The Somali Regional State of Ethiopia is facing mounting challenges of identity politics, repression, bad governance, and abject poverty. One of few remaining peaceful regional states of Ethiopia could face combustible clan violence – a region where clan division remains as explosive as Somalia.Unless the Federal government and local administration address historical grievances, political marginalisation of the silent majority, and the misrule of Ogaden Clan dominated administration.

There are over 15 different Somali Sub-clans living in the state, which is the second largest state by land mass, and one of the poorest in Ethiopia. Most are communal farmers and pastoralists living in abject poverty. Government services including education, health, and water are very limited or non-existent. Electricity is intermittent. 

Trading with neighbouring Somaliland or Somalia is limited because of high tariffs, stringent and  outdated regulation from the Federal government. The region has high youth unemployment and even their college graduates do not receive their fair share of employment from the Federal government or the limited private sector that exists in Ethiopia, including the Ethiopia Airlines. As a result, some of the young men are risking their lives in the deserts, oceans, and even the Amazon Jungle to reach Europe, North America or South Africa for a better life.

In fact, Ethiopia’s rapacious rulers, where they were the feudal emperor or Marxist Derg, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and even the current Prime Minister Abiy, treated the Somalis as a second-class citizen, being viewed with suspicion not loyal to Ethiopia and with a pro- secessionist agenda. As a result, the Central government modus of operandi for the region is: Repression, violence, and military occupation.

That attitude reflects how the local Somali Regional authority mistreats their own citizens. When the regional administration delivering   justice or securing public safety, it deploys a brutal force. There are also serious reports of alleged human rights violations including reports of extra judicial killings and lethal use of force by a paramilitary Liyu (“Amharic for “First”) Police in the region, which has little or no formal training or discipline, yet it has the full support of Ethiopia’s Federal Government.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a brutal group that misruled Ethiopia for two decades, initially set up the Liyu police as a counter insurgency force against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), Egyptian Proxy group fighting to secede from Ethiopia. The un-elected President of the Somali region, Mustafa “Cag-jar” Omar, commands and controls the Liyu police. Most of the Liyu police are recruited from his own Ogaden clan. 

Although the scale of abuses by the Liyu Police is lower than the previous TPLF dominated regime, Mustafa Cag-jar, who came to power as a reformer, is still using  that force to bully and intimidate the civilian Somali population and the independent media. The Liyu police’s “scorched-earth” tactics include: “Mass killing, kidnappings, rape, looting livestock, destroying wells, and razing villages to the ground,” according to the Human Rights Watch.

On December 25, 2024, the Liyu Police, out of the gaze of the international media, mowed down hundreds of villagers including women and children, peace delegates. and community leaders in remote Da’awaley Township, Harshin District. Victims ranged from 2 years to 85 years, belonging to the Arab Subclan of Isaaq. The police burnt down 50 homes, forcing residents to flee and look for safety into neighbouring Somaliland, according to Somali news websites.

The Liyu police were responding to a dispute over a grazing land between the Ogaden and broader Isaaq sub-clans.  The Ogaden sub-clan is abusing its control of the Somali Regional State Government and using the Liyu police as a vehicle to grab more lands and forcibly displaced Isaaq clan from their ancestral lands.

The scale of brutality at Da’awaley Township underscores that the Liyu paramilitary force has not changed its behaviour or reformed itself because it is not a professional police force operating under the rule of law. It is neither protecting nor serving the people in the region, including the Isaaq and other Somali clans.

Therefore, It is time to end this state sanctioned reign of terror by the Liyu police, and for Ethiopian Authorities to disband the Liyu police and replace it with a more inclusive force from all Somali sub-clans in the region that abides by international human rights standards.

The Federal Government of Ethiopia must address the root cause of the violence in Da’awaley Township— which is concentration of Regional State government power and security forces into just one faction or a clan. This has allowed rogue paramilitary militias to brutalise the civilian population, despite the Regional State Government efforts to hide the atrocities in Da’awaley.

The recent controversial directive by the Somali Regional State President Mustafa Cag-jar to redraw the administrative regions has met with  backlash from the most  of the Somali communities because it was gerrymandered to benefit the Ogaden Clan at others’ expense. This is a distraction and noise  for the  failure of his government  to address basic communities needs and to combat the abject poverty that is plaguing the region. 

The Federal Government of Ethiopia should completely abandon ethnic based regional states in favour of smaller, geographical, and historically based regions that address people’s needs and services more effectively. For example, splitting the Somali regional State, which is a very vast state into two or three States makes sense and it is a bold step whose time has come. Maintaining the status quo would only lead to more abuses, corruption, and perpetual violence.

The Region has large deposits of oil and natural gas reserves, but before Addis Ababa can exploit the regions’ resources, the regional state Government needs radical reforms. Governance should be highly decentralised, with local people taking responsibility for local governance and public safety.

Currently, the Central government is plundering the resources from the regional people through backroom deals companies to export Natural Gas. The Somali Regional State people are asking for transparency, and they have the right to know the full details of the revenue-sharing agreement with the Federal Government for the export of the Natural Gas because they cannot afford to have their future stolen.

Crucially, holding a credible census in the region to decide how the state resources to be shared equitably among Somali clans in the state is past due. The population is estimated at 6.5 million, which is an undercount.

The local people are also demanding expanded political space to elect their own leaders rather than accepting the central government sycophants. They need a government that has the consent of most of the citizens in the region. If unrecognised Somaliland holds credible elections repeatedly, who not for the Regional State?

The west and South Africa should use all means necessary including aid cuts, travel restriction, and asset freezes to punish countries that perpetrate crimes against humanity not only in Ethiopia but throughout Africa.

Ultimately, It might not be too late to avert another peaceful Regional State of Ethiopia sliding into disaster. There is an urgent need for effective governance and accountability. We should create a climate of reconciliation  and healing to tackle historical grievances, blatant abuses committed by the Paramilitary Liyu police, and the monopolisation of Regional State government power and security forces into just one Clan. Concurrently, we must pursue truth, justice and accountability in order to move forward. More importantly, the Central and Regional Governments along with local community leaders should strive to work for a political process that enables different sub-clans to work and live together peacefully.

I have no doubt these corrective actions alone will not end the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia tragedy. But keeping the status will only lead to more clan driven violence, chaos and more police brutality like the Da’awaley incident!

* Ali-Guban Mohamed, Founder and Editor of Gubanmedia.com, covering the Horn of Africa Region.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.

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