Ethiopians on Monday voted in a referendum on the creation of a 12th regional state in the south of the country, becoming the third such ballot in less than four years.
No fewer than three million people are registered to vote in areas that currently fall in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR), according to election board figures cited by state media.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the results of the exercise is expected to be announced on the 15th of February.
Since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, two new regional states have already been carved out: Sidama in 2019 and South West in 2021.
Both separated from the SNNPR, a mosaic of minority ethnic groups and scene of tension and violence in recent years.
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Africa’s second most populous country has faced several challenges to its unity and stability, including the two-year war in Tigray that ended with a peace deal in November and an ongoing insurgency in the largest region of Oromia.
The current constitution adopted in 1995, four years after the fall of the military-Marxist Derg regime, had initially divided Ethiopia into nine regional states, cut out along ethno-linguistic lines and enjoying considerable power in a federal system.
This ‘ethnic federalism’ was supposed to offer a degree of autonomy to the 80 or so ethnic communities that make up Ethiopia, but has been accused by critics of exacerbating inter-communal tensions.
In another report, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari stated that he received the tragic news of the murder of a number of Nigerian Muslim pilgrims on their way to Kaolak, Senegal, when the buses conveying them came under gun attack in Burkina Faso with deep sorrow.
In a statement that was obtained by Africa Today News, New York on Tuesday the President said the development is unwelcomed.
He expressed his condolences and prayed for the safety of other Nigerians stranded there.
According to the brief communique, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Nigerian Embassy in Burkina Faso, is engaging with the Burkinabe authorities and awaits the outcome of their investigation of the unfortunate incident, and if necessary, to ensure that all culprits are appropriately sanctioned.