Ethiopia’s National Dialogue Demonstrates the Courage to Stay at the Table Despite Profound Differences — Deputy PM

Addis Ababa, August 22, 2026 (FMC) — Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh has described the successful conclusion of Ethiopia’s National Dialogue as a significant national achievement, saying the process demonstrated the courage of Ethiopians to remain together, listen to one another and continue working despite profound differences.

In a message following the conclusion of the 46-day National Dialogue Conference in Addis Ababa, the Deputy Prime Minister said 4,000 Ethiopians drawn from different communities, regions, experiences and convictions had undertaken the difficult task of speaking openly about questions that have divided the country, listening across those divisions and seeking a way forward without the use of force.

He said the success of the dialogue should not be measured by an absence of disagreement, noting that no national dialogue could settle every question, heal every wound or provide a perfect solution to every grievance in a single gathering.

Instead, he said, one of its most important achievements was the fact that the dialogue took place and was carried through to completion despite doubts about whether it would begin, efforts to prevent it from continuing and concerns over whether it could succeed.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, participants remained at the table through patience, wisdom and persistence, confronting obstacles, expressing difficult views and listening to different convictions.

He said Ethiopia had for generations left some of its most difficult national questions unresolved, buried or postponed, while others had been addressed through confrontation. Such unresolved questions, he noted, do not disappear simply because they are not discussed, but can deepen existing wounds and pass their burdens from one generation to another.

Bringing these questions into the open was therefore never expected to be easy, he said, acknowledging that disagreements were inevitable and that differences between perspectives could at times appear substantial.

However, he emphasized that the strength of a people is not determined by whether they disagree, but by whether they can remain together, listen, reason and continue working in the presence of those differences.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the dialogue has produced understanding on many questions that have long complicated Ethiopia’s efforts to build a nation in which all its people can see themselves, while recognizing that other issues will require further work as part of the continuing national journey.

He identified the emergence of a new political culture as one of the process’s most important achievements.

The dialogue, he said, has demonstrated that political differences can be approached through consultation and reason, offering an alternative to longstanding patterns in which political disagreements sometimes led to armed confrontation.

He stressed that this emerging culture remains young and will require protection, practice, patience and courage, warning that setbacks and unresolved disagreements will remain part of the journey.

The task ahead, he said, is not to declare that every national question has been answered, but to make dialogue itself part of how Ethiopia addresses its future challenges.

He called for the experience created through the National Dialogue to be strengthened across generations so that consultation becomes stronger than coercion, reason stronger than violence and Ethiopia’s shared future stronger than the grievances that have divided the country.

The Deputy Prime Minister said history may ultimately remember the 46-day process not because Ethiopians agreed on everything, but because thousands of citizens at an important moment in the country’s national life chose to sit together rather than turn away from one another.

He expressed gratitude to all those who contributed to carrying the undertaking forward, stressing that while the National Dialogue has concluded, the broader work of building Ethiopia together continues.