The Sidama Liberation Movement had agreed to a new deadline proposed by the Electoral Board in the interests of preserving peace
(DW News) – Members of the Sidama ethnic group must now wait several months longer for a referendum that could lead to the setting up of a new independent region. Many, especially young Sidama, are unhappy with the delay.
Leaders of the Sidama ethnic group in southern Ethiopia had planned to unilaterally declare their own federal state on Thursday (18th July). In Hawassa, the would-be capital of the proposed state, supporters were out in force at the start of the week, with young men running through the streets waving flags and singing songs in anticipation of the announcement.
The Sidama make up the largest group within the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), which is one of the nine members of the Ethiopian Federation. In addition to the Sidama, who number around four million, there are another 56 different ethnic groups within that regional body, all of which could become members of the federation independently. This is in line with the constitution, which requires the government to organize a referendum for any ethnic group that wants to form a new entity. This should happen within a year of the group submitting a request. For the Sidama, the deadline was last Thursday (18th July). Then came the news that the Sidama Liberation Movement had agreed to a new deadline proposed by the Electoral Board in the interests of preserving peace. There had been considerable fears that a unilateral announcement could lead to violence and possible bloodshed.
Numerous pressing issues for government
The Sidama’s dream of having their own state gained fresh momentum after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power last year promising wide-ranging reforms.
But his government was slow to respond to the request for a referendum. Dr Awol Kassim Allo, lecturer in law at Keele University in England, told DW the delay had been largely due to the many pressing issues on the agenda of the new government. The Electoral Board itself “badly needed to be institutionalized again,” he said. “There were also new laws in the pipeline, so it took time for the Board to organize the referendum because, practically speaking, there are issues throughout all the institutions in the country to deliver on something as important as this.”
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