Four More Regions and Dire Dawa Seat Their Executives in One Morning

South Ethiopia, South West Ethiopia, Harari, Benishangul-Gumuz and Dire Dawa all held constituent sittings on Friday. Two regions changed leader, two kept theirs, and Dire Dawa swapped its mayor for his own deputy.

Five councils opened their constituent sittings between 09:07 and 13:04 on Friday and named the people who will run their executives for the next five years. Two regions changed hands, two renewed, and Dire Dawa moved its mayor one seat sideways.

Who moved

Tesfaye Beljige (PhD) was elected head of the South Ethiopia Regional State, replacing Tilahun Kebede. Tesfaye comes to the job from the federal House of People's Representatives, where Birr Metrics reports he served as Government Chief Whip for the past five years. Tilahun does not leave government: Tikvah Ethiopia reports he has been appointed to head Addis Abeba's public service and human resource development office as a deputy mayor. The South Ethiopia council approved the rest of the regional cabinet later the same afternoon.

Fikre Aman was named head of the South West Ethiopian Peoples' Region in Tarcha, replacing Negash Wegesho. He has been running the Prosperity Party's regional office. In his first remarks to the assembly he put corruption in regional service delivery at the top of the list — an unusual opening line for a day otherwise given over to formalities.

Who stayed

Ordin Bedri was reappointed president of Harari, with Sultan Abdusalam re-elected speaker and Arif Mohammed as his deputy. Birr Metrics counts 14 senior appointments approved alongside him, covering finance, revenue, agriculture, urban development and industry — the portfolios that decide what a business in Harar deals with.

Ashadli Hassan was reappointed president of Benishangul-Gumuz in Asosa.

In Dire Dawa, the administration council elected Abdullahi Aden Yusuf mayor and made the outgoing mayor, Kedir Juhar, his deputy. Chaltu Hussein was named speaker of the council.

Open

None of the five councils published a full list of bureau heads at the time of writing, so how far the change runs below the top job is not yet visible. Fana Television reported on Friday morning that three days remain in the federal government formation schedule, which puts the national cabinet inside next week.

Sources: Tikvah Ethiopia, 2 October 2026, Tikvah Ethiopia, 2 October 2026, Tikvah Ethiopia, 2 October 2026, Tikvah Ethiopia, 2 October 2026, Tikvah Ethiopia, 2 October 2026, Fana Television, 2 October 2026, Fana Television, 2 October 2026, Fana Television, 2 October 2026, Fana Television, 2 October 2026, Fana Television, 2 October 2026, Birr Metrics, 2 October 2026, Birr Metrics, 2 October 2026, Birr Metrics, 2 October 2026