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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Article 39 of the Ethiopian Constitution on secession and self-determination: a panacea to the nationality question in Africa? |
| Author: | Abdullahi, Ahmednasir M. |
| Year: | 1998 |
| Periodical: | Verfassung und Recht in Übersee |
| Volume: | 31 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Pages: | 440-455 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ethiopia |
| Subjects: | self-determination constitutions 1994 |
| Abstract: | Ethiopia, as the oldest State in Africa, has gone full circle in constitutional engineering. At one time it was a feudal monarchy, replaced by a Marxist military dictatorship, punctuated by various ethnic rebellions, culminating in the creation of Eritrea through secessionist self-determination and the incorporation of the right of secession and self-determination in the current constitution. Through article 39 the Ethiopian Constitution of 1994 not only restates the international law position on secession and self-determination but goes one step further, departing from both international law and the interim Constitution by excluding any mention of the factors to be considered in the exercise of the right to secession and self-determination, thereby making the exercise of such a right easier and more practical. At the same time, the danger of abuse seems farfetched in that the philosophy that underlies the Constitution is a voluntary union of tribes, nationalities and people. Article 39 allows this free union to be dissolved or at least altered by any member who is no longer satisfied with the status quo in Ethiopia as a State. Ethiopia has, for the first time, given the State in Africa an 'African look', adopting an indigenous form of governance whereby the various ethnic nationalities have an overwhelming power over the central government. Notes, ref., sum. (p. 423). |
