Ethiopia Towards Civil War!

by Nathan Belay Abtew
(Toronto, Canada)

The Fruit of Ethnic Federalism: Ethiopia Towards Civil War

December 2020

The Naissance of Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia

The idea of ethnicity was introduced in Ethiopia for the first time by Addis Ababa University students in the 1960s. Its naissance was realised by Walelegn Mekonen, a political science student in Addis Ababa University and he was among whom who lead student’s movement. Then after, political parties purchased the question of “ethnic federalism” as a means to political competition.

Unlike Ethiopia, many African states have introduced territorial and non-territorial measures to accommodate their ethnically diverse populations, ranging from federalism in Nigeria, to the moderate regional devolution in South Africa, and the unbalanced union of Zanzibar and Tanganyika in Tanzania.

It seems, however, that Ethiopia has gone further than any of these countries in promoting ethnic diversity through a federal system which is explicitly based on ethnicity. The main idea is to give ethnic groups, termed “nations, nationalities and peoples” the right to self-determination, which also includes the right to secession if certain conditions are fulfilled.

Sovereignty is not given to the member states of the federation, as is common in other federal systems, but “all sovereign powers resides in the nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia” (Article 8.1) (Koninklijke Brill, 2006).

For the last three decades, Ethiopia failed under very strong ethnic federalism in which ethnic groups are given the right to declare “this is my region; others are strangers”. This negative ethnic federalism caused the bloody war between Tigray region and Ethiopia for the last four weeks. Many thousands died from both sides.

What will be next after “zemecha TPLF”? This is the challenging question of all Ethiopians. Different sources confirmed that there are two opponent forces in which the federal leaders are under fight: (1) ethnic federalists and (2) nationalists.

The ethnic federalists team derived by the extremist Oromo politicians namely Taye Dendea, Shimeles Abdissa and Addisu Arega. According to this team, all nations and nationalists should be under control of Oromo culture and language which means they want to build Oromo centred Ethiopia. Since they have inferiority complex, Oromuma politicians attacked by Amhara phobia.

As a result, all political terms (both written and spoken) begins with anti-Amhara terms. This Oromo centred political philosophy has two main goals. The first one is creating “Amhara free greater Oromia”.

To realise this project, huge mass killings happen in almost all Oromia region for the last three years. The second goal is controlling the whole Ethiopia and deepening their culture forcefully. This is known by its term “all Kegna” which literally means everything for us.

Due to the above-mentioned factors, Ethiopia is under way towards the most dangerous and bloody civil war. The civil war will be between Semitic and Cushitic ethnic groups, mainly between Amhara and Oromo ethnic groups.

Oromo extremists are ready to commit ethnic cleansing against the Amhara people who are living in today’s Oromia region. This will be supported and compromised by the current negatively drafted ethnic federalism.

On the other hand, the Amhara forces will be forced to attack the Oromo communities who are living in today’s Amhara region. If the fight between two giant ethnic groups (Amhara and Oromo) escalates, millions of innocent civilians will lose their lives.

Proposed Solutions:

1. The current political philosophy of fundamentalism and negative ethnic federalism should be revised before the country fails.

2. Civilians in both regions should make themselves ready before the civil war escalates. Here, it will be better to say it clear and loud: (i) all Amhara should leave Oromia region and move to Amhara region; (ii) all Oromos should leave Amhara region and move to Oromia region. To understand the current political headache, it is enough to see what Oromo politicians are saying and writing using mainstreamed and social Medias.

3. Following thousands of false hate speeches against Amhara, other ethnic groups namely, the Tigre, Afar, Somali, Gumuz, and other southern regional state ethnic group will join Oromo extremists to eradicate the Amhara race from Ethiopia.

To reduce the potential ethnic cleansing, Amhara political leaders and social activists should work to build strategic alliances with other ethnic groups.

4. Religious organisations, civil societies and academic institutions should work to fight political extremists based true and reasonable public conferences.

Let us fight negative ethnic federalism to reverse the coming civil war in Ethiopia.

* You are at Ethiopia Towards Civil War.

* Read the entry page at Ethiopia and write your own views to get your name to so many network platforms from this page.

* Read more about Ethiopia below:

African Political Refugees| African Refugees' Influx to Europe| African Refugees' Influx to Europe - Comments| Asylum Seekers in Libya Under Great Fear| Awassa| Awassa Children's Village| Directive| Donors are Responsible in Ethiopia| Donors are Responsible in Ethiopia - Comments| Eri-Ethio Mixed Families| Eri-Ethio Mixed Families - Comments| Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia| Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia - Comments| Ethio-Eritrean Wars| Ethiopia Country Profile| Ethiopian - Eritrean Dialogue| Ethiopian - Eritrean Refugees are Disappointed| Ethiopian - Eritrean Refugees are Disappointed - Comments| Ethiopian Political Problems| Ethiopian Political Scene| Ethiopian Refugees| Etiolate Life| Fight Poverty, Not the Poor| Fight Poverty, Not the Poor - Comments| HOAs Refugees| HOAs Refugees Project| Humanitarian Network| Look Angry to the Crises in HOA| Look Angry to the Crises in HOA - Comments| Numbers of Eritrean - Ethiopian Refugees in Sudan| Numbers of Eritrean - Ethiopian Refugees in Sudan - Comments| Political Refugees Killed on Borders to Israel| Refugees without Borders in the Horn of Africa| SOS Children's Village|

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