President absent from key party congress

One of the four main parties in the ruling coalition of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPDRF) has met to map out crucial reforms, but in the absence of President Negaso Gidada, who recently announced his resignation from the party. The Oromo People's Democratic Organisation (OPDO), the former party of the figurehead Ethiopian president, performs a key role in Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling coalition. The second congress of the OPDO, held in Nekemte, west-central Ethiopia, "is expected to adopt decisions of far-reaching significance to the lives and wellbeing of the people", the pro-government Walta Information Centre said on Monday. It said the OPDO congress was being attended by over 1,200 voting and non-voting members, as well as by ministers, diplomatic representatives, and people from various social sectors in the Oromiya Regional State. The Oromos are the majority ethnic group in Ethiopia, and inhabit some of the most fertile and productive areas of the country. Meanwhile, Voice of America says it has received a fax from Negaso saying he had of his own free will disassociated himself from membership of the OPDO. He said in the fax that he had decided to withdraw from the ODPO as of 31 August, in line with Article 7 of the organisation's statutory law. Negaso said an "unlawful act" had been committed against the OPDO, which was legally constituted in accordance with Proclamation Number 46 of the Electoral Commission. He also complained of a defamatory campaign waged against him personally by the state media, saying that all the letters he had written for publication had been suppressed. "Even my letter which was published in Oromiya newspaper came out distorted in such a way that gives rise to confusion," he said in the fax. Negaso's withdrawal from the party has fuelled speculation over his future as president, and follows a political crisis in the prime minister's own party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which is the dominant political force in the EPRDF.