Wolaytta (people)

A Wolaytta girl in Ethiopia

The Wolaytta or Wolaita ( Amharic ወላይታ Welayta ; other names: Welaytta and Walaytta ) are an ethnic group in Ethiopia . According to the 2007 census, a total of around 1.7 million Wolaytta live in Ethiopia, making up 2.31% of the total population. Of these, 289,707 live in urban areas. The Wolaytta live mainly in the Welayta Zone in the region of the southern nations, nationalities and peoples .

They speak the omotic language Wolaytta . They are mostly Protestant Christians , but there is also a significant minority of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians .

history

The Wolaytta had their own kingdom Wolaytta , which was incorporated into the expanding Ethiopian Empire in the 19th century . Administratively, since the time of the Derg regime , they had belonged to the North Omo area, which also included other omotic-speaking ethnic groups. Wolaytta leaders, however, emphasized the linguistic and cultural independence of the Wolaytta and called for an independent administrative area.

After the EPRDF came to power in 1991, the reorganization of the administrative structure of Ethiopia initially created a separate region 9 for the Wolaytta, but later this became the region of the southern nations, nationalities and peoples with regions 7, 8, 10 and 11 (SNNPR ) merged. The Wolaytta were again assigned to the North Omo zone . The regional government of the SNNPR was of the opinion that the Wolaytta were so close to the other groups in this zone that a separate zone was not justified for them. In 1998, she tried to establish an artificial language based on the various individual North Motors languages as the educational and administrative language of the North Omo Zone. After violent protests by the Wolaytta, this attempt was broken off. In November 2000 the Wolaytta finally enforced the establishment of their own Welayta zone within the SNNPR.

Known Wolaytta

Dejazmach Girma Sanato - Commander of the South Ethiopian militia during the Battle of Adua

Ambassador Teshome Toga Chanaka - Speaker of the People's House of Representatives

Warrant officer Manjura - one of the top officers in the Ethiopian Air Force under Emperor Haile Selassie

Bogale Walelu - Minister of Education under Emperor Haile Selassie.

Leuleselassie Temamo - Minister for Culture and Sport in the Transitional Government of Ethiopia ; Leueleselassie Temamo was the first Wolaytta to receive a ministerial post in the Ethiopian government since 1991

Hailemariam Desalegn - Prime Minister of Ethiopia since September 21, 2010.

Web links

Commons : Wolaytta (Volk) - collection of images, videos and audio files

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↑ Central Statistics Agency : "Census 2007" ( Memento from March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 4.53 MB), first draft, table 5.
↑ ^a ^b Lovise Aalen: Ethnic Federalism and Self-Determination for Nationalities in a Semi-Authoritarian State: the Case of Ethiopia , in: International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 13, 2006, pp. 285-260
↑ Thomas Zitelmann: Nation of the Oromo. Collective identities, national conflicts, we-group formation , 1994, ISBN 9783860930366 (p. 177)

[1] Central Statistics Agency : "Census 2007" ( Memento from March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 4.53 MB), first draft, table 5.

[AALEN-2] Lovise Aalen: Ethnic Federalism and Self-Determination for Nationalities in a Semi-Authoritarian State: the Case of Ethiopia , in: International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 13, 2006, pp. 285-260

[3] Thomas Zitelmann: Nation of the Oromo. Collective identities, national conflicts, we-group formation , 1994, ISBN 9783860930366 (p. 177)