Historical Foundation of the Sidama Regional Question: Overview
By Hawassa Teessonke, September 23, 2012 I listened to the interviews on VOA by the chairperson of the Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Sidama EPRDF administrator with curiosity. While the former voiced genuine concerns that the regime is abusing the basic rights of the Sidama people by unlawfully harassing and imprisoning innocent civilians for voicing their basic rights for regional self-administration, the responses provided by the EPRDF administrator are regrettably unbalanced, out of touch with the reality on the ground and are deceitful. We all know that Dukale Lamisso, Abate Kimo Hokola, Iyasu Ragassa, Boshola Gabisso and many other Sidama civilians have never committed any crime except stating publicly that as a nation with 3.4 million people, Sidama has both natural and constitutional right to regional self-administration. The Sidama people have presented a number of reasons why they should be granted regional self-administration with immediate effect. Among