An Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia

An Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia 

CC: Minister of Federal Affairs -Shiferaw Teklemariam

CC: Minister of Justice -Birhan Hailu

CC: President SRS, Abdi Mohamud Omar

Ref: The Constitutional Rights of the Citizens of The Shinile Region Are Violated.

We, the Diaspora of the Shinile region, who lives in Europe and North America, are hereby joining our voices and concerns to the voices and concerns of our people in that region. According to the information we received from the region, the Shinile community held a general open conference in Dire-Dawa at the Residence of the Ugaas his Excellency Ugaas Mustapha  Ibrahim Ugaas Waise on 20/03/11, the conference was  attended by many demographically diverse individuals and groups including, but not limited to, the Ugaas, head of tribes and clans, Scholars, Sheikhs, Intellectuals, Politicians, Students, business people and people who work both  in the public and private sectors.

The Agenda of the conference was to discuss and make awareness of the present status and the future of their region, Shinile, but the major cause was triggered by the news of March 15, 2011, the president of the Somali Regional State, Mr. Abdi Mohamud Omar asked the regional parliament to approve the following proposals:

1)      To create two more  symbolic positions for the office of vice president

2)      To create 15 more districts to the Somali region stat.

As usual, the above proposals were rubber-stamped by Mr Omar despite the objections of whole Shinile district and many  more in the Somali region.  

The participants of the Dire-Dawa  conference discussed this issue in depth where every speaker was listened to and given an amble time to speak his / her views, then voted for the final decision.

The Conference issued the following statements:   The two bills (proposals) mentioned above 1 & 2 were unanimously rejected.

The conference, also, verified that the truth of this decision is nothing more than a calibration of a tribal mandate, to appease some of his clans in the state at the expense of Shinile community whose role in the region has been severely curbed.

We are deeply disappointed with this move. We believe this decision is a mockery of justice and violation of the country’s constitution which clearly defines what constitutes a district. We believe the president understands this but is unwilling to do the right thing secondary to tribal politics in the Somali Regional State. But, one may ask, how long will the region’s leadership continue putting tribal politics before the regional state politics?

We demand the president to stop his toxic tribalism that tears apart the tribal bonds between communities. It’s a shame that he had to do this humiliating dance to an issue that demands honesty and practical leadership.

b)  The conference made it clear that these proposals are against the article that the communities in the Somali regional state agreed on to maintain the fairness and balance of power sharing and wealth sharing.

The conference rejected the 15 additional districts, because this project is a dishonest initiative by Mr. Abdi in order to mislead the public opinion in the region, making this unrealistic project an achievement in his term, which is not. Continued