Ethiopia’s upper house approves new regional state

Ethiopia’s upper house of parliament on Wednesday 5 July 2023 approved the creation of a 12th regional state after the latest referendum for greater self-rule in Africa’s second-most populous country.

Voters in part of the ethnically diverse Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) overwhelmingly supported carving out their state in a referendum in February. The creation of ‘South Ethiopia Region’ — the third new state created since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 — was “approved with a unanimous vote” by the upper house, it said in a statement.

ALSO READ: Ethiopia’s Tigray sees ‘drastic increase’ in malnutrition: UN

ORGANISED IN THE REGIONAL STATE

“Following the desire expressed through a referendum by the six zones and five special districts… the House of Federation has in today’s regular session decided to have them be organised in a regional state,” it said.

It is just the latest state to break away from SNNPR, a mosaic of minority ethnic groups in the country’s south, and a scene of tension and violence in recent years. Sidama separated in 2019, and South West in 2021.

ALSO READ: Rembrandt portraits sell for R273 million on auction

Shortly after taking power in the early 1990s, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition government divided Ethiopia into nine semi-autonomous regions organised along ethnic and linguistic lines.

REFERENDUM FOR ETHNIC GROUP

The 1995 constitution required officials to organise a referendum for any ethnic group that wanted to form a new region within the federal system. But the former government, ruled by Tigray’s minority ethnic elite, quashed such efforts, sometimes violently, during its 27-year rule.

ALSO READ: Tigray village incredibly survived the devastating war in Ethiopia

Abiy’s appointment in 2018, following several years of anti-government protests, breathed new life into autonomy bids and identity-based claims. In recent years, the country of 110 million has been troubled by sometimes deadly conflicts over these administrative divisions and associated disputes over territory.

ayv/np/gw
© Agence France-Presse