Spilling Blood over Water? The Case of Ethiopia 263
Devolution to the regional level of responsibility for managing water
resources reflects the current government's interest in decentralisation as a
political-administrative framework. The government's decentralisation policy
was initiated in 1992 with National/Regional Self-Governments Establish-
ment Proclamation No. 7, whereby Ethiopia was divided into 14 regions. The
number of regions has since been reduced to nine federal region states and
two administrative councils. The regional states are Afar, Amhara,
Benshangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Harari, Oromiya, Somali, Tigray and the
Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). Addis Ababa
and Dire Dawa are the two administrative councils.
In August 1995 the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was estab-
lished pursuant to a new constitution. The official aims of the new constitu-
tion are to:
transform the command centred economy into a 'market-oriented' economy;
promote continuous economic growth;
alleviate the structural dependence of the economy on external inputs and
promote self-reliance; and
create an enabling environment for popular participation through the
devolution of power to the regions to promote equitable and socially just
management of resources.Decentralisation and the establishment of autonomous administrative regions
are meant to bring the government closer to the people. By doing so, it is
anticipated that decision-making will reflect local needs, though at the cur-
rent time the regional governments remain highly dependent on Addis Ababa
for their capital and recurrent budgets pursuant to ongoing negotiations with
international financial institutions and bilateral donors. This greatly affects
their power to make decisions independently of the central state. Funher-
more, the present divisions between different regions cut broadly along eth-
nic lines. Each region roughly reflects the geographic distribution of the dom-
inant ethnic group. The boundaries between several regions are not yet
finalised due to the sensitivity of the regionalisation and the complicated
legal and policy reform proc&s on which it is based.
The national and regional councils, which are intended to be elected, have
the power "to issue designs, directives and strategies for the development
and protection of the environment: The executive committee has the power
to "make all appropriate efforts to develop, utilise and preserve the nation-
al/regional heritage and natural resources of the region pursuant to the gen-
eral policy guidelines of the [then] Central Transitional G~vernment""~. It is
assumed that in the future the role of central ministries will be limited to the
following functions: