There is growing concern that ethiopias prime minister has failed to address rising ethnic tensions and violence. An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups. Interethnic violence in ethiopias somali regional state. Ethnic conflict along the border between the two regions and in the regional rural hinterlands has long occurred, and can be traced to grievances and still standing tensions from the ethiosomali war of the 1970s and further back to historical tensions over oromo migration due to their significant numbers. But it is still important to discuss the main sources of conflict through examining the real experiences as. Adamu published causes of ethnic tensions and conflicts on campus among university students in ethiopia find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate.
Indigenous systems of conflict resolution in oromia, ethiopia. The basis of understanding conflict, security and collective wellbeing of people includes relationships that dominate interactions of two or more entities in contact with one another. Effectiveness of ethnic federalism in preventing conflict. Since 1991, there were frequent interethnic conflict between the two ethnic. The causes of ethnic conflict in multiethnic societies. Recommendations for education and conflict transformation in somali region 44 6. This commentary is part of our watch list 2019 second update.
A handful of inter and intraethnic flashpoints are particularly worrying. Ethiopia internal displacement december 2018 dg echo. First is friction between the tigray and the amhara. Request pdf on apr 30, 2012, lubo teferi kerorsa published the post 1991 interethnic conflicts in ethiopia. This institution was named after the oromo term gurraacha literally meaning black to indicate its power in interethnic peace building and conflict resolution. The study challenges the already existing thoughts on ethnicity, which map the concept on contours of polar extremes. Introduction ethiopia is composed of several ethnolinguistic. Interethnic conflicts and their impact on national.
Since 1992, ethiopias policy of ethnic regionalisation also led to the emergence of interregional boundary conflicts between the somali and the oromo. The study challenges the already existing thoughts on ethnicity, which map the concept on contours of polar extremes and suggests an approach to transcend the primordialist. Even though the underlying causes of the recent wave of conflict is not conclusively known, tensions over shared borders had long existed between the two groups. The majority of conflicts in ethiopia that are dubbed ethnic, are about land and the boundaries between territorialised ethnic groups abbink 2006. The book contextually analyzes the amharaafar inter ethnic conflict in kewot and semurobigelaalo areas. Although ethiopia is not new to ethnicbased conflicts, their scale and. Yet, they were labeled as interethnic conflicts simply due to the fact that they bear the. Ethnic identity and the relations of amhara, ormo and tigray.
Indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms in ethiopia are one of the conflict management mechanisms to resolve intra and interethnic conflict, both at state and local government level fdre, 1995. But incidence of ethnic violence was different in varying country. Southern ethiopias largest ethnic group, the sidama, is set to declare a new regional state on 18 july. Drivers of ethnic conflict in contemporary ethiopia. Dec 16, 2018 consider the ghastly conflict and barren results of the europeans world wars i and ii. Community in conflict with state and corporate interests 18 conflict triggers and exacerbating factors 18 impact of conflicts on minority women 23 successful conflict mitigation 25 communityinitiated conflict resolution 25 interethnic conflict in a postconflict context 26 conflict with state or corporate actors 27. The major post 1991 interethnic conflicts observed in ethiopia are. Ethiopia is being buffeted by deadly unrest as it attempts a rapid transition to multiparty democracy under prime minister abiy ahmed. Ppt indigeneious conflict resolution mechanism in ethiopia. Indigeneious conflict resolution mechanism in ethiopia. Pdf on jan 1, 20, lukong stella shulika and others published interethnic conflict in south sudan. Local conflicts and ethnic relations among konso and. The politics of ethnicity was formally institutionalised in ethiopia in 1991 with the introduction of ethnic federalism. The situation in ethiopia is now relatively stable.
There is growing concern that ethiopia s prime minister has failed to address rising ethnic tensions and violence. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic groups position within society. Interethnic conflict transformation in the post1991 ethnic federalism. Although almost exclusively inhabited by ethnic somalis, interethnic strife. Aug, 2012 in this regard, this book attempts to throw light into this slightly investigated issue so far. An investigation article in journal of conflict resolution 44. In developing country incidence were low and in the developing sever. The rise in violent ethnic conflict in ethiopia in recent years can largely be linked to the sharp increase. The theoretical ground of the study was the instrumentalist paradigm. Ethiopia since early 2018,7 although many are apparently now subsiding. Field research revealed that minorities confront conflict in three main zones interethnic conflict on traditional lands, conflicts with other communities in population centres, and conflicts with state and corporate actors over land. In this respect, the northern part of the region the metekel zone has stronger economic relations with the amhara region than the southern part of the region. Furthermore, the benishangulgumuz region remains politically fragile due to the lack of a welldeveloped interethnic relationship among the five constituent ethnic groups of the region. Violent interethnic conflicts erupted occasionally over 27 years, but they.
Major features of indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms. Ethnicity, ethnic conflict, ethno history of ethiopia, ethnic politics. Drivers of ethnic conflict in contemporary ethiopia aws. These interstate and interethnic conflicts seem to have been aggravated by implementation of new federal system, accompanying the major transition in the national politics of. Ethnic conflict is not also merely out of primordial differences or mobilization by ethnic entrepreneurs.
Dec 11, 2012 the politics of ethnicity was formally institutionalised in ethiopia in 1991 with the introduction of ethnic federalism. May, 2005 in the gambella region, multiple ethnic conflicts between two main groups, the anyuak and the nuer, displaced tens of thousand of people ocha ethiopia, may 2004. Nov 27, 2017 alem mamo, for addis standard addis abeba, november 272017 conceivably, if there is a single most important question that requires in depth interrogation in the present political atmosphere of ethiopia it is this one. This final criterion differentiates ethnic conflict from other forms of struggle. Thousands flee ethnic conflict in western ethiopia bbc. Pdf causes of ethnic tensions and conflicts on campus among. Accordingly, the research has established that the post 1991 ethnic conflicts in ethiopia consisted of multifaceted.
Furthermore, the benishangulgumuz region remains politically fragile due to the lack of a welldeveloped inter ethnic relationship among the five constituent ethnic groups of the region. The primary data were gathered through indepth interviews, focus group discussions, and observations. Taking narratives on identitybased conflicts in the horn. Conflict over natural resources, competition to gain power, conflict to take revenge are some sources of conflict. Above the cacophony of ethnic and antiregime agitations prevailed a semblance of order and overall stability. Emerging ethnic identities and interaethnic conflict.
Conflict is natural, it is in inevitable and in alienable from human beings. Even if indigenous conflict resolution mechanism differs from society to society, from region to. Preventing further conflict and fragmentation in ethiopia. Ethiopia figure analysis displacement related to conflict and violence context ethiopia experienced the highest number of new displacements related to conflict and violence in the world in 2018.
That is, the federal structure which is based on ethnicity contributes to ethnic tensions and conflicts, widening the disparities among the ethnic groups. Ethnic violence in ethiopia amid shadowy politics inter. This article deals with gurraacha institution, which is very important in interethnic peace building and resolving conflict among people of southcentral ethiopia. The result is that the region has been enmeshed in interethnic conflicts over the past three decades marked by phenomenal increases in mayhem and the destruction of lives and property. The causes of ethnic conflict in multi ethnic societies1 hossien mohammadzadeh assistant professor of sociology, department of social science, payame noor university, tehran, iran email address.
Bayreuth international graduate school of african studies. Taking narratives on identitybased conflicts in the horn of. Ethiopias somali regional state srs is no exception to this trend. Dessalegn 1999 argues that in ethiopia, development, not water scarcity, is a more important source of. Figure 1 illustrates a sequentially ordered chain of causality among these factors. Due to this human beings have been trying to solve. The main source is the amharas longstanding claim to the wolkait and raya territories that are currently part of tigray regional state and border amhara.
In an attempt to draw a conflict map of ethiopia, ayele and getachew 2001 as cited in tesfaye 2007. Do the ethnic groups of ethiopia want to repeat such demonstratively ferengi idiocy and madness. This is true in the case of the ittuissa clashes over miesso town in eastern ethiopia as well as the borangarre clashes in southern ethiopia, along the ethiokenyan boarder markakis, 2011. The primary data were gathered through in depth interviews, focus group discussions, and observations. Their deaths and mutilations of persons and destruction of property resulted largely from faulty, emotional planning by various european countries. Uncertainty, each ethnic conflict has its own unique characteristics and, in different contexts, some. Interethnic violence in ethiopias somali regional state, 2017 2018 tobias hagmann and mustafe mohamed abdi introduction interethnic conflicts have been on the rise in ethiopia since 2018. Conflict and state security in the horn of africa 41 that determine relationships. Developing country management ethnic conflict by participation and justice policy that the equality is the best way for resolve this problem. Even if indigenous conflict resolution mechanism differs from society to. Above all, the conflicts seemed to be interethnic clashes resulting from sheer ethnic differences on account of the previously created interethnic distances among the various ethnic groups of the country.
Policydriven interethnic conflicts in southern ethiopia jstor. Conflicts among pastoralists in the borana area of. To reduce conflict risks, the sidama should resolve sensitive issues before forming the entity, while the government should urgently organise a constitutionally mandated referendum on the question. Indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms in ethiopia are one of the conflict management mechanisms to resolve intra and inter ethnic conflict, both at state and local government level fdre, 1995.
To attain this objective, the study employed both secondary and primary data sources. Explaining dynamics of ethnicity and inter ethnic conflicts in post. As a result, both intra and interethnic conflicts over the use of natural resources are commonplace in the drylands of ethiopia in general and in the awash river basin and the borana and liban zones in particular. The twentieth century ethiopian elites, participating in the allethiopia socialist movement meison and the ethiopian peoples revolutionary party eprp, viewed the problems in ethiopia as a result of class conflicts and not as an outcome of struggles between ethnic groups aalen 2002. To sustainably tackle the problem of violence in ethiopia, the institutional and. In this excerpt from its watch list 2019 second update, crisis group urges the european union and its member states to support a parliamentary vote and assist with economic reforms. A brief historical overview of ethnic conflict in ethiopia as mentioned above, the historical root causes of violent ethnic conflicts in ethiopia have its complex and. As a result, both intra and inter ethnic conflicts over the use of natural resources are commonplace in the drylands of ethiopia in general and in the awash river basin and the borana and liban zones in particular. Datasets on intra state conflicts uppsala conflict data program correlates of war project national, ethnic and communal conflicts penn university the failed state index global peace index global conflict trends systemic peace minorities at risk journal of peace research.
This study deals with emerging ethnic identities and the dynamics of the inter. Violent qemant dispute fueling explosive amharatigray divide. It also systematically identifies the structural, proximate and triggering causes of the conflcit in the study area. This study deals with ethnicity and interethnic relations in african context, with particular emphasis on the new ethiopian experiment of ethnic politics. May 10, 2018 the remaining idps in west guji zone are ethnic gujis displaced from gedeo zone and from border areas in oromia. The impact of ethnic conflict on economic development.
In this study, i agued that with the politicisation of ethnicity in the countrys political scene. The practice of interethnic conflict transformation in ethiopia. Violent qemant dispute fueling explosive amharatigray. Persistent interethnic conflicts in southern ethiopia have created a crisis in security of. Interethnic conflicts have interfered with customary resource allo. Finally, debates continued between ethnic and ethiopian nationalists on such fundamental issues as the history, identity and future destiny of the country. In 2018 ethiopia had the highest number of new internal displacements associated with conflict worldwide. Violence in the country significantly increased and spread to new areas, and four times as many people were displaced as in the previous year.
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