The people of the Southwest joined the federation as a new region in a sign of the path of reform undertaken in our nation in the exercise of political rights, Ahmed said through a message.

“One of the pillars of unity is diversity. A federal system allows citizens to choose how to govern themselves and contribute to the construction of the state. We proved it in practice”, he said.

He also congratulated the people of southwestern Ethiopia for exercising “their constitutional rights in a peaceful, legal and democratic way” in a process that included the formal request for recognition as a regional state, a referendum and the official establishment of jurisdiction.

Following a petition made in November 2018, on September 30, residents of Bench Sheko, Dawuro, Keffa, Sheka, West Omo and the Konta Special District participated in a vote to determine whether they formed the new state.

The majority voted in favor of establishing it and those territories were separated from the Region of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of the South (SNNPR). Now Ethiopia officially has 11 ethnic regions and two special cities.

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