March 31, 2022

Efrem Isaac's PDC accused of conspiring with terrorist groups reissued license

City: Addis AbabaNews

The organization’s license was revoked after being suspected of directly or indirectly providing support to terrorist groups.

Avatar: Ilyas Kifle
By Ilyas Kifle

Ilyas is a reporter at Addis Zeybe experienced in creative writing and content production.

Efrem Isaac's PDC accused of conspiring with terrorist groups reissued license
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Credit: ENN

Peace and Development Center (PDC), an NGO founded by Prof. Efrem Isaac, had regained its operational license, Addis Zeybe verified from FDRE Authority for Civil Society Organizations. 

PDC’s license was revoked on Nov 26, 202 by the authority after the organization was allegedly suspected of directly or indirectly providing support to terrorist groups by the state of emergency command. 

The decision to revoke PDC’s license was instigated by a release of a leaked video in which topics of an ethnic-based conflict, the establishment of a provisional government, and a degraded economy during PM Abiy’s administration were raised. 

According to the Amharic weekly The Reporter, following the license’s revocation the organization’s employees filed their complaint to the Authority for Civil Society Organizations. Their complaint was assessed and the authority decided to discharge board members who participated in the secret meeting and the organization to be operational again with newly elected board members.  

The Canadian journalist Jeff Pearce who first released the video claimed that "The West's Horn of Africa experts have been meeting with a TPLF leader and TPLF/OLF sympathizers in secret.”

Despite the number of total attendees at the meeting being unclear, Ephraim Isaac, Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos, Donald Yamamoto, U.S. Ambassador to Somalia who just retired last year; Vicki Huddleston, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs; Stéphane Gompertz, retired France diplomat; former British ambassador Robert Dewar, and Finland’s top former ambassador Kirsti Aarnio were participants.

The video at the time invoked anger among many Ethiopians and had been considered a secret plot to overthrow the government. 

Peace and Development Center is a non-governmental, nonpartisan, and nonprofit making organization licensed under proclamation number 1113/2019 article 88/3, certification number 2936.