 condemn Ethiopia's Somali regional council's recent approval of a new administrative structure. Read more.){kind=link}
Getahun Tsegaye
Staff Writer
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The Afar People’s Party (APP) has condemned the Somali regional council’s recent approval of a new administrative structure, calling it “an entice to war.”
In a statement issued today, APP argues that the new structure violates the “sovereignty of the Afar region” and poses a threat to peace in Ethiopia.
The Somali regional council’s decision last week approved a new structure of 14 districts and four zones. This new structure reportedly includes areas disputed by the Oromia and Afar regions, leading to strong objections from political forces in both regions.
The main source of contention is that the new administrative divisions encroach upon land belonging to the other two regions.
In its statement, the Afar People’s Party described the Somali region’s decision as “an entice to war” and a disruption of “overall peace.” The party claims the new administrative structures for districts and zones violate the administrative boundaries and infringe upon the regional sovereignty of the Afar region. Specifically, the party points to the newly established “West or Gelbedke Zone and the districts included within it” as the primary source of the infringement. The party noted that this new structure represents a “dangerous approach.”
The party also warned that the new structural arrangement would undermine negotiations that were being facilitated by the Ministry of Peace between the Afar and Somali people. It called the decision a “clear violation of the peace agreement that our people had placed their hopes in,” and stated that it would not only escalate conflict but also erode Ethiopia’s internal unity. The party also suggested that the decision could create an opportunity for external elements seeking to destabilize Ethiopia.
The Afar People’s Party has urged the Somali regional government to reconsider its decision and to rescind it to pursue peaceful and legal means for peace-building. The party highlighted that the Somali region’s “unstudied and unconstitutional approach” previously led to a “declaration of war” in January 2019, resulting in the death, displacement, and suffering of numerous innocent pastoralists from both sides.
Conflict over land disputes has persisted for years between the two regions, with heavy fighting breaking out just a few months ago.
Support : https://borkena.com/subscribe-borkena/
Join our Telegram Channel : t.me/borkena
Like borkena on Facebook
To submit Press Release, send submission to info@borkena.com
Add your business to Ethiopian Business Listing / Ethiopian Business Directory
Join the conversation. Follow us on X (Formerly Twitter) @zborkena to get the latest Ethiopian News updates regularly.
I’m sure these groups of upright and noble people will sit down at a dialogue table and sort it out amicably to both sides as they have done for centuries. War never solved such issues and will never do so. Even during my less than a century life on this Good Earth, demography has changed in areas and close to where I was born. With the population of that country keep multiplying like worms, there will be more and more demographic changes both in slow and peaceful process also in violent ways. Lately, it has been the violent ways with bigots telling others ‘This is my region, not yours. You’ve got your own region’. I remember one of these bigots who I heard now is a ‘missionary’ preaching the Holy Scriptures’ calling a group of people who were born and raised in a region ‘settlers’. Now he is a refugee gulping down his favorite missionary cakes while his inciting remarks causing the displacement of tens of thousands of innocent Ethiopians. One day he will stand in front of the Good Lord to answer for his repugnant and inciting remarks. Who knows, he may be saving his missionary stipends now to go back there one day build a mansion on the houses of those displaced people.
Meanwhile, I call upon my dear brothers Somali Region President H.E. Mustafa Muhumed Omar and Afar Region President H.E. Awal Arba to sit down and sort it all out peacefully. I’m sure you have the intellectual horsepower to do it.
Now, to those of you who are trying to foment hostility between these two identical twin brothers and sisters, I say stifle. Shut up so people can identify you as mute horse or a jack ass.
There is one aspect I appreciate about this group. As a party always should, it has a well designed website where it shows everything we need to know about it. You can find its latest political program including names of its party candidates who ran for a seat in the previous national election. They are confident in themselves that they have nothing to hide. I wish them success in their peaceful endeavor.
Kudos APP!!!