One of the leading writers Heinz put nicely that you cannot be a member of nation because of your blood ( clan), but due to a project of politics and being part of body politics subjected to legislation whereby each and every person is equal that defines its citizenship; "On n’est plus membre de la nation en fonction de sa naissance mais à partir d’un projet politique, de l’appartenance à un corps politique soumis à la même législation, sous laquelle tous sont égaux, ce qui définit le citoyen."
The clan politics in Jigjiga will not help the Somali nation to compete with the rest of Ethiopian in Addis. The Ethnic federalism unleashed a struggle for supremacy among the socalled Big Three: the Tigray, the Amhara and the Oromo in the previous regimes.
Although the ruling E.P.R.D.F. is a coalition of four parties, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front representing the Tigray minority has been in the driving seat since the 1991 revolution. The Amhara, dominant before 1991, and the Oromo, the largest ethnic group in the country, complained they were being treated as subordinate minorities.
However, the rest of Ethiopian, Somali, Gambela, Afar and Benshagul are relegated to the second-class citizen. The irony is that Somalis are the third largest nation and has the second biggest land in Ethiopia.
The excuse to undermine Somalis not to participate in the power sharing was that the EPRDF leadership previously argued that these largely pastoral regions lacked the agrarian class structure that revolutionary democracy presupposed.
For almost three decades these groups were relegated to the status of partner parties; they were part of federal government, but could not vote in EPRDF committees, where the groups reached all Ethiopian major political decisions. This is typical northern mindset to keep the power in the North while they exploit the resources of the peripheries.
For example, Somali leaders were nominated from Addis against the will of the people. A case in point is the current power struggle that is in its highest gear within Prosperity Party of Abiy that wanted to unify all regional states in his hand.
To add insult to injury, Dr. Abiy Ahmed has introduced the old fashion of Ethiopian regimes. In other words, the most controversial reform, however, was Abiy’s move away from the EPRDF’s nationalist narrative.
The EPRDF had long depicted Ethiopia’s ethnic groups as victims of forced assimilationist policy — under a nation-building project that began in the 19th century and ended in 1995 with the introduction of the Ethiopia’s federal constitution, which granted the “nations, nationalities and peoples” the right to self-determination.
Abiy formulated an alternative history that de-emphasized ethnic oppression and instead focused on ethnic harmony and national unity. At the backdrop of this ideology is to maintain the power in Addis.
According to one of the leading African scholars, Madani contends "Mr. Abiy has been celebrated as a reformer, but his transformative politics has come up against ethnic federalism enshrined in Ethiopia’s Constitution. The resulting clash threatens to exacerbate competitive ethnic politics further and push the country toward an interethnic conflict. The 1994 Constitution, introduced by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front governing coalition, recast the country from a centrally unified republic to a federation of nine regional ethnic states and two federally administered city-states. It bases key rights — to land, government jobs, representation in local and federal bodies — not on Ethiopian citizenship but on being considered ethnically indigenous in constituent ethnic states. "
For instance, the recent killing of innocent Ethiopians in Somali Region, Benshengul and other ones are the cause of not have a clear political stance direction from Addis.
To conclude, Somali leaders have to bargain to be part of the power sharing in the struggle of various ethnic groups in Addis and not to be the token of other political aspirations.
Mustafa Omar would not be replaced by Jamal Baker unless the Somali leaders agree upon the decision. More than ten leaders of Somali Region have been nominated from Addis; it is about to say no to the injustice to interfere in Somali affair. Dr. Abiy Ahmed does not manage Amhara, Oromro and other regions.
