Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State: The Ethiopian Experience 1991-2000 Lovise Aalen r 2002: 2

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5
10
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It appeared that many of the NGO representatives were close to the ruling
party because of the strong ties between civil society and the government. In the
regions, the NGOs are mainly relief or community organisations and religious
communities, including Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Protestants. Despite
the fact that the non-religious NGOs like the Women’s Association are
formally independent of the state and the ruling party, they are often former
parts of the ruling party organisation and do still have strong links to the
EPRDF and the affiliate parties. Additionally, the government has defined
relatively strict rules for how NGOs can operate and follow their activities
closely. Traditionally, the protestant church has, particularly in the south of the
country, been a base for the opposition against the government, while the
Orthodox Church has been a known supporter of the regime (Tolo 1998).
According to my experience during the interviews, however, none of the
Christian communities were eager to talk politics, and as the Muslims, they
claimed that politics were outside their domain. Nevertheless, the way they
selected the questions they were willing to answer was in itself interesting
information.
All interviewees from the media, including five journalists, were interviewed
in the regions. Both in SNNPRS and Tigray, there is no regionally based free
press. Thus, the journalists interviewed are all employed in the government
10
See Africa Confidential 1994 Vol. 35, No. 2.

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owned media, either regional newspapers or national news agencies. The so-
called ordinary citizens include people who were more or less randomly
contacted, and basically include teachers, shopkeepers and farmers whom I met
on different occasions. Their degree of outspokenness varied greatly according
to region. In Tigray, where the TPLF is tightly controlling all aspects of society,
people were generally very cautious, while in SNNPRS, where the political
landscape is more diversified than in Tigray, people were more open, but still
cautious.