Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education Conflicts among Pastoralists in the Borana Area of Southern Ethiopia: The case of Borana and Garri SVF-3901 Tigist Kebede Feyissa Master’s Thesis in Peace and Conflict Transformation Autumn, 2014 Conflicts among Pastoralists in the Borana Area of Southern Ethiopia: The case of Borana and Garri SVF-3901 Tigist Kebede Feyissa Master’s Thesis in Peace and Conflict Transformation Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education University of Tromsø Autumn, 2014 i Acknowledgements My sincerest thanks to, Randi Rønning Balsvik, For sound and unreserved supervision, For the moral and material support. My informants and Field assistants For the cooperation and hospitality. Fellow MPCT Students and Staff For friendship and support My Parents, my brother and sisters For the love, advice, care and motivation. I will always miss you, Dad. My Friends For friendship and moral support All the people, who have shared their thoughts and understanding of the topic with me, and I am indebted to all the scholars on whose work I have learned. ii Abstract This study deals with conflicts among pastoralists in the Borana area of Southern Ethiopia focusing on the case of the Borana and Garri peoples. The objective of the research is to assess the underlying factors related to the formation, development and transformation of conflicts between the Borana and Garri since 1990´s. To meet this objective, the study employs a qualitative approach and secondary sources. As a conceptual framework for the analysis, the study uses intergroup conflict. This study makes use of ethnicity; ethnic conflict and political ethnicity as a main analytical tool to study intergroup conflict and violence that emerge in a state, especially in this research context, where ethnicity constitutionally has become essential in creating a federal state and administrative units. The study has reviewed and analyzed the macro historical and political trends in Ethiopia in relation to conflicts between different pastoralist communities. It also addresses the conflict since the 1990s between the two groups drawing lines of connection between the national discourse on ethnicity and local realities. Thus, it is argued that the violent conflicts in pastoral areas result from a myriad of historical, political and economic factors that reinforce one another. It is further argued that the pastoralist conflicts- if not all- particularly in the post 1991 period is also linked to questions of land ownership and self government, as the new state’s constitution equated ethnic groups with administration units. This thesis calls for the development and implementation ofintegrated policies and strengthening local governance institutions that are rooted in traditional practices for managing resources and inter-ethnic conflicts. iii Table of contents Acknowledgments ........................... ................................................................. .. ii Abstract ........................... ............................................................................................. .iii List of Maps and Table ........................... ................................................................. vi List of Acronyms and Definition of Local Terms ................... .....................................vi Chapter I: Introduction................................................................................................... .1 1.1 Background.................................................................................................. .1 1.2. Statement of the problem............................................................................... .5 1.3 Objectives of the Study.......................................................................... .7 1.4 Research questions....................................................................................... 7 1.5 Finding my thesis.............................................................................................. 8 1.6 Significance of the study.......................................................................................8 1.7 Limitation of the study . .................................................... 9 1.8 Structure of the thesis....................................................................................... .9 Chapter II Methodology, Conceptual and Theoretical framework ...........................10 2.1 Methodology............................................................................................... .10 2.1.1 Study area......................................................................................... 10 2.1.2 Choosing a data collection technique ......................................... 12 2.1.3 Informants and Field Assistant. .......................................... .13 2.1.4 Negotiating Access ........................................................................... 14 2.1.5 Conducting the Interviews and Group Discussion ................... 17 2.1.6 Challenges and reflections.......................................................................... 18 2.1.6.1 Researcher’s Identity and Access negotiation.................................... .18 2.1.6.2 The Gender Dimension.................................................................... 21 2.1. 6.3 My Position as a Researcher........................................................... 22 2.1.6.4 Secondary Sources........................................................................ .22 2.1.6.4 Anonymity of Respondents ............................................................. .23 2.2. Conceptual and Theoretical framework................................................ .23 2.2.1 Intergroup conflict............................................................................. 23 2.2.2 Ethnicity, Ethnic conflicts and Politics of Ethnicity.....................................25 iv Chapter III: Setting the Context of the Study . 30 3.1 Pastoral Communities in Ethiopia . ..................... .30 3.2 The Borana Area . ................... 32 3.3 The Borana and Garri ............................................................................ 33 Chapter IV: Historical Factors of the Borana-Garri Conflicts ................... 37 4.1 The Ethiopian state creation and the Imperial rule ...................................... .37 4.1.1 Ethiopia state formation and pastoralists.............................................. 39 4.2 The Socialist regime and pastoralists.................................................. .43 4.2.1 The 1977-78 Ethio-Somalian war and its impact on pastoralists . .44 4.2.2 Bloody civil war, Nationalist Movements and and Pastoralist Conflicts. 46 Chapter V Political and Economic Factors of the Borana-GarriConflicts...............49 5.1 The Borana-Garri conflicts since 1991: questions of claims over land ownership andself- government ................................................................. .................49 5.1.1 Inter-Regional boundary making as a triggering factor for the Borana-Garri conflicts ................................................................. .49 5.1.2 The Borana-Garri conflict, July 2012 ............................................... 55 5.1.3 The Borana-Garri conflict in the context of heightened ethnic politics.....59 5.2 Competition over scarce resource as a triggering factor for the Borana- Garri Conflicts ........................... ........................... .................. .60 Chapter VI Summary and Concluding Remarks...................................... .62 6.1 What has been tried? . ................... .62 6.2 Answering the Research Questions . .62 6.3 A way Forward . .................. .65 References. .. 66 Appendices . .. .74 v List of Maps and Table Map 1. Location of some of the Pastoralist groups in Ethiopia (Page 31) Map 2. Regional Map of Ethiopia. (Page 74) Map 3. Map of the Research Area (Page 75) Map 4. Map of Borana Awraja/Province (Page 76) Map 5. Map of Tulla wells (Page 77) Table 1. Interviewees’ details and Interview date (Page 78) List of Acronyms and Definition of local terms Acronyms EPLF - Eritrea Peoples’ Liberation Front EPRDF - Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front ESM - Ethiopian Student Movement FDRE - Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia OALF-Oromo Abo Liberation Front OLF -Oromo Liberation Front ONLF- Ogaden National Liberation Front SNNPR- Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples’ Region TGE- Transitional Government of Ethiopia TPLF - Tigray People’s Liberation Front WSLF- Western Somali Liberation Front Definition of local terms Abba - Father, leader, head Abba Gada - Head of Gada Assembly Awraja- Middle level territorial division, applied until 1987. Ballabat- Appointed leader during the imperial rule (Traditional Chief). Derg- Committee or Council Kebele- The smallest territorial administrative unit Tulla-Deep wells WeredaThe second smallest territorial administrative unit. vi Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background Ethiopia is an ancient African state with a rich tradition of religious types, mores, and folkways whose roots are deeply embedded into a history of over two thousand years. The fact makes the country a mosaic of peoples and cultures at the heart of the Horn of Africa. Over eighty different ethnic entities of different size and spatial distribution with varied forms of cultural practices constitute the state. The cultural cohesion and population composition of the country is the result of a long historical process of inter-ethnic and socio-cultural interactions