{"id":280809,"date":"2019-07-04T15:04:18","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T19:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMiZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmV0aGlvcGlhLWluc2lnaHQuY29tLzIwMTkvMDcvMDQvdGltZS1mb3ItZXRoaW9waWEtdG8tYmFyZ2Fpbi13aXRoLXNpZGFtYS1vdmVyLXN0YXRlaG9vZC_SAQA?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-10-06T11:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T15:31:16","slug":"sidama-leaders-vow-to-declare-their-own-region-on-18-july-as-analysts-warn-ethiopia-has-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/280809","title":{"rendered":"Sidama leaders vow to declare their own region on 18 July as analysts warn Ethiopia has no safe option"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sidama, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia\u2019s Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples\u2019 Region, were preparing in early July 2019 to declare their own regional state on 18 July, exactly a year after their leaders formally asked for a statehood referendum. The International Crisis Group, a think tank that works to prevent conflict, warned on 4 July that with so little time left the federal government had \u201cno good option,\u201d and urged it to organize the vote the constitution requires.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial
Aerial view of Lake Hawassa with the city of Hawassa on its eastern shore, January 2017 (Mjr74, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0) [file photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ethiopia\u2019s constitution gives any ethnic group the right to vote on forming a new regional state if its leaders ask for one, and Sidama leaders did so on 18 July 2018. According to Crisis Group, neither the constitution nor the electoral laws say what happens if the referendum is not held within a year, beyond giving the upper house of parliament the job of settling disputes. Regional status would let the Sidama levy some taxes, choose their official language, run their own security force and pass laws on matters such as education and land administration, Reuters reported in a story carried by defenceWeb.<\/p>\n

The Sidama make up about 5 percent of Ethiopia\u2019s population of roughly 105 million, according to Reuters. Activists of the Ejjetto movement, whose name means \u201chero\u201d in the Sidama language, said that missing the deadline would breach their constitutional rights and justify a unilateral declaration. \u201cThe people have decided and we are making preparations,\u201d Tessema Elias, 33, an assistant professor of law at Hawassa University, told Reuters at a rally in Hawassa. \u201cGovernment simply has to recognise us and if they refuse to, this will lead to a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told parliament that the government had received the referendum request and urged patience. \u201cI ask the people in the South who have asked to establish a regional state to be patient but if anyone tried to go in an unlawful way, the same thing that happened in Somali will happen in the South,\u201d he said, according to The Reporter. Reuters quoted him as saying: \u201cGovernment will not bargain away the unity of Ethiopia.\u201d The Ejjetto group answered with a statement saying it would go ahead with its plan. \u201cAny unconstitutional responses from anyone regarding the Sidama\u2019s requests are unacceptable,\u201d it said, adding that the warning was meant to crush the Sidama demand.<\/p>\n

Crisis Group said granting the new state could set off unrest across the Southern Nations region, home to about a fifth of Ethiopia\u2019s people. The main flashpoint is Hawassa, now the regional capital, which the Sidama want as their own capital. That could provoke opposition from minorities in the city and a hard contest over regional assets. A Sidama state would also strengthen other statehood campaigns, especially that of the Wolayta, the second-largest group in the south, and \u201ccould catalyze a violent unravelling of the Southern Nations,\u201d the group said. Blocking the Sidama, on the other hand, would likely bring mass protests that could turn deadly. Crisis Group counted at least eight other groups seeking regional status; The Reporter put the number in the south alone at no fewer than ten.<\/p>\n

The think tank urged Abiy Ahmed to open talks with Sidama leaders at once and agree on a referendum date as early as possible, followed by a timeline for forming the state if voters approved it. It warned that sending security forces to stop a declaration could leave troops policing protests that turn violent. If the Sidama declared their state on 18 July anyway, Crisis Group said they should at least delay setting it up until federal, regional and Sidama leaders, along with other southern groups, agreed on the future of Hawassa, a fair division of regional assets and a new home for the Southern Nations capital. It suggested that the federal government and foreign partners could offer extra budget support to help fund new states.<\/p>\n

The dispute came at a fragile moment. Since Abiy Ahmed took office in April 2018 and eased the tight controls of earlier governments, long-suppressed rivalries among Ethiopia\u2019s more than 80 ethnic groups had come into the open. The United Nations and monitoring groups said the violence had forced 2.4 million people from their homes and killed hundreds, Reuters reported. On 22 June, five senior officials, including the army chief of staff, were killed in Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong> Ethiopia Insight (International Crisis Group)<\/a>, defenceWeb (Reuters)<\/a>, The Reporter<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time for Ethiopia to Bargain with Sidama over Statehood  Ethiopia InsightThe Sidama plan to declare a regional state on 18 July. To reduce risks, they should resolve sensitive issues before forming the entity, while authorities should …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837347,"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-280809","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\/2026\/10\/lake-hawassa-aerial-2017.jpg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1b3b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280809","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=280809"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837361,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280809\/revisions\/837361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}