Want even more free geography news updates like this one? Help us out by taking a 3-minute survey on our plan to seek funding through optional donations.
Sidama Referendum Passes
Last week, we reported on a status referendum in southern Ethiopia, where the
Sidama Zone was voting on whether to secede from the country's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR).
Over the weekend, the Ethiopian government announced that the referendum had passed by a very large margin: According to preliminary results, an enormous
98.5% of voters chose increased self-rule. (Voter turnout was also reported to be extremely high, at 99.8%.)
Ethiopia's government has signaled that it plans to respect the result, making the Sidama Zone into the country's tenth self-governing "
regional state". This comes despite warnings that Sidama's promotion will supercharge campaigns for statehood in other regions, which could lead to a cascade of mini-secessions that would shake up Ethiopia's administrative structure and politics.
But the Sidama Zone won't become a state immediately - there will likely be a
long, contentious process, which requires an amendment to Ethiopia's constitution. One major issue is that the SNNPR's capital city,
Hawassa, is located inside the Sidama Zone. If it's going to become the capital of the Sidama Region instead, then the SNNPR will have to find a new capital and move all its government institutions there.
Sidama will become the second-smallest of the Ethiopia's regional states, after the
Harari People's National Regional State (the cities of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa aren't considered regional states, even though they stand separately from the other regions). Its promotion will also create a new state-level exclave - a part of a state that's not connected to the rest of the state - by cutting off the
Gedeo Zone to its south from the rest of the SNNPR.
Want to know when these changes actually happen? You'll hear about it here on PolGeoNow!
Since December, Al Shabaab has lost control of some towns in Somalia, while disputes over governance in Jubaland and Galmudug states have erupted briefly into armed battles with the federal government. Meanwhile, the country is battling with a major outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
As the fight for Tripoli rages on, Libya's UN-recognized government has captured the city of Sabratha, securing control of the whole coastline west of the capital for the first time in a year.
Since a month ago, the eastern-based Libyan National Army has captured the coastal town of Sirte and reached the doorstep of western-controlled capital Tripoli, even as the western government welcomes reinforcements from the Turkish military and allied Syrian rebels.
Since November, forces loyal to Libya's eastern-based government have moved closer to Tripoli's center, where they hope to unseat the country's rival western-based government, even as Turkey prepares a military intervention to defend the government in Tripoli. 
Since July,
fighting for control of capital city Tripoli has largely remained at a
stalemate, with each of the country's rival governments losing and the
recapturing territory, though there have been some small net changes in control. 
Since June, direct fighting between Libya's two biggest rival governments has
continued in the Tripoli area, each with their own international
backers, with the western government achieving a notable victory along the road south from Tripoli.
Over the past month and a half, fighting in Libya has focused in on the southern suburbs of Tripoli, where the country's two rival governments are jockeying for the upper hand in the capital city. Meanwhile, the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL) continues to launch attacks in southern towns.
After
years of proxy fighting in central and southern Libya, forces allied to
the country's two rival governments are finally facing off directly
around capital city Tripoli. In just the past two weeks,
there have already been many changes to territorial control - mostly gains for the eastern-allied Libyan National Army (LNA).
Over the past month, the eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) has continued its rapid advances across the south, seizing
control of several towns and oil fields previously controlled by
independent Toubou and Tuareg militias. Meanwhile, Libya's two
major rival governments continue vying for power in the north, and the so-called
"Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL) is still present
in some desert areas.
