Parties approve negotiation modality, code of conduct

Addis Ababa, May 29, 2017 (FBC) -The 17 national political parties, including the ruling party EPRDF, have approved a negotiation modality and a code of conduct for local and foreign observers.

Chairperson of Agenda and Media Committee and Deputy Chairperson of the Ethiopian Democratic Union, Gebru Berhe, told journalists today that the two-month negotiations on governing regulations and the code of conduct have finally come to a fruitful conclusion.

Since all negotiations need modality, it took a long time and intensive effort to approve the modality for the negotiations and the code of conduct, he elaborated.

According to the Chairperson, the parties have also agreed to approve agendas for the negotiations in the presence of local and foreign observers in the next meeting, which will be followed by a formal negotiation of the parties on agreed agendas.

All the 17 political parties have already submitted their agendas to the Agenda Committee that will present them at the next meeting, he added.

Gebru said the negotiation modality has 8 chapters and 27 articles, while the code of conduct has nine chapters.

It is to be recalled that the parties had agreed to allow 12 local and foreign organizations as observers drawn from embassies, civic organizations, religious institutions and others, according to ENA.