The Sidama Quest for Self-Rule

The Referendum on Regional Statehood Under the Ethiopian Federation

Bibliographic Data

ID21701545
AuthorsKjetil Tronvoll (0000-0002-0599-6674, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Bjørknes University College, Oslo, Norway, [email protected], corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume29
Issue2
Pages230-251
Publication date2021-11-08
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal on Minority and Group Rights (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1385-4879 • E-ISSN: 1571-8115
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/15718115-bja10055
OpenAlexW3211587125
LanguageEN
Citations received5

The Sidama of southern Ethiopia has a long history of struggle to reclaim self-rule, which was lost with the forceful incorporation of their territory into the Ethiopian empire in 1893. With the fall of the military junta in 1991, the new government reconfigured the country into a multinational (ethnic) federation. Years of protests and turmoil led to the consolidation of a nationalist movement demanding the constitutional right to conduct a referendum on the establishment of a separate Sidama regional state under the federation. The process was marred by demonstrations and incidents of violence, but the vote itself was conducted peacefully with an overwhelming 97.7 per cent ‘yes’ vote. Sidama regional state was eventually formed, but the political leadership initially advocating for its establishment was marginalised due to the centralising policies of the federal government party restricting the principles of the constitutional multinational federalism

Economic history · Economics · Federalism · Home rule · Multinational corporation · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Referendum · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · Law · Public Administration

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