๐„๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐ข๐š๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฎ๐ž ๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐‘๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐†๐จ!

Posted on X on July 6, 2026
https://x.com/AlMariam1/status/2074137946093928567

Chief Commissioner of the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (ENDC), Prof. Mesfin Araya, says all logistical preparations for National Dialogue Conference participants are ready.

After 4 years of hard and challenging work of agenda-gathering and conferring with hundreds of thousands of participants in over 1,234ย  weredas (districts) throughout Ethiopia, the ENDC will hold the National Dialogue Conference on July 15, 2026. It is expected to last at least three weeks.

The ENDC is a unique and historic experiment in modern world conflict resolution. It is designed toย  bypass the traditional elite monopolies and go directly to inclusive, grassroots participation. It is also unique in its aim of resolving historical grievances and structural conflicts directly with everyday citizens rather than relying solely on political leadership or power elites.

๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐„๐๐ƒ๐‚ ๐š ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ž ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐›๐š๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ?

Grassroots Representation: Instead of exclusively negotiating with political elites or rebel factions, the commission gathers input from everyday citizens across distinct societal sectors. Participants include women, youth, religious leaders, traditional elders, civil society groups, and pastoralists, whose voices carry equal weight.

Bottom-Up Agenda Setting: The Commissionโ€™s thematic focus is structured around core issues collected from hundreds of thousands of citizens nationwide. These central topics span nation-building, the political and governance system, federalism, human rights, and socio-economic and religious affairs, among others.

Systematic Hierarchy: The process is designed to progress from local community levels (districts/woredas) to regional states, ultimately culminating in a broad national plenary.

Mandate for Sustainable Peace: Unlike temporary, localized ceasefire negotiations, the ENDC focuses on resolving deep-rooted historical questions and disrupted social fabrics to create long-term, structural consensus.

I am proud, honored and privileged to be part of this monumental and historic Conference. For over one-half century, I waited for an opportunity to participate in a process such as the ENDC conference.

I am humbled in he face of the fact that now I have to walk my talk of the past one-half century. It will probably probably prove to be the greatest challenge in my life.

For nearly all of my adult life, I have argued in the courtroom, the classroom, the dorm room, the meeting room, the board room and the pressroom. I have argued in the courthouse, the jailhouse and the statehouse. I lived my professional life playing a hardball zero-sum game. Winning is all that mattered. Now, I have to play a game of win-win for all. I now have the monumental opportunity to be part of a 4 thousand-strong Dialogue Dream Team Ethiopia. I canโ€™t think of a greater blessing!

๐’๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ƒ๐ข๐š๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฎ๐ž ๐ƒ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฆ ๐“๐ž๐š๐ฆ ๐„๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐š ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Œ๐€๐Š๐„ ๐„๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐ˆ๐€ ๐†๐‘๐„๐€๐“ ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐!

About

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino. His teaching areas include American constitutional law, civil rights law, judicial process, American and California state governments, and African politics. He has published two volumes on American constitutional law, including American Constitutional Law: Structures and Process (1994) and American Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (1998). He is the Senior Editor of the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, a leading scholarly journal on Ethiopia. For the last several years, Prof. Mariam has written weekly web commentaries on Ethiopian human rights and African issues that are widely read online. He played a central advocacy role in the passage of H.R. 2003 (Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007) in the House of Representatives in 2007. Prof. Mariam practices in the areas of criminal defense and civil litigation. In 1998, he argued a major case in the California Supreme Court involving the right against self-incrimination in People v. Peevy, 17 Cal. 4th 1184, which helped clarify longstanding Miranda rights issues in criminal procedure in California. For several years, Prof. Mariam had a weekly public channel public affairs television show in Southern California called โ€œIn the Public Interestโ€. Prof. Mariam received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1984, and his J.D. from the University of Maryland in 1988.