EPRDF’s central committee is also meeting to discuss who will replace Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who suddenly resigned last Thursday. Ethiopia has over 80 different ethnic groups with the Oromo and Amhara the second and third largest groups, comprising over 32% and over 30% of the country’s population respectively. However, the EPRDF governing coalition has been dominated by the minority Tigrayan ethnic group which represents just over 6% of the country’s population. Hailemariam, an ethnic Wolayta, represented the conglomerate of groups from southern Ethiopia that had never been represented at the centre of Ethiopian politics before. Aalen argued that the logical appointment would be an Oromio, given the unrest in that region, supported by the Amhara, the traditional elite of pre-EPRDF Ethiopia.

Source: Ethiopian News February 21, 2018 03:11 UTC