Xinhuanet
September 5, 2001

ADDIS ABABA, September 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Ethiopian President Negaso Gidada has withdrawn his membership from the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), one of the four parties which form the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, the weekly Reporter newspaper said on Wednesday.

In a letter revealed to the OPDO, the president, who had been a member of the organization since 1991, put forward eight reasons for his leaving, saying "as everybody knows, I have been doing everything in my power to advance the aims and objectives of the OPDO by becoming its member of my own free will. And, in accordance with article 7 of the bylaws of the organization, I had been trying my best to shoulder my responsibilities adequately."

Negaso, kicked out of the central committee of the OPDO last June, officially announced his withdrawal from membership of the OPDO on August 28, according to the newspaper.

Negaso, whose presidential term will be expired in September, is reportedly considering to organize a new party in Ethiopia after he steps down from the post of president. Enditem