ADDIS ABABA – Chairman of one of the four parties forming Ethiopia's ruling political coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Shiferaw Shigute resigned from his role on Monday.

Shigute was chairman of the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM), which is one of the four coalition members of the ruling EPRDF.

Shigute, who took over his party's chairmanship following the resignation of Ethiopia's former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, resigned from his post as his party SEPDM accepted his request, state-affiliated media Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) reported Monday.

Shigute, who is currently Ethiopia's Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, had previously served as the head of the EPRDF office until April this year.

Ethiopia's ruling party is a coalition of four parties that include the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and SEPDM, which rules over Ethiopia's Southern regional state.

The Southern region has been a hotbed of ethnic clashes in recent months, in which the various ethnic groups in the region went into deadly disputes among each other, killing some 27 people, according to recent announcement by the regional police commission.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, who visited the region last week, also advised regional leaders, who were responsible for the deadly disputes, to resign from their positions on their will.

Xinhua