JIGJIGA (Halbeeg News) – Ethiopia’s Somali regional parliament on Friday endorsed a proposal to restore the previous flag of the state.
The previous flag was a green-white-dark red horizontal tricolour with a light blue triangle at the hoist charged by a white star.
In 2008 the leader of the state, Abdi Mohamoud Omar (now ousted) changes the flag with the current flag of the state which is a green-white-dark red horizontal tricolour with a yellow triangle defaced with a tan camel in the centre.
The legislators also voted to officially refer to the region as Somali Regional State (SRS) which was proposed by the state’s new leader Mustafa Omer.
Ethiopia is divided between ethnically demarcated federal regions that are intended to give different ethnicities a degree of self-rule but have been criticised for exacerbating ethnic tensions.
The Somali region is the second-largest and has been bedevilled by conflict lasting two decades with the government fighting the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) that was seeking secession of the oil-rich region.
Last month, ONLF declared a unilateral ceasefire and announced that it would cease armed resistance.
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