Gurage people feel disenfranchised that the constitutional provision that entrenched ethnic-based federal states in Ethiopia is denied to them. No security incident reported so far in connection with the strike
borkena
A stay-at-home strike has been going on in the Gurage zone for more than two days.
Businesses are closed. The streets are quiet. Only bakeries and health facilities were allowed to function – apparently by those who organized the strike.
From reports, the identity of the group that called for the strike is undisclosed at this stage, apparently for fear of reprisal from the government although it is a constitutional right to organize a peaceful protest.
What is known about the strike so far is that a flyer was distributed in Wolkite, the seat of the Gurage zone administration, and Hawarya town.
It called for a peaceful protest calling for a stay-at-home strike to pressure the government to address administrative demands for Gurage people.
Gurage zone, under the current administrative arrangement, is within the “Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region” (SNNPR ) regional state – a regional state with a distinct administrative arrangement in view of Ethiopia’s existing ethnic-based Federal administrative structure.
SNNPR was organized as a cluster of more than 50 language-speaking groups in Ethiopia. The Gurage zone with its center at Wolkite has been demanding a statehood of its own ( and it has a much higher population compared to some ethnic-based regional states).
Activists familiar with the matter say it has been well over four years since the zone demanded Federal authorities for statehood status.
The SNNPR region is falling apart as a cluster of linguistic groups. About two years ago, Sidama zone attained ethnic Sidama statehood after the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) organized a referendum following a violent protest in the region that claimed hundreds of innocent lives (mostly other ethnic groups).
There are views that seem to relate the success of statehood demand on the part of Sidama to the support from radical ethnic Oromo nationalist groups, who are believed to be exercising strong political control over Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government next to the U.S. government.
Recently, a group of zones within the SSNPR were given statehood status.
Although the demand for Gurage statehood was older than those who already attained ethnic-based federal statehood status, the recent strike in Guraghe seems to have been triggered by the latest developments regarding statehood in the region.
Tesfa Nedam is known on social media for advocating for Guraghe causes. He wrote on social media that authorities in the Guraghe zone called residents for a meeting but it did not happen as residents seem to be not interested in it.
Mrs. Zayda Gizaw is the founder and chairwoman of the Gurage traditional council. She says the Gurage zone was the first zone in the region to demand statehood even during the Tigray People’s Liberation Front-dominated Federal Government.
“People are disenchanted and have had enough of political intrigues [against Gurage people],” she said.
The protest against cluster-based administration has cultural and legal grounds, for those who are supporting the movement for statehood.
Those who champion the cause believe that the cluster arrangement has sabotaged the cultural development and language preservation of the Garage people. They believe that the language is on the verge of extinction, and that statehood status could reverse the course.
From a legal point of view, people like Zayda Gizaw argue that the cluster administration is against the constitutional provision.
Those grievances are the cause for the ongoing strike in the Gurage zone.
The Federal government is yet to respond to it.
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that the Oromia regional state and Addis Ababa City administration are undertaking “border demarcation.”
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SAD TO SAY, ETHIOPIA IS DIGGING ITS OWN GRAVE.
EVERY INDICATION POINTS TO THAT SAD EVENTUALITY.
IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE NO WISE ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE TO PREVENT SUCH A DISASTER IN AN ANCIENT MATURE COUNTRY LIKE ETHIOPIA.
UNBELIEVABLE PHENOMENON.
Ethiopians had been covering the wound of ethnic hatred for so long that every time there was a hiccup in the state power, things got out of hand.There has never been a genuine discussion of a consented unity. Whoever ethnic group that controlled the state power used to subdue others. The Ethiopian state has been a tool to subjugate others,not to serve its citizenry.All these fuzz and ethnic wars are either competition to control the State power or to deter a perceived enemy.
It’s time to uncover the wound and treat it for real. A consented unity among Ethiopians must be initiated, these ethnically motivated militaristic politics must come to an end. I have seen some people worrying about Ethiopia splitting into several countries like the former Yugoslavia. The way things are now in Ethiopia, those former Yugoslavia ethnic groups are better off. Do we co-exist as hateful nationals or brotherly neighbors? We had seen and tested how state power can be misused under Amharas,Tigrians and now Oromos. Who is next that cannot use the State power to control others? Can we learn a few lessons from our neighbor Kenya? Empty pride has blinded many people, “we are proud ,not to be colonized by the Europeans but we beg them to feed our people, again, we use some of the donated grains for wars against each other, what a pathetic mentality. After 3000 years, Ethiopia is still at the brink of starvation because every penny of budget is used for wars among its people,how come nobody has enough of these?, there is no way these groups will sit together a create united Ethiopia.( Fano,olf/shane,Tplf,ONLF etc) and there is no way a justice can be observed for the over 4 million Ethiopians killed between 1980s up to day. The stupidest thing is to wait until someone becomes victorious against others. A total reform of the entire Ethiopian society is needed ASAP.
My worry is if Ethiopia becomes a failed state like Somalia, it can be a world nightmare. If this is the route Ethiopia is going for then the Yugoslavia project must be implemented peacefully to save the world a nightmare.