Hiiraan Online
Wednesday August 22, 2018
Addis Ababa (HOL) - Local media in Ethiopia have announced that council members from the Ethiopian Somali People Democratic Party (ESPDP) have unanimously decided to appoint Mustafa Muhumed Omer as the acting president of the Somali Regional State (SRS) in Ethiopia. There will be regional state elections in 2020.
Born in 1973 in Dhagaxbuur (Degehabur) in the SRS, Omer is a well-regarded critic of Abdi Iley’s strong-arm rule and abuse of human rights by the controversial Liyu police. He has a Masters of Science degree in Agricultural Economics.
Omer will be replacing, Ahmed Abdi Mohamed, the 32-year-old regional Minister of Finance who was served as the interim President. Mohamed himself replaced embattled Somali regional President Abdi Mohamoud Omar (Abdi Iley) who agreed to step down after an “amicable settlement” to the military standoff that has gripped Jigjiga and its surrounding areas. By many accounts, at least 30 people lost their lives in the instability.
Ostensibly, the removal of Abdi Mohamoud Omar (Abdi Iley) as President of the SRS is aimed at pacifying Ethiopia’s second largest region, and restoring stability where there were widespread reports of looting, destruction of property and violence over the weekend has led to death and displacement.
Prior to this latest development, the newly minted chairman of the Ethiopian Somali People Democratic Party (ESPDP), Ahmed Shide, has announced that three senior members of his party have been removed from the executive committee and three members of the executive committee for their role in inciting ethnic violence in the region during a power struggle.
Abdi Iley’s has ruled the Somali region in Ethiopia with an iron fist since and both him and his Liyu Police have been accused by human rights groups of committing a litany of abuses against the civilian population. His increasingly autocratic rule was sanction by the previous Ethiopian federal government to quell unrest in the unruly region.