• According to Voice of America (VOA), Abadula Gemeda's OPDO sub-party of the EPRDF ruling party has opposed the proposal by the MEDREK opposition party to make Afan Oromo the official language of Ethiopia alongside Amharic. Medrek leaders decided to apply the Canadian system in Ethiopia, where English and French have both been the official languages of the country. Belgium is another western country with two co-official languages, Dutch and French. All Medrek coalition sub-parties made the proposal in order to empower Oromo people (the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia) and to strengthen the unity of Ethiopian people.

By Jalene Gemeda
Washington DC
VOICE OF AMERICA
 

Parliamentary candidates disagree on whether the language of Oromiya can achieve the status of Amharic as a new ‘Federal working’ language.

A coalition of eight opposition parties, the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum, has proposed in campaign debates that Afan Oromo be adopted as a second federal working language of Ethiopia.

However, one of Oromiya’s political parties in a coalition with the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front opposed the proposal being raised by opposition candidates from Oromiya. The Oromo People's Democratic Organization says that Afan Oromo, which was established as the language two decades ago, hasn't sufficiently developed to serve as a national working language for the Republic Federal Democratic of Ethiopia.

One OPDO official, Mesfin Assefa, worries that such a move would create disastrous violence among nations and nationalities in the country.

• VOA