(Befekadu Hailu)
Can Addis Ababa city be entitled to self-identification and self-determination? It seems an easy question until you delve deeper into the political discourse surrounding the city, i.e., the tension between Addis Ababa's cosmopolitan reality and the ethnically defined structure of the Ethiopian federation. I am writing this essay with the belief that resolving the Addis Ababa puzzle will open the way to a solution for Ethiopia’s challenge of building a civic polity.
Adanch Abebe, the Mayor of Addis Ababa, has convened a consultation with Addis Ababa residents on contemporary issues on June 11, 2025. The youth in the meeting were compartmentalized by ethnicity, each with their associated attire; some of these attires reflected religious identity. The fact that the youth are dressed in ethnic uniforms made the consultation meeting more like a pre-planned stunt show rather than a genuine and spontaneous consultation meeting between the city’s administration and its residents. However, what attracted me the most is the fact that these groupings reveal how the government perceives the residents of Addis Ababa. Yes, Addis Ababa is home to a diverse range of groups. Still, the regime prefers to view them in divided ethnic groups, as if the rules of ethnicity in homogeneous settlements can also apply to diverse and urban settings.
In this piece, I will explain why both the EPRDF and the Prosperity Party are not able to resolve the issues of Addis Ababa residents unless they understand them as they are.
The FDRE constitution and the charter of Addis Ababa both claim to enshrine self-governing rights of the city’s residents. Unfortunately, the political rhetoric is at odds with the actual practice. In reality, Addis Ababa is a city administered by the protectorate party. Addis Ababa, as much as it is privileged with its status as a capital or, as some call, a “crown city,” is a victim of over-ethnicized ideologies. In Ethiopia’s ethnic federation, regional states, special zones, and special woredas are demarcated along ethnic lines. Addis Ababa, a diverse urban settlement for over a century, has been denied its cosmopolitan identity and was forced to adhere to ethnic and linguistic rules.
Unlike rural settlements, urban settlements are naturally heterogeneous. The ancestral origins of its residents are typically diverse, both ethnically and geographically. People with different religious views coexist side by side. Therefore, the rules that govern citizens of cities must always be civic and secular; the ethnolinguistic or cultural virtues that vary across communities cannot be used to rule cities harmoniously. However, this is especially true for all, especially in city politics, that political participation should not be limited by narrow principles of belonging to an ethnic group or a birthplace. This has resulted in two main challenges that I will explore further later: denial of self-identification and denial of self-determination.
