{"id":273623,"date":"2019-04-20T02:24:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T06:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMiTmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXJlcG9ydGVyZXRoaW9waWEuY29tL2FydGljbGUvb3JvbWlhcGlja3MtbmV3LWRlLWZhY3RvLXByZXNpZGVudNIBAA?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-09-13T11:21:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T15:21:55","slug":"oromia-named-shimelis-abdisa-as-de-facto-regional-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/273623","title":{"rendered":"Oromia named Shimelis Abdisa as de facto regional president"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In April 2019, Oromia\u2019s regional council elevated <strong>Shimelis Abdisa<\/strong> to deputy president, making him the region\u2019s de facto leader after Lemma Megerssa moved the same morning to the federal Defense Ministry.<\/p>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-286501\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Oromia-Region-president-Shimelis-Abdisa-discusses-federalism-in-Ethiopia.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Oromia named Shimelis Abdisa as de facto regional president\" \/>\n<p>The Reporter Ethiopia noted the pattern: Tigray, Somali Region, and Addis Ababa had already put non-council outsiders or deputies into presidential-style roles. Shimelis came from Abiy Ahmed\u2019s Prime Minister\u2019s Office, where he had replaced Fitsum Arega after Fitsum\u2019s posting as ambassador to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>ODP\u2019s central committee framed the vote as filling Lemma\u2019s vacancy. Addisu Arega took the party secretariat. For Horn readers, the file still matters because it shows how Abiy Ahmed\u2019s early cabinet shuffle pulled regional bosses into federal posts while planting loyal administrators back into the largest region.<\/p>\n<p>That federal-regional swap was sold as reform. It also concentrated power through appointments rather than contested local mandates, a habit that later hardened under Abiy Ahmed\u2019s Prosperity Party project.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/article\/oromiapicks-new-de-facto-president\">The Reporter Ethiopia<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oromia picks new, de facto president&nbsp;&nbsp;The Reporter EthiopiaJoining Tigrai and Somali Regional States as well as Addis Ababa City Administration,the Oromia Regional State has become the fourth region to appoint Vice &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":286501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Oromia-Region-president-Shimelis-Abdisa-discusses-federalism-in-Ethiopia.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-19bh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273623"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":601038,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273623\/revisions\/601038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}