Spilling Blood over Water? The Case of Ethiopia 285It is suggested that in regions dominated by ethnic groups such as the Afar
and the Somali, pastoralists now have a high degree of power independent of
the central state, including decision-making pertaining to the management of
land and natural resources. Local and regional participation in decision-mak-
ing should be encouraged and the accountability of regional and central gov-
ernments improved. As federal entities, the regional states are empowered to
write their own constitution, elect a state legislature, set up state administra-
tive machinery and devise their own development plans. A major constraint
to the development of the Afar region in the past has been chronic instabili-
ty and the absence of effective administration.
As Bryden points out:
"After several years of gross mismanagement under previous regimes,
the new regional government gives cause for optimism that the next few
years will see real progress. Already, considerable emphasis is being
placed on the 'Afarisation' of social services - the training and employ-
ment of Afar personnel in posts previously held by members of other
social ethnic groups."1S8However, at the same time, it is suggested that "in essence, this is an act of
superimposing modern state machinery onto a transitional pastoral socio-
political str~cture".'~~ It is yet to be seen what effect regionalisation will
have on emergent social and political formations in the Awash Basin.
Moreover, "central authorities, whose commitment to decentralisation is
needed for reform, may see diffusion as a threat to their power. in these
senses, structuring local government requires an understanding of the
structure of incentives facing political leaders at both central and local gov-
ernment levels. "160
At this time, many regional governments are weak, inexperienced and lack
the capacity and human and financial resources to cany out their responsi-
bilities. Though certainly, there are now opportunities to redress the uneven
nature of development within some regions, in many others limited human
and financial capacities hinder any forward progress. There is little capacity
or knowledge to plan and coordinate conflict resolution effectively, for exam-
ple. In addition, there is some inequity in support from the federal govern-
ment, with certain regions receiving considerably greater support and
resources (including for capacity building) than others.
If this serves to increase regional disparities in effective development plan-
ning, finding effective solutions to the pastoral-irrigation problem, for
instance, will be further postponed. In addition, the spatial variability of nat-
ural resources between the regions is great: some regions are substantially
richer in natural resources than are others. However, transfer of resources
between regions to balance uneven distribution of natural resources is com-
plicated by poor transportation and communications infrastructure. This also