council-members elect 
also complained that party offices are still closed down, and 
that documents confiscated during November raids had not been 
returned.  Among the documents seized were those laying out 
plans for administering Addis Ababa as well as lists of 
possible appointees for key positions throughout the city. 
Finally, some members of the organizing group expressed 
concern that the GOE was planning to undermine the former CUD 
officials through state media for lack of cooperation, and 
ultimately disband their city government after a few months. 
 
¶5. (C) The Charge and Troika reps undertook to raise the 
issues mentioned by the group to the Prime Minister and other 
EPRDF officials in the coming days.  Most diplomats agreed 
that the EPRDF did not want to run the capital any longer 
given the strong anti-government sentiment in Addis. 
 
Challenge Two:  Diaspora and Popular Opposition 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶6. (C) The organizing group also expressed apprehension about 
how the public in Addis would receive their takeover of the 
city against the wishes of the CUD's imprisoned leaders and 
the Diaspora.  They complained that they had no media outlet 
through which to convince the public of their reasons for 
assuming power without obtaining the release of jailed CUD 
leaders.  Ayele and others recounting how they had done 
interviews with Voice of America (VOA) journalists, but their 
comments had never been broadcast.  They also claimed that 
VOA journalists had pursued slanted, aggressive lines of 
questioning that appeared to push the views of hard-line 
elements of the Diaspora.  Pol/Econ Counselor undertook to 
facilitate more suitable access for leaders of the City 
Council to VOA broadcasts. 
 
¶7. (C) The single greatest concern of the City Council 
members-elect, however, was the GOE's refusal to recognize 
the CUD or allow them to take office as CUD members.  Ayele 
and others explained that they all considered themselves 
members of the CUD, and that the public in Addis Ababa 
remained adamant in its desire to be ruled by the CUD as 
such.  Publicly adopting another name would cost the group 
dearly in terms of popular support, they said.  While 
committee members were reluctantly leaving their formal party 
affiliation aside for the moment, they told diplomats that 
they were considering various approaches to resubmitting a 
merger request to the NEB in hopes that the CUD would regain 
official recognition. 
 
¶8. (C) The Charge conveyed to the group that the GOE planned 
to formally ban the CUD as an organization at some point in 
the relatively near future.  She urged that the group not 
push the issue of party affiliation while it was taking over 
the city, and that it consider carefully how to proceed 
afterwards.  The ambassador from current EU President Austria 
recommended that members of the former CUD adopt a minor 
change in coalition's name in order to get around eventual 
legal obstacles.  The group remained cool to the suggestion, 
however. 
 
Challenge Three:  Technical Capacity 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (C) The other main challenge confronted by new City 
Council would be a shortage of top-tier, trained personnel. 
Aliyu Mohammed reminded diplomatic reps that several of the 
CUD's most capable officials, including mayor-elect Berhanu 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000536  003 OF 003 
 
 
Nega, were still in jail.  Few of those remaining had much 
political experience or many contacts in the international 
community, he added.  PolEcon Counselor and others chimed in 
to assure Council members-elect that the international 
community wanted them to succeed and would prepare packages 
of technical assistance to support them.  He further urged 
the group to reach beyond its immediate ranks to solicit 
advice and expertise from the many professionals in the 
capital that sympathized with the CUD. 
 
Comment: City Government a Major Milestone on Road to 
Democracy 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶10. (C)  While arrangements for the opposition to take over 
Addis Ababa remain fragile, successful completion of this 
initiative will constitute a major achievement on the road to 
Ethiopian democracy.  Objections from the Diaspora and jailed 
CUD leaders notwithstanding, an opposition-controlled city 
government offers a real opportunity to reduce political 
tensions, open new political space and give the party 
formerly known as CUD a concrete platform.  The EPRDF is more 
likely to release senior CUD leaders and other detainees on 
bail -- another important milestone in the process of putting 
democracy back on track -- if members of their former party 
are firmly committed to participation in the country's 
democratic institutions.  Formal recognition of the CUD per 
se is another issue that can best be addressed after 
confidence building steps, like the transfer of power in 
Addis, have been completed. 
 
¶11. (C) Opposition control will also send a strong message to 
the Ethiopian public and the donor community that progress 
toward democracy is possible through patient, peaceful 
strengthening of the country's democratic institutions. 
Council-members concerns about a negative popular reaction to 
their latest step are legitimate, but the group should be 
able to win over popular opinion gradually with able 
political and administrative management.  The ADG plans to 
issue a statement welcoming plans to transfer authority over 
Addis Ababa to the opposition after confirming acceptance of 
the petition and consulting further with both the GOE and the 
Council members-elect. 
HUDDLESTON