While conflicts intensify in Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions in the north of the federal country, the international community calls on the parties to return to dialogue.
The conflicts that broke out again in Ethiopia have brought the issue of ethnic representation and local government issues back to the agenda in the country.
According to data from the Ethiopian Statistical Institute (ESS), more than 80 ethnic communities live in the country. In 2007, when the last comprehensive census was conducted, Oromos made up about 34.5 percent of the population, Amharas 26.9 percent, Somalis 6.2 percent, Tigrays 6.1 percent and Sidamas 4 percent.
Guragie, Welaita, Hadiya, Afar and Gamo peoples are among the country's other communities.
Ethnic identity finds a response in local government
According to the map of Ethiopia's administrative structure, Ethiopia consists of 12 regional states and two specially administered cities named Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa.
Dire Dawa, which is one of the two autonomous cities of Ethiopia that are not included in the state system, along with Addis Ababa, is accepted as an administrative and political solution to keep the complex ethnic structure in the region together in peace.
Oromos live mainly in Oromia, Amharas in Amhara, Tigrays in Tigray, and Somalis in the eastern state of Somalia.
While different communities coexist in big cities, especially the capital, the population of some states consists of more than one community.
The Ethiopian Constitution grants communities the right to establish their own governing institutions and develop their languages in the regions where they live. When determining the borders of the states, settlement patterns, language, identity and people's consent are taken into account.
According to the results of the Ethiopian National Electoral Board, Sidama became a separate state by referendum, showing that the demand for local government can change the administrative map of the country.
Article 39, one of the most debated provisions of the Constitution, recognizes the right of communities to self-governance as well as the right to leave the country.
However, the secession of a community requires its representatives to decide by a two-thirds majority and the request to be accepted in the subsequent referendum.
Religious and cross-border ties are also influential
Ethnic identity is not the only dimension of Ethiopia's social structure.
According to ESS's 2007 census, approximately 43.5 percent of the population is Orthodox, 33.9 percent is Muslim and 18.6 percent is Protestant.
The constitution states that state and religion are separate and that there is no official religion in the country. The fact that people from different religions live in the same community makes it difficult to read the ethnic and religious distribution as a single map.
The time that has passed since the last census keeps the debates about these rates alive.
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) studies of border areas show that the social ties of communities in Ethiopia extend beyond the country's borders.
Somalis live in Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya, and Afars also live in Eritrea and Djibouti. There are Oromo communities on both sides of the Kenyan border.
Kinship relations, trade and livestock-related mobility intertwine daily life in border regions with neighboring countries.
Ethiopia's ethnic and religious diversity is important for understanding both the local government system and the country's social relations with its environment.
Conflicts in Ethiopia
7 organizations and political structures from different regions of Ethiopia, including TPLF, announced on September 20 that they had formed an alliance against the federal government.
TPLF, which is considered the representative of the Tigray people, who constitute 6-7 percent of the Ethiopian population, and is the most effective component of the coalition, dominated the administration in the 1991-2018 period, and after losing power, had a civil war with the army in 2020-2022.
The clashes that broke out on September 23 between armed groups, including the TPLF, and the army intensified in the Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions.
At the center of the disputes between the parties are the sharing of power between the federal government and regional governments, political representation, territory and the status of security forces.
The international community, especially the African Union (AfB), the European Union (EU) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), is calling on the parties to stop the conflicts and return to direct negotiations over the increasing tension in the north of Ethiopia.
