Ethiopia’s Ethnic Policy Poses Risk of ‘Violent Eruption’

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By Jason McLure

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Ethiopian government’s policy of dividing administration of the country along ethnic lines and its rigid grip on power could lead to a “violent eruption” that may destabilize the country,” the International Crisis Group said.

The division has “sharpened differences” between groups such as Ethiopia’s Oromo and Somali communities as they compete for local control of natural resources, according to the ICG.

“Without genuine multi party democracy, the tensions and pressures in Ethiopia’s polities will only grow” before next year’s elections, the Brussels-based group said in an e-mailed report on Sept.4

A crackdown by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government following 2005 federal and regional elections in which security forces killed at least 193 protesters and arrested an estimated 30,000 people, “demonstrated the extent to which the regime is willing to ignore popular protest and foreign criticism to hold on to power,” according to the report.

After ousting Ethiopia’s former Communist Derg regime in 1991, Meles’s Tigray People’s Liberation Front redrew the administrative regions of the country, basing regional governance along ethnic lines.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via the Johannesburg bureau at abolleurs@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 7, 2009 06:11 EDT