Ethnic federalism in Ethiopia faces significant challenges, particularly regarding national fragmentation and the consistent implementation of human rights standards. While the system was designed to accommodate ethnic diversity, it has raised concerns about the country’s unity and stability. The FDRE Constitution explicitly grants the right to self-determination, including secession, which brings the risks of fragmentation and disintegration into practical consideration (Article 39, FDRE Constitution, 1995). Given these risks, many question the long-term viability of ethnic federalism in sustaining a unified federal system. If the right to secession leads to disunity, then the very mechanism intended to resolve ethnic tensions becomes a source of instability rather than a solution.
During the 2007 election campaign, various political parties debated the merits and drawbacks of ethnic federalism. Opposition party leaders argued that the ethnic-based federal system had failed to deliver on promises of development, democracy, and unity. They claimed it perpetuated poverty, restricted individual liberties and good governance, and fostered mistrust among ethnic groups. These conditions, they asserted, discouraged cross-ethnic organization and reinforced the political dominance of the ruling party.
Since the transitional charter of 1991 and the adoption of the 1995 FDRE Constitution, critics argue that Ethiopia’s experience with ethnic federalism has yielded more problems than solutions. One of the most fundamental challenges is what can be described as “integrating while disintegrating.” Granting unconditional rights to secession within a framework that aims to preserve national unity is both conceptually flawed and practically dangerous.
Defining Ethiopia along ethnic lines has produced inherent challenges. Ethnic divisions, rather than promoting harmony, have often sparked and sustained conflict. The ethnic-based structuring of federal units has diminished the broader sense of national identity. A direct consequence of this model is the erosion of “Ethiopianism”—a shared national identity. In contemporary Ethiopia, ethnic loyalty increasingly takes precedence over national citizenship, a trend not seen to this extent at any other point in the country’s history. As a result, the need of the current as well as the future generation is to rebuild the country, abolishing ethnic sentiments. To achieve this, changes in the constitution are found to be mandatory due to the rise of ethnic federalism has coincided with a decline in national cohesion and unity.
Habesha Law 