Sidama Gets a New President While Amhara and Somali Keep Theirs

Three regional councils opened their seventh-term assemblies within three hours of each other on Wednesday morning and named the people who will run their executives for the next five years. One region changed hands. Two did not.

Sidama is the one that moved

The Sidama Regional Council's constituent assembly, which opened at 09:32, named Dr Mesay Hailu head of the regional government. Tikvah Ethiopia reported the appointment at 11:29; Fana Television carried it at 12:03. Tikvah describes Mesay as having come from the federal health institute rather than from inside the regional administration — a profile closer to a technocrat than to a party fixture, and the first change at the top of Sidama since the region was created by referendum.

Fana quoted Mesay the same afternoon saying the region's priority would be lifting agricultural productivity with technology, and youth employment. That is a programme statement on day one, not a policy, but it is the clearest signal available of where Sidama's budget attention is about to go.

Amhara and Somali renewed

The Amhara National Regional Council, in session from 10:08, re-appointed Arega Kebede as regional president and re-elected Fantu Tesfaye as speaker of the council. Arega told the assembly his term would focus on strengthening security and justice institutions — the standard formulation, in a region where it is not a standard problem.

The Somali Regional Council, meeting in Jigjiga for its seventh term, re-appointed Mustafa Mohammed Omar. He used his speech to argue that developing the region's resources had already widened public benefit.

Gambella approved its own executive appointments the day before. Addis Ababa did so earlier in the week.

Open

Fana reported on Wednesday morning that four days remain in the schedule for forming the new government, which puts the federal cabinet inside this window. Neither council published the full list of bureau heads approved alongside the presidents, so it is not yet clear how much of each regional administration changed below the top job.

Sources: Tikvah Ethiopia, 1 October 2026, Tikvah Ethiopia, 1 October 2026, Tikvah Ethiopia, 1 October 2026, Fana Television, 1 October 2026, Fana Television, 1 October 2026, Fana Television, 1 October 2026, Fana Television, 1 October 2026