Mይሳው

🚨 Former Oromia Region President Aba Dula Gemeda in a resurfaced interview reveals why a 2004 referendum on disputed Moyale was canceled, citing Somali majority in the town An old interview featuring former Oromia Region President and former Speaker of Ethiopia’s House of Peoples’ Representatives, Aba Dula Gemeda, has recently resurfaced amid renewed fighting between Oromo and Somali forces along the Oromia–Somali regional border, including the disputed town of Moyale. In the interview, Aba Dula rejected accusations that he had handed over Moyale, a strategically important border town connecting Ethiopia to Kenya, to the Somali Region. He explained that longstanding territorial disputes between Oromo and Somali communities led authorities to divide Moyale into two administrative sections, one governed by Oromia Region and the other by Somali Region. Aba Dula revealed that a planned 2004 referendum covering Moyale and Bordode, near Dire Dawa, was suspended for two reasons: the approaching 2005 Ethiopian elections and the demographic composition of the disputed areas. He acknowledged that while Oromo communities predominantly inhabited surrounding rural areas, Somalis constituted the majority within Moyale town itself. According to Aba Dula, authorities consequently decided to examine historical territorial claims rather than proceed with a referendum that could have favored the Somali population. His remarks have also drawn renewed attention to a separate 2018 speech by another former Oromia Region President, Lemma Megersa, delivered to Oromo constituents shortly after the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO) rose to Federal power. In that speech, Lemma described changing the demographic composition of Addis Ababa and other major cities in Oromia as a central priority of the regional government. According to Lemma, the Oromia region government had begun implementing this strategy by relocating approximately 500,000 Oromo internally displaced persons (IDPs) uprooted during earlier violence along the Oromia–Somali regional border in 2017. Lemma explained that resettling the displaced population back in Somali Region or the neighboring Hararghe area would have been less expensive and more culturally and climatically suitable. Instead, he said, Oromia region authorities moved them to Addis Ababa and surrounding areas despite their objections to the colder climate. Lemma further described providing the relocated population with land and employment opportunities, arguing that economically empowering Oromo residents would strengthen the regional government's influence and control over major urban centers like Addis Ababa. Lemma had faced a major backlash from Amhara residents of Addis Ababa, where Amhara are the largest population in the city. Taken together, the resurfaced remarks highlight how the lack of a demographic advantage has been a major setback for Oromia Region politicians in advancing territorial claims against other ethnic groups. The comments by both former presidents suggest that demographic considerations have played a central role in territorial disputes and political strategies, from the decision to suspend the Moyale referendum over the Somali majority to Lemma Megersa’s stated efforts to alter the demographic composition of Addis Ababa and other major cities to strengthen Oromo political control.

🚨 Newly graduated Fano fighters can be heard chanting, “How can there be peace while Abiy is still around?”