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Ethiopia, Revolution, and the Question of Nationalities: the Case of the Afar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Kassim Shehim
Kassim Shehim
Affiliation:
Department of History, Bowie State College, Maryland.
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Extract

Of all the serious problems facing the present rulers of Ethiopia none has proved to be more elusive or challenging than the question of nationalities. Since the 1974 revolution there has been a proliferation of liberation movements calling for either regional autonomy or outright secession from Ethiopia. Although the Somalis and the Eritreans have long sought to break away from Ethiopia and have waged an armed struggle for many years, the Afar, Oromo, and Tigrean movements are recent developments which manifested themselves openly after the overthrow of Haile Sellassie. Their discontent with the weakened central Government, which they saw as insensitive to their needs, had long been brewing, and now threatens the viability of Africa's oldest state.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , June 1985 , pp. 331 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

1 According to the Ethiopian Government a group of people may qualify as a nation if it has (1) a common territory, (2) a common language, (3) a common psychological make-up manifested in a common culture, and (4) an historically constituted, stable community formed on the basis of an advanced economic life. The Afar seem to fit this definition of a national group.

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3 Shehim, op. cit. p. 109.

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