Troubled Somali region in Ethiopia gets new leader after its strongman quits

By The Star Staff Writer

MOGADISHU – The ruling party of the troubled Somali region in Ethiopia has on Monday appointed Ahmed Abdi Mohamed, a youthful former minister, to become the territory’s new president, said officials and the local TV station, possibly to ease the standoff between the regional state and federal government over the management of the restive region.

It’s, however, uncertain whether the move will end the on-off intercommunal violence that has so far led to the death of dozens of people and threatened to plunge the area into further chaos.

Mohamed, 32, replaces the outgoing President Abdi Mohamud Omar who “voluntarily” resigned on Monday. Omar’s administration was accused of egregious violations of human rights in the region. He was an ally of the ousted Tigrayan ethnic group, and there is concern that if he’s not tamed in time he could become the tip of the spear for the old regime’s attempts to frustrate Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s reforms.

The executive committee of the ruling party, the Ethiopian Somali People’s Democratic Party, or ESPDP, has held an emergency meeting on Monday and discussed the need for change, said the local TV station in its 7:00 p.m. news bulletin.

“Now that we relieved the president of his duty, we propose that Ahmed serves as the acting president until the parliament approves his position,” said Mohamed Rashid Isaq, ESPDP’s leader who also doubles as the speaker of the region’s parliament.

The parliament is expected to rubber-stamp the ruling party’s decision.

The local TV station has shown party members overwhelming voting for Mohamed by raising their hands. It said the decision was based on article 60 of the region’s amended constitution.

The new president, who was a former vice president and minister of water development, quickly thanked party members who were shown meeting in a big but largely empty hall in a move that seemed to have been carefully choreographed.  Omar, the outgoing president, was not present at the meeting, and it’s not clear what prompted his abrupt resignation. He still retains his position as the chairman of the ruling party.

“I see that this is the committee that will save our people. The committee will now – as before – make use of its time as required,” said Mohamed, the new president who will now be ESPDP’s deputy leader.

He said the idea of changing the region’s leadership didn’t come from the party’s executive committee itself, but from the outgoing president, Omar, in a “voluntary” manner.

“We can say that ‘a peaceful transfer of power has taken place,’” he said, holding the microphone in his hands. “That is what was required of us. “

He said some people believed that the president will “hold onto power, and that he loves it.”

“President Mohamed Abdi Omar didn’t love the seat, but he loved the public,” he said. “We know that. We’re insiders. We’re the ones who know him and his state and behavior.”

He urged party members to avert divisions, saying: “We’re a team, and our system didn’t change.”

The relationship between the outgoing leader, Omar, and the federal government was fraught with tensions since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power four months ago after three years of protests that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and ended the tyrannical regime that was dominated by the minority Tigrayan group.

Although Somalis and Oromos have been fighting in recent months, the federal government’s decision to deploy its army in Jigjiga, the Somali region’s main city, has worsened the relationship between the two communities. Somali officials depicted the Ethiopian army as Oromo militias trying to occupy Somali regions.

On Saturday, the federal army briefly seized control of President Omar’s office, the region’s parliament building and local TV headquarters to reportedly forestall an attempt to secede the territory from the rest of the country. Local officials denied that such a move was in the works.

The army was, however, forced to retreat to the outskirts of the city after angry residents – some say they were members of the local paramilitary who shed their clothes — took to the streets and confronted it with rocks and anti-federal government chants.

Since Saturday several cities, including Jigjiga and Dire Dawa, have been wracked by intercommunal violence that killed dozens of people and destroyed properties, including churches.

Fitsum Arega, the chief of staff of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said the premier “deplores the violence and destruction of property in Jigjiga and Dire Dawa.”

“He expresses his condolences for the tragic loss of lives both in Dire Dawa and Jigjiga. These tragedies and cycle of violence must end,” he said in a twitter message late Monday.

Omar — popularly known as Abdi Iley, the one-eyed in English — is hated and loved in equal measure by the inhabitants of the region that was historically marginalized by Ethiopia’s successive governments. His detractors call him a “murderer”, while his fans refer to him as a “father.”

The ethnic Somalis living in the region — known both as Western Somalia and Ogaden — never voluntarily accepted Ethiopia’s rule since the 19th century, when the British government handed over the territory to Ethiopia.

Somalia and Ethiopia went to war over the area several times, most notably in 19977, when Somali forces briefly retook the region before Ethiopians pushed them back with the help of the Soviet Union and soldiers from Cuba.

The Somalia government has not officially renounced the territory, whose dispute still remains unresolved despite the relatively good relationship between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa. Ethiopian troops are a part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

The policy direction of the new leader is far from clear. But if his words are any guide, he may not veer too far from Omar’s course.

Just two days ago, Mohamed, the new leader, was one of the party members who strongly objected to the federal government’s decision to send its army to the Somali region.

In a Facebook message on Saturday, he also rejected Premier Ahmed’s alleged statement that Somalis will get a mere 5 percent of their region’s oil, “which is wrong,” he said in English.

“Stand up to the tribalistic enemy,” he urged the public in a live Facebook message. “From today on, we want to stand by our people that was being massacred. We will not tolerate this. We were guarding against an outside enemy, but we’re attacked by a tribalistic enemy.”