Regions of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a federation subdivided into ethno-linguistically based Regional States (plural: kililoch; singular: ክልል kilil) and chartered cities (plural: astedader akababiwach; singular: astedader akabibi). This system of administrative regions replaced the provinces of Ethiopia in 1992 under the Transitional Government of Ethiopia and was formalised in 1995 when the current Constitution of Ethiopia came into force.

Regions and chartered cities of Ethiopia
Also known as:
States
CategoryFederation
LocationFederal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Created1992
Number10 Regions
2 Chartered Cities (as of 2004)
GovernmentRegion government
SubdivisionsDistrict (woreda)
Ethiopia
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Ethiopia
The Regions and Chartered Cities of Ethiopia, their respective flags, their capitals, and their largest cities.

The regions are each governed by a regional council whose members are directly elected to represent districts (woreda). Each council has a president, who is elected by the council. The regions also have an executive committee, whose members are selected by the president from among the councilors and approved by the council. Each region has a sector bureau, which implements the council mandate and reports to the executive committee.[1]

There are currently nine regional states and two chartered cities, the latter being the country's capital Addis Ababa, and Dire Dawa, which was chartered in 2004. Being based on ethnicity and language, rather than physical geography or history, the regions vary enormously in area and population, the most notable example being the Harari Region, which has a smaller area and population than either of the chartered cities. When they were originally established in 1992, there was a larger number of regions, but five regions were merged to form the multi-ethnic Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region later in 1992, following the first elections of regional councils on 21 June 1992.[2]

The word "kilil" more specifically means "reservation" or "protected area".[3] The ethnic basis of the regions and choice of the word "kilil" has drawn fierce criticism from those in opposition to the ruling party who have drawn comparisons to the bantustans of apartheid South Africa.[4]

List of regions and city administrations
The nine regions and two city administrations
Map Flag Name Population[5] Area (km2)[6] Population
per km2		 Capital
1 Addis Ababa (city) 3,273,000 526.99 5,198.49 Addis Ababa
2 Afar Region 1,723,000 722.78 19.58 Semera
3 Amhara Region 27,401,000 154,708.96 177.11 Bahir Dar
4 Benishangul-Gumuz Region 1,005,000 50,698.68 13.23 Asosa
5 Dire Dawa (city) 440,000 1,558.61 219.32 Dire Dawa
6 Gambela Region 409,000 29,782.82 10.31 Gambela
7 Harari Region 232,000 333.94 549.03 Harar
8 Oromia Region 33,692,000 284,537.84 95.45 Addis Ababa[7]
9 Somali Region 6,453,000 279,252 (est.) 15.90 Jijiga
10 Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region 18,276,000 105,476 142.06 Hawassa
11 Tigray Region 5,056,000 53,638 94.66 Mek'ele

Proposed regions

In November 2019, a referendum was held in the Sidama Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, in which voters supported a proposal for Sidama Zone to become a region in its own right.[8] In December 20, 2019, the Welayta Zone of the SNNPR held a rally to oppose the failure of the regional council to send the request of Welayta Zone to become a National Regional State to the National Board of Election to arrange a Refendum. Before that, there was also a rally in Welayta Zone in May 2019 for regional statehood.[9]

See also

References
  1. Yilmaz, Serdar; Venugopal, Varsha (2008). Local Government Discretion and Accountability in Ethiopia (PDF). Working Paper 08-38. International Studies Program, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  2. Lyons, Terrence (1996). "Closing the Transition: The May 1995 Elections in Ethiopia". Journal of Modern African Studies. 34 (1): 135. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00055233. JSTOR 161741.
  3. "kilil". Amharic Dictionary. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019.
  4. Demaret, Luc (29 October 2002). "'They knew I would rather die than give up the fight': Interview with Taye Woldesmiate (Ethiopia)". International Labour Organization. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 15 July 2012. 'Since 1993, the education system has been substantially decentralised, with responsibility passing to the provincial authorities.' ... as Taye Woldesmiate went on to point out, the government 'decided to use education policy to promote its own political agenda, meaning its ethnic policy to divide the country'. At the time, teachers denounced this shift. 'The regime created apartheid-type Bantustan states called "killils", or homelands. Citizens are confined within their "killils" never to seek education or jobs outside their homeland', they said.
  5. "Ethiopia". City Population.
  6. "2011 National Statistics" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2014-12-10.
  7. "Oromia Regional State". Ethiopian Government Portal. 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  8. https://www.theafricareport.com/20880/the-sidama-have-voted-for-their-own-state-so-what-next/
  9. Addis Standard
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