This Ethnic federalism policy is not only a threat to peace, but it is also an antithesis to democracy and individual liberty. To make matters worse, ethnic federalism can not even be peacefully implemented because many territories are still contested between tribal elites. When modern Ethiopians support civic nationalism and oppose ethnic federalism; tribal elites usually accuse them of nostalgia for feudalism or unitary state. To the contrary, the modern alternative to ethnic federalism is not a unitary one, but MORE federalism. Abiy’s rhetoric promoting Ethiopian nationalism and his recent plan to create an “Identity Commission” shows that he knows that the current ethnic federalism has major problems.

Source: Ethiopian News February 23, 2019 17:26 UTC