By Karamarda Group
Note: Five years ago this month Karamarda’s first article appeared on Wardheernews analyzing the 2010 Ethiopian election. Since then, the Karamarda Group published various articles that sought to inform interested readers about the politics of the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The Karamarda Group would like to take this opportunity to thank Wardheerenews for giving us a platform to share these ideas, and our readers for taking the time to critique our work. Your support, encouragements, and critique all contribute to a healthy debate about the future of our Region and motivate us to continue publish these articles.
Ethiopian Election:
The 2015 Ethiopian election will mark a new beginning for the leadership of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). This election will be without strong and powerful Tigray leader at the helm of Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). As such, the election is merely a power contest between the current joint leadership consisting of ministers, vice-prime misters and prime minster Hailemariam Desalegn, rather than a multi- party election between various competing political parties. There is no political space in Ethiopia to organize as opposition parties by the federal or Ethnic Administrative Regions, and there is no meaningful process to campaign for an election either. In the end, as in previous elections, the EPRDF candidates will usurp 99% of the parliamentary 547seats.
The Somali Region of Ethiopia:
The Somali Region has been under military rule since it is occupation and is currently considered a security risk to the entire country. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) is waging a war of independence for more than 20 years, and Somalia’s insecurity with Al Shabaab, has provided a convenient pretext for the Ethiopian military to become de facto rulers of the Somali Region, with the help of Abdi Omer, the autocratic Regional president.
Abdi Omer has made a lot of changes to the Somali Region’s electoral map. He added 15 new electoral districts including one for his subclan. The formations of these new districts were not based on citizen dialogue or parliamentary process, but rather a promise Omer made to his supporters among the Somali Region Diaspora and for political calculations. In the old electoral map, only the Region’s capital city, Jigjiga had five representatives, whereas the other zonal capitals had three or four based on the population estimates, and sometime depending on the political climate. And yet, the village of Mersin in Korahe (Qoraxey) Zone where Omer’s sub clan is based has garnered five representatives; more than the capital city of that zone, Kebri Dahar (Qabri-Dahar).
In a previous article, “Political Drama in the Somali Region of Ethiopia,” we shared the unsuccessful attempt made by junior politicians to overthrow the president, the division among the Tigray élites, the military’s support for Abdi Omer, and the power vacuum in Addis. The junior politicians were ill prepared for the vicious attack from Omer, and since then a number of that group’s members (e.g., Abdullahi Ethiopia) has capitulated and rejoined the president’s camp. Nonetheless, the junior politicians’ revolt was not in vain; it has shaken and weakened the president’s political position, and, as a result, increasingly ordinary folks are voicing openly their dissatisfactions with his administration. With that tension at home and looming uncertainty of his political future,Omer set his sights on gaining support from the Region’s Diaspora. His 2015 election campaign effectively begun in Minneapolis, Minnesota; far from his constituency where he is purportedly seeking re-election.
Why campaign abroad and not at home?
Abdi Omer has been at the helm of the Somali Regional State since 2010 with unlimited military and financial power. He has reportedly created private companies and associations run by his kinsmen, operates a large, overcrowded prison in the Region (Jail Ogaden), and commands a force of 30, 000 paramilitary police. He has the license to imprison or kill anyone he wants in the Somali Region. However, a number of TPLF and EPRDF leaders, including the current Prime Minster, are concerned about the international and local ramification arising from his transgressions.
The Somali Region presents a political dilemma and predicaments for Ethiopia, a country that heavily depends on international aid and its human right record and the collective punishment of the people of the Somali Region widely reported and discussed. To stay in power, Abdi Omer’s political bargaining capital with TPLF leaders are based on two elements: 1) The atrocity he commits against his people as a sign of loyalty to TPLF; and 2) The “Ethiopanization” of the Somali Diaspora –he claims his Diaspora tours has been instrumental in shifting the Somalis’ outlook of Ethiopia (i.e., increasing number of Somalis from the Region identify as Ethiopians). Hence, Abdi Omer is fast running out of bargaining chips with his comrades in Addis, once again he sought support from the prone to division and fragile Somali Diaspora.
Campaigning among the Diaspora could only mean one thing: Publicity – assemble as many Diaspora supporters as possible in a glossy five-star hotel and videotape. In his previous two trips to the US, Omer’s meetings were aired on state-owned media and on daily basis for the past three years on the Regional media. And so it appears the only plausible justification for a leading official facing re-election in a few months to travel and spent almost a month overseas is simply to generate hype.
According to some of his supporters in Minneapolis and DC, so far, the Diaspora are resisting throwing a blank check, as in the past; they’re divided on whether to welcome or abandon him. As a result, Omer has reportedly ordered his staff in Jigjiga to call family and relatives in Minneapolis to solicit participation for his welcome or risk losing their jobs. Still, even his staunchest supporters are no longer keen on welcoming him; and so he has been camping out for more than a week in Washington, DC waiting to be called to Minneapolis.
Conclusion
We remind the Minneapolis Diaspora that they are far away from Jigjiga and Jail Ogaden. They have the right to support whomever they want, but support without accountability is not support but fear. The signs of a traumatized community are lack of just leadership, lack of trust, paranoia, and confusion. These symptoms are apparent in Minneapolis’s Diaspora community where fear for loved ones back in the Somali Region is in conflict with what is right or wrong on matters of national interests. We call on those who have decided to welcome Abdi Omer to at least ask the right questions about: the violations in jail Ogaden, the power abuse of Liu Police, the rampant nepotism among his kinsmen, the lack due process in the courts, and the absence of transparency and accountability in the financial sector. Finally, we want to forewarn the boiling tension in Jigjiga regarding landownership, city council representation and the systematic elimination of more than 300 jobs in the city council. The nomination of Abdi Omer’s kinsman to represent Jigjiga city council is also adding insult to injury; it is well calculated step to create distrust and hostility. The Diaspora supporters have to demand from Abdi and his cabinet to immediately stop instigating tensions in Jigjiga between communities.
Ali Abdi
Karamarda Group
Executive Committee
Email:[email protected]
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The Karamarda Group is a group of Somali Regional State citizens who are interested in promoting Democracy and Good Governance in the Somali Region of Ethiopia.
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