Ethiopia's upper house of parliament on Wednesday "unanimously" gave the green light to the creation of a 12th regional state, called the "Southern Ethiopian Region", after a recent referendum in the south of the country. These six zones and five districts will therefore form the "Southern Ethiopian Region", continues the Chamber, without specifying the terms or deadlines for this future organization. Article 47 of the Constitution authorizes each "Nation, nationality or people belonging to one of the regional States (...) to form, at any time, its own" regional State, subject to the organization of a referendum and a favorable outcome. The "Southern Ethiopia Region" is the third region to come into existence since Mr. Abiy leads Ethiopia, after Sidama in 2020, and the South-West Ethiopia Region at the end of 2021, both of which have already emerged from a split with the SNNPR. Ethiopia has been agitated in recent years by many community tensions and conflicts, sometimes deadly, particularly related to land disputes resulting from administrative division.

Source: Ethiopian News July 06, 2023 10:35 UTC