Public events in the capital foresee a regulatory framework as the Addis Abeba Mayor's Office works the legislative ground.

Officials at the Mayor's Office hope to ensure safety measures and crowd management procedures, including contractual obligations, requests, and approvals for hosting gatherings.

They called a first-round discussion with members from the hospitality sector three weeks ago to identify basic standards and safety measures that will work in tandem with security forces. Hotel managers and event planners forwarded feedback and critiques during the meeting held at Kena Hotel, Namibia Street (Bole Medhanealem).

Although the relevance of the framework was glared among participants, pressing issues that required clarifications from the authorities were put forth.

The Chairperson of the Addis Abeba Hotel Owners' Association, Aster Solomon, applauded the initiation of officials for active discussion.

"It's off to a great start," she told Fortune.

Aster owns Mosaic Hotel and has been heading the Association with 176 members for over a year and a half. She raised queries concerning the sort of events permissible in hotel venues and those that require pre-approval.

Although officials confirmed there will be a follow-up meeting in a couple of weeks, event organisers that were left out of the first discussion are dismayed they did not get to voice their concerns.

MICE Ethiopia (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) is known to be an umbrella for business-related event organisers with 10 active members under its fleet, despite an estimate of over 170 licensed event organisers in the capital.

The President of MICE, Nebeyu Lemma, have witnessed prohibition event requests without a viable explanation or equivocal responses that needed further clarification. The Managing Director of Prana Events said his company usually makes requests to officials a year before with delayed responses.

"Most of the cases have occurred for outdoor events", he said.

Incorporated five years ago, Prana is an event management, marketing and consulting firm with 27 employees. Nebeyu observes private events hosted by the event organizers are usually overridden by the government despite notifications. Although he believes the framework may address some of the 'unsettling' enactments, the voices and comments of MICE should be considered.