{"id":191332,"date":"2021-06-07T22:23:08","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/why-young-ethiopians-in-oromia-and-sidama-fought-for-change\/"},"modified":"2021-06-07T22:23:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:23:08","slug":"why-young-ethiopians-in-oromia-and-sidama-fought-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/why-young-ethiopians-in-oromia-and-sidama-fought-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Why young Ethiopians in Oromia and Sidama fought for change"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Young people have been key drivers of social and political change<\/a> in Ethiopia going back to the closing decades of the imperial era<\/a>. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, university students played a crucial role in the massive protests that led to the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie\u2019s regime. A military regime<\/a> was installed in its place.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, an armed rebellion against the military regime \u2013 known as the Derg \u2013 was powered by young combatants. Most leaders of the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front \u2013 including prime minister-to-be Meles Zenawi \u2013 left university to join the armed struggle<\/a> that overthrew the Derg in 1991. <\/p>\n

These young people grew to be the country\u2019s governing elite as part of the Ethiopian People\u2019s Revolutionary Democratic Front, who would themselves be challenged<\/a> in the mid-2010s by a new crop of youths. This led once again to a change in the balance of power<\/a> in Addis Ababa with the rise of Abiy Ahmed in 2018.<\/p>\n

We are involved in a multi-year research project<\/a> to document young Ethiopians\u2019 concerns about institutions and governance. Our focus is on young people between the ages of 20 to 35 years in Oromia and Sidama. These have been centres of popular protests since 2015. This project brings together young people and members of parliament in conversations about the effectiveness of the country\u2019s representative institutions. A key question we asked was how institutions might be reformed to include and represent young people better. <\/p>\n

Under its federal structure, Ethiopia has 10 regional<\/a> parliaments, known as regional councils. At federal level is the house of people\u2019s representatives, made up of 547 directly elected MPs. The young people we spoke to said parliaments in Ethiopia had not lived up to their promise. They needed to be legitimate, representative, inclusive and vibrant enough to make better decisions and lead to better outcomes.<\/p>\n

These views matter in a country where over 70%<\/a> of the population is under the age of 30. Elections are scheduled for late June 2021. Initially scheduled for August 2020, they were delayed twice. The reasons given were logistical challenges and the conflict in Tigray, which was in part sparked by the delayed polls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Simmering discontent<\/h2>\n

The 2020 Afrobarometer<\/a> survey found that 53% of Ethiopians believed the government was managing the economy badly. In addition, 62% believed the government was doing a bad or very bad job of creating new jobs. Nearly 60% of people believed young people\u2019s needs were not being addressed. Over the last five years<\/a>, the Ethiopian currency has halved in value against the US dollar, raising the cost of living. <\/p>\n

Unresolved historical grievances over the distribution of power<\/a> between the central state and federal regions and a heavy-handed state response have heightened instability<\/a> in the country. Two recent popular protest movements \u2013 in Oromia and Sidama \u2013 point to this dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n

Protests in Oromia were triggered by the 2014 expansion<\/a> of Addis Ababa city boundaries into neighbouring Oromia region. This had the potential to displace farmers and undermine local land rights. <\/p>\n

The government plan was soon cancelled but protests led by young men and women \u2013 most of them students \u2013 continued. In 2018<\/a> the protesters forced out prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn, paving the way<\/a> for prime minister Abiy Ahmed.<\/p>\n