Benishangul-Gumuz People's Democratic Unity Front
The Benishangul Gumuz People's Democratic Unity Front ( abbreviation BGPDUF; Amharic የቤንሻንጉልና ጉሙዝ ሕዝቦች ዴሞክራሲያዊ አንድነት YäBenəšangulna Gumuz Həzbočč Demokrasiyawi Andinet to German Democratic Unity Front of the people of Benishangul - Gumuz, also known as English Benishangul Gumuz Democratic Unity Front with the abbreviation BGDUF ) is the reigning political party in Benishangul Gumuz region in Ethiopia. It is the regional partner of the ruling coalition EPRDF party at national level.
The party was registered under its present name on 21 March 2002. The current party leader is Habtamu Hika. The current vice - chairman of the Committee on matters of environmental protection and natural resources belong to the party.
History
In the 1980s there were in the region of Benishangul Gumuz two armed resistance groups that fought in the border area between Ethiopia and Sudan against the Derg regime. They cooperated with the Oromo Liberation Front and the Tigray People's Liberation Front ( TPLF ). After the TPLF and the EPRDF coalition led by her in 1991, had toppled the Derg regime, she joined both groups Berta People's Liberation Movement ( BPLM ) together. This party, which was named after the ethnic group of Berta should govern as a partner of the EPRDF Benishangul - Gumuz the new region. 1993 organized the EPRDF three other parties for specific ethnic groups: the Gumuz People's Democratic Movement ( GPDM ) for the Gumuz, the Boru Shinasha People's Democratic Movement ( BSPDM ) for the Shinasha and Mao / Komo People's Democratic Movement ( MKPDM ) for the Mao and Komo.
Conflicts occurred mainly within the first BPLM. This included since its inception various factions that competed as well as ideologically for resources and offices. One of the three fractions was under the influence of the ruling Sudan National Islamic Front (NIF ), which Islamist tendencies promoted in the partially Muslim Benishangul - Gumuz region boundary. This BPLM Group called " national self-determination " for Benishangul Gumuz what the EPRDF took as striving for a connection to the Sudan. The NIF supported this fraction with arms sales and military training, and BPLM members began a jihad against government institutions, military posts and immigrant Highland Ethiopians.
In 1994, the four parties were reorganized to two parties, the Benishangul and Northwestern Ethiopian People's Democratic Unity Party ( BNWEPDUP ) and the Benishangul and Western Ethiopian People's Democratic Party ( BWEPDP ). The TPLF / EPRDF justified this step in order to try to reduce the ethnic fragmentation. In the elections of 1995, the two parties competed separately, in addition, there were independent candidates. As the Office of the Regional President fell to a member of the Gumuz ethnic group, there were armed conflicts between ethnically defined parties of Berta and Gumuz. The Berta claimed the regional presidency for themselves, since they were the largest group with 26.7 % share of the population and would have fought longer against the Derg regime.
As of 1995, the EPRDF was amplified prior to the influence of the Sudanese government in Benishangul Gumuz. She allowed to this, the South Sudanese rebel army SPLA to establish bases in the region. 1996 organized the EPRDF a " Conference for Peace and Democracy" ( Peace and Democracy Conference) and united BNWEPDUP and Benishangul - Gumuz BWEPDP for Democratic Unity Front BGDUF. Deputy Prime Minister Tamrat Layne dismissed the entire regional government, leaving many of its members jailed for corruption. 250 selected loyal politicians were trained for three months by the EPRDF. As a program, the new party was that of the ANDM ( the EPRDF member party in the Amhara region ).
Election results
In regional elections in 2000, the BGDUF 71 of the 80 seats won in the regional parliament of Benishangul Gumuz. In regional elections in August 2005, the party won 85 out of 99 regional parliamentary seats. In the elections for regional parliaments in 2008, she won another five seats.
In the last general elections in Ethiopia in 2005, on 15 May, the BGPDUF won the nationwide popular vote by 1.4 %, eight of the nine seats of Benishangul Gumuz in the lower house of the Ethiopian Parliament. Among the eight members, seven men and one woman.