Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State: The Ethiopian Experience 1991-2000 Lovise Aalen r 2002: 2

Entrenching a federal system
The federal system in Ethiopia was formally established when the new
constitution of 1994 came into force in August 1995. But the process of
devolution of political power had already started some years before as a result
of the provisions of the transitional period charter from 1991 and
proclamations from the central government in the transitional period.
As mentioned in chapter 4, the rights defined in the transitional period do
not have any constitutional guarantees attached to them. Hence, the
government was in principle free to federalise and then recentralise as it

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pleased, because there were no provisions that prevented the charter and the
proclamations to be unilaterally changed. It is the constitution of 1994 that
formally entrenches the federal system in Ethiopia. Here, the regional
representation and the division of powers and duties between the regional and
central governments are set and cannot be unilaterally altered without breaking
the constitution. The transitional charter of 1991 and various government
proclamations are nevertheless important documents in the analysis of the
Ethiopian federal model de jure, because they lay the foundation for the
constitutional entrenchment and might as well clarify points that are
ambiguous in the constitution.
The delimitation of regional units and the establishment of regional
self-government
The transitional charter does not include any detailed provisions on how to
practically devolve political power. The only concrete stipulation is article 13,
where the government is obliged to draft a law establishing local and regional
councils and to arrange an election for these councils within three months after
the establishment of the transitional government. The charter lacks also any
definition of the units that would be granted the right to self-determination. In
other words, it is not clear which nations, nationalities and peoples that would
be granted their own administration. This was sorted out when the structures
of each regional unit were formally established by proclamation 7 of 1992
(7/92). Twelve regional units, here called national/regional self-governments,
were listed and defined on the basis of ethnic identities.
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Two additional units
were the “city state” of Addis Ababa, where the administration was responsible
to the central government and not to its regional government, and the
multiethnic city of Dire Dawa in the Somali region, which was directly
administered by the central government. Only five of the ethnically defined
states are relatively homogenous and have an ethnic majority (Tigray, Amhara,
Afar, Somali, and Oromiya). The four regions in the south are very
heterogenous with more than 45 ethnic groups altogether, while Gambella and
Benishangul-Gumuz have no clear majority group. The population in Harari is
ethnically mixed, and the non-indigenous Amhara and the Oromo constitute
the majority. No official demarcation of the regional boundaries took place in
connection with the designation of the regional units
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.
Proclamation 7/92 defines the structures of the regional self-governments
and the division of power between the central transitional government and the
self-governments in a relatively detailed manner (chapter 2). These structures
are in many ways similar and as detailed as those which were later outlined in
the constitution. It also includes a provisions on the administration below the
regional level, by stating that “the basic unit of hierarchy of every
National/Regional Transitional Self-Government shall be the woreda;..”
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”Nation” or ”Nationality” means a people living in the same geographical area and having
a common language and a common psychological make up of identity” (Procl. 7/92, Art.7)