Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region

A regional state of southern Ethiopia established under the 1995 federal order and dissolved in 2023, when its territory was reorganized into new regional states.

1995 Constitution of Ethiopia: Ethiopia’s constitution established an ethnic-federal system and recognized regional states and nations, nationalities, and peoples. The constitution provided the federal framework in which the region was established.
Nations, nationalities, and peoples: A constitutional category in Ethiopia for communities recognized as possessing shared identity and rights within the federal state. The region’s name and constitutional basis invoked this category.
Sidama referendum: A 2019 referendum in which voters in Sidama Zone supported creating a separate regional state. Its result led directly to Sidama’s departure from the former region.
Sidama people: An ethnic group native to southern Ethiopia, with Sidama as its principal language and homeland. Sidama political mobilization drove the first successful separation from the region.
Ethiopian federalism: Ethiopia’s system of federal government organizes much authority through constitutionally recognized regional states. The region’s status and boundaries arose within this federal arrangement.
Ethnic federalism: A form of federalism that organizes political authority partly around ethnic or national communities. The region’s multiethnic composition reflected Ethiopia’s use of ethnicity in regional governance.
South West Ethiopia referendum: A 2021 referendum in which voters supported establishing a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. The vote converted a demand for regional autonomy into a new state.
Wolayta people: An ethnic group in southern Ethiopia whose language, Wolaytta, belongs to the Omotic branch of the Afroasiatic family. Wolayta communities formed a major part of the region and sought greater political autonomy.
Sidama Region: A regional state in southern Ethiopia created in 2020 after a referendum for autonomy from the former Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region. Its creation was the first major territorial separation from the region.
Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front: A coalition that governed Ethiopia from 1991 to 2019 and built the country’s ethnic-federal system. Its government created and administered the framework that shaped the region.

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