Is Ethiopia Quietly Rewriting Its Federal Compact? The Stakes Could Not Be Higher

By Abdikarim Buh

If the reports circulating in Addis Ababa prove accurate, Ethiopia may be standing on the threshold of the most consequential constitutional and administrative transformation since the country embraced ethnic federalism in 1995.

According to multiple political sources, the ruling Prosperity Party (PP) is considering a sweeping reorganization of Ethiopia’s regional states into administrative “clusters”—a proposal that would fundamentally alter the architecture of governance in one of Africa’s most populous and politically complex nations.

Under the reported blueprint, Oromia would be divided into six administrative clusters, Amhara into four, and the Somali Regional State into three clusters centered in Jigjiga, Godey, and DoloAdo. Similar restructuring is reportedly being studied for other regions.