Disaster, Relief and Political Change in Southern Ethiopia: Developments from within Suri Society

Abstract

The early 1990s saw substantial changes in the Horn, especially in terms of politics and socio-economic organization. Previous dictatorial structures chaacterized by political stagnation and economic crises were brought down by demands for democratization, economic restructuring, ethnoregional rights and state independence. The process of change in Ethiopia after demise of the Mengistu regime in 1991 resulted in a remarkable turn toward ‘ethnicization’ of political and public life under a Transitional Government (TGE) led by the former rebel movement Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EHADIG, in its Amharic and Tigrinya acronym). Explicit recognition of ethnic groups or ‘nationalities’ as units on which to base political parties and regional administrative structures is being incorporated in the new constitution and being adopted in education and language policies. Whether positive or negative, its future effects on development policy execution, through the Ethiopian government or through foreign NGOs, will be significant.