Sidama referendum result known. Ethiopia’s election board says less than 4 percent of voters voted for existing administrative arrangement. Some consider the result as a win for radical ethnic Oromo nationalists including within the government
borkena
November 23, 2019
National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) disclosed on Saturday the preliminary results of the Sidama referendum. It was organized to determine Sidama zone demand for a separate ethnic Sidama statehood, and to end zone level administration within the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region.
The referendum was administered on November 20, 2019.
According to NEBE, the result shows that ethnic Sidama communities in Sidema zone voted for creating a separate ethnic Sidama state.
A statistic released by the board shows that 2,225,249 people voted “shafeta” – a traditional food for ethnic Sidama – a symbol used to represent a separate ethnic Sidama statehood.
33,463 people voted Gojo ( cottage ) – and this symbol was used to represent remaining part of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region.
In percentages, 98.51 % of voters voted in favor of separate ethnic Sideman statehood while 1.48 % voted to remain part of the existing regional state.
The election board also said that 18,351 votes are void.
As in any other parts of Ethiopia, Sidama zone has minority ethnic communities. And their number is believed to surpass the number of people who voted for “no” in the referendum. What is suggests, assuming that there are no irregularities, a considerable number of ethnic minorities from different ethnic backgrounds either have boycotted the election or they have voted for a separate ethnic Sidama state.
Ethiopia has currently 9 ethnic based regional state and Sidama state is going to be the the 10 regional state based on the result from the national election board.
On the other hand, there are voices from the region that the election, especially in Hawassa city, is marred by irregularities.
Hawassa city has been the seat of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Regional state for nearly three decades. During these years, the city has changed very much as it has attracted both public and private investments. It has become Ethiopia’s resort city.
For political pundits, Sidama statehood question has been a strategic issue for ethnic Oromo radical nationalists both in opposition and government. Ejeto, radical ethnic Sidama youth, itself is modeled after radicalized ethnic Oromo nationalist youth Qeerroo, have demonstrated remarkable resemblance in their political characters. Violence that took place in the Oromo region of Ethiopia and in Sidama were fueled by similar ethnic nationalist narrative.
Analysts says Oromo nationalists strategy in Southern Ethiopia is to disintegrate the region in a way to weaken collective Ethiopian values and culture so that the region could be an easy target for Oromization.
Several other zone level administrations in the region have demanded for separate statehood too.
Join the conversation. Like borkena on Facebook and get Ethiopian News updates regularly. As well, you may get Ethiopia News by following us on twitter @zborkena
If that is the will of the brothers and sisters with a Sidama heritage then I would like to send my warm congratulations!!! I wish you peace and stability in your region and all the prosperity you yearn for. I also hope that you have taken a lesson from what have been taking place in the neighborhood that you will be jealously guarding the outcome of this vote. With such outcome there is always danger that comes with it and I hope and pray that you will not stumble into the same pit others are fallen into. Godspeed!!!
I am proud is amhara
We will also vote for amhara region to be independent state . We have everything . What else do we need . We displaced Kimant, , killed many in gambela and others; So, WE have everything to help ourselves. We donot need Tigray or other ethnic to provide us support .Recently, our enemies are gonna die . Mr D is sick and we have prophets who had said, Jawar will die soon . If religion is not working for us , we gonna devise another slogan to crash and divide our enemies .
It is a gigantic state we have including gojam, gonder , wollo and other places where amharic speaking people live and work.
Demeku, PHD.
Minnesota,USA
We can form a nation with just Benishangul Gumuz and Amhars together if we keep working together to make it happen.
በሐዋሳ ግጭት ቀስቅሰዋል ጥቃት መርተዋል ተብለው የተጠረጠሩ እስረኞች የረሐብ አድማ ጀመሩ
November 26, 2019 – Konjit Sitotaw — Comments ↓
የሲዳማ ሚዲያ ኔትዎርክ ስራ አስኪያጆችን ጨምሮ «ሕገ-መንግስታዊ ሥርዓቱን በኃይል ለመናድ ሞክረዋል» በሚል በእስር ላይ የሚገኙ ሃያ ስምንት ተጠርጣሪዎች ከትናንት ጀምሮ የረሀብ አድማ መጀመራቸውን ቤተሰቦቻቸው አስታወቁ።
የታሳሪዎቹ ቤተሰቦች እንዳሉት ተጠርጣሪዎቹ የረሀብ አድማውን የጀመሩት ከሀዋሳ ከተማ በዘጠና ሁለት ኪሎ ሜትር ርቀት ላይ በእስር በሚገኙበት የሀላባ ቁሊቶ ማረሚያ ነው።
ተጠርጣሪዎቹ የረሀብ አድማውን ለሶስት ቀናት ለማድረግ ትናንት እሁድ የጀመሩ ቢሆንም መንግስት ለጥያቄያቸው ምላሽ ካልሰጣቸው አድማውን ለተጨማሪ ቀናት እንደሚቀጥሉ የሶስተኛ ተጠርጣሪ ታሪኩ ለማ እህት ወይዘሪት ለምለም ለማ ለዶይቼ ቬለ ተናግረዋል። «ለሶስት ቀን ብለው ነበር የጀመሩት።
ነገር ግን በዚህ አካሔድ መንግሥት ተገቢን ምላሽ የማይሰጥ ከሆነ ፍትኅ ካላገኙ በረሐብ እንቆያለን ነው ያሉት» ሲሉ ከታሳሪዎቹ ሰማሁ ያሉትን አካፍለዋል። ሐያ ስምንቱ ተጠርጣሪዎች በቁጥጥር ሥር የዋሉት የሲዳማ ዞን ክልል ለመሆን ካቀረበው ጥያቄ ጋር በተያያዘ ባለፈው ሐምሌ 11 ቀን 2012 ዓ.ም. ነበር።
የሲዳማ ሚዲያ ኔትዎርክ ዋና እና ምክትል ስራ አስኪያጆች እንደዚሁም የቦርድ አባላትን ጨምሮ በእስር ላይ የሚገኙት 28 ተጠርጣሪዎች ጉዳያቸው የፊታችን ህዳር 30 ቀን 2012 ዓ.ም. በፌደራሉ ከፍተኛ ፍርድ ቤት ተዘዋዋሪ ችሎት በወራቤ ከተማ እንደሚታይ DW ዘግቧል በኦሮሚያ ክልል ::