The first president of the Somali region of Ethiopia was Abdullahi Muhammad Saadi from the ONLF. The majority of the executive committee members of the region during this period also came from the ONLF. The first regional government only managed to remain in office for a few months. The TPLF sacked the ONLF president and his executive officials in July 1993, because of alleged misappropriation of funds. Since then, repeated dismissal of regional presidents and their executives has plagued politics in the Somali region, undermining stability. In fact, in the 10 years since the establishment of the region in 1992, 8 Somali regional presidents have lost their positions. The sacking of the first ONLF regional president by the EPRDF dominated central government strained relationships between the two groups. Amid tension brewing between the Somali regional government and the EPRDF, the ONLF-dominated regional council called for a referendum for the secession of Ogaden from Ethiopia in May 1994. The response of the EPRDF to this demand was swift an direct. It instructed the regional government to rescind what it called an illegal resolution. However, the regional parliament refused to carry out the instructions of the TPLF-EPRDF. The crisis finally culminated with the summary dismissal of the regional executive committee. In sum, the formative period of the Somali region has shown one of the most important trends of autonomy conflicts--power struggle between the dominant Ogaden and non-Ogaden clans. Indeed, right after the inauguration of the new regional government dominated by the onlf, other Somali clans began to complain that they were not adequately represented. As noted by John Markakis: The Ogaden control of the regional government united all the other Somali clans in opposition. Actually, the division between the Ogaden and non-Ogaden concerning the ONLF and its objectives, which were somehow implicit in the past, became more explicit after the formation of the Somali region in 1992. [Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Ethiopia: A Comparative Regional Study]
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 01:25:25 +0000
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