Duration | 1994–present |
---|---|
Location | Amaro woreda zone, Gedeo, West Guji, Ethiopia |
Type | Ethnic violence
|
Theme | Ongoing ethnic violence |
Cause | Land drawn along ethnic lines (Ethnic federalism) |
Motive | Dispute over administrative land, leadership and territory |
Participants | OLF or OLF-shene Militants from various ethnic groups in SNNPR Oromia regions |
Deaths | 52+ killed, 15+ injured. Ongoing |
This is part of the series of violence between minorities in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) and West Guji Zone of the Oromia regions, causing frequent attacks against ethnic Koore and other minorities in the Amaro special woreda and surroundings. [1] [2] [3] Ethiopian Human Rights Council underscored the increasingly frequent nature and spread of conflicts and security issues in the area and called for preventative measures.
This section lists the background on the frequent conflicts that occurred in disputed administrative lands shared between the SNNPR and Oromia regions, which is often referred to as West Guji. [4]
Period | Event and land administration | Description | Date |
---|---|---|---|
pre-1980s | Historical land occupation by the Guji and Koore people | Eviction of the Guji and Koore people by the State, annexation of their land to the Nechisar park in early 1980s [5] | Historical |
pre-1994 | Previous administration was under the Sidamo Province | Occasional interpersonal disputes were resolved with communal councils [4] | Historical |
During EPRDF | The start of Ethnic federalism | Administration of lands with ethnic lines. The Guji Oromo fell under the Oromia region, a portion of them inhabited areas of SNNPR. The Gedeo continued in SNNPR [4] | 1994 |
During EPRDF | Expansion and disputes between SNNPR | Expansion of the newly drawn Oromia regional state to the small zones in SNNPR that share borders | During EPRDF |
During EPRDF | Referendums and conflict | Clashes, killings and displacement [4] | 1995 to 1998 |
During EPRDF | Amaro-Guji clashes | 13 people killed, houses burned down, over 400 IDPs | 29 July 2017 [6] |
During Prosperity Party | Political "superiority" of the Guji Oromo following the Oromo-led ruling in the country | Clashes, killings and displacement [4] | 2018 onwards |
During Prosperity Party | Economic and political upper-hand of the Guji Oromo against Amaro, Gedeao and others in the conflict areas | Frustration caused widespread conflict, killings and displacement [4] | 2018 onwards |
During Prosperity Party | The Gedeo-West Guji displacement | One million people displaced [4] [7] | April 2018 |
During Prosperity Party | Attack in Amaro | OLF gunmen killed 2 farmers in Amaro [8] [9] | 29 January 2019 |
During Prosperity Party | Temporary peace offer between the OLF and a Guji regional commander | Warring parties include the Amaro and Gadeo communities wth the Guji Oromo that get assistance from the OLF. OLF often collaborates with the federal troops or the Oromo Special Force (OSF) [4] [10] | January 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Deadly attack on Amaro-Guji communal leaders | 6 people killed during communal leaders meeting in Gelana woreda [1] [11] | 18 March 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Instigation of violence by the Guji Oromo militias | Violence continued despite peace offering between OLF and a Guji regional commander [4] | 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Aggression of the OLF-Shene | OLF-Shene claimed control of some territory in Guji [4] | 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Armed group opened fire during a reconciliation meeting at Gelana, Amaro zone | 8 killed, 4 injured. OLF-Shene gunmen reported as suspect [4] | 9 March 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Attack on Amaro | 2 farmers killed in the Kore Kebele, in the Amaro Zone by an armed group [4] | 29 March 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Attack on Amaro | 1 farmer injured while he was asleep in the Gamule Kebele, in the Amaro Zone by an armed group [4] | 30 March 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Attack on Amaro | 1 farmer killed in the Kejalo Kebele in Amaro Zone by armed group [4] | 31 March 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Attack in the conflict areas | 11 people killed by militia group from Gelana and Suro Berguda Woreda of West Guji Zone [4] | 5-30 March 2021 |
During Prosperity Party | Clash between the Koore and other militias | 5 killed, 15 injured. Armed clashes between the Koore militas members and the ENDF government forces with Derashe ethnic militias in Holte kebele in Derashe special woreda, and Buniti, Abulo, and Alfacho kebeles in the Amaro zone [11] | June 2022 |
During Prosperity Party | OLF-Shene attacked Amaro | 3 Amaro farmers killed, 2 injured, and livestock stolen from 12 farmers [12] | 6 July 2022 |
Oromia is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa.
The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region is a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five kililoch, called Regions 7 to 11, following the regional council elections on 21 June 1992. Its government is based in Hawassa.
Dila is a market town and separate woreda in southern Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR), it is located on the main road from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. The town has a longitude and latitude of 6°24′30″N38°18′30″E, with an elevation of 1570 meters above sea level. It was part of Wenago woreda and is currently surrounded by Dila Zuria woreda.
Amaro is a Special Woreda in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, Ethiopia. The people are called Koore and their language is Koorete. Amaro is one of the areas in which members of Koore nations widely live in. However, no fewer Koore's live in their neighboring areas of Gamo Gofa, Guji, Gedeo, and Burji. Prior to 2011, Amaro was not part of any Zone in the SNNPR and was therefore considered a special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area. In 2011, the Segen Area Peoples Zone was established, which includes Amaro woreda and the 3 former special woredas surrounding it. Located in the Great Rift Valley, Amaro is bordered on the south by Burji special woreda, on the southwest by Konso special woreda, on the west by Dirashe special woreda, on the northwest by Gamo Gofa and Lake Chamo, and on the north by Lake Abaya and in east and northeast by Oromia Region. It is divided into 35 kebeles. The administrative center of the woreda is Kelle. Jijola, Derba Menena, and Kereda are other growing municipals of the woreda.
Burji is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. Prior to 2011, Burji was not part of any Zone in the SNNPR and was therefore considered a Special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area. In 2011, the Segen Area Peoples Zone was established, which includes Burji woreda and the 3 former special woredas surrounding it. It is named for the Burji people, who have their homeland in this woreda. Burji is bordered on the east and south by the Oromia Region, on the west by the Konso special woreda, and on the north by the Amaro special woreda. The administrative center of Burji is Soyama.
Konso is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, Ethiopia. It was formerly a woreda. Prior to 2011, Konso was not part of any Zone in the SNNPR and was therefore considered a special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area. In 2011, the Segen Area Peoples Zone was established, which includes Konso special woreda and the 3 former woredas surrounding it. This special woreda is named after the Konso people. Located in the Great Rift Valley, Konso is bordered on the south by the Oromia Region, on the west by the South Omo Zone, on the northwest by Alle special woreda, on the north by Dirashe special woreda, on the northeast by Amaro special woreda, and on the east by Burji special woreda. The Sagan River, which flows south then west to join the Weito, defines part of the woreda's boundary with Burji and the entire length of the boundary with the Oromia Region. The administrative center is Karati; other towns in Konso include Fasha and Sagen. After protesting by residents to become a zone for several years, Konso became a zone in November 2018.
The Oromo Liberation Front is an Oromo nationalist political party formed in 1973 to promote self-determination for the Oromo people inhabiting today's Oromia Region and Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. The OLF has offices in Addis Ababa, Washington, D.C. and Berlin from where it operates Amharic and Oromo radio stations.
Wenago is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Gedeo Zone, Wenago is bordered on the southwest by Yirgachefe, on the northwest by the Oromia Region, on the northeast by Dila Zuria, and on the southeast by Bule. Towns in Wenago include Wenago. Dila Zuria woreda and Dila town were separated from Wenago.
Abaya is a woreda in the Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It is part of former Gelana Abaya woreda what was divided for Abaya and Gelana woredas. Part of the Borena Zone, Gelana Abaya was bordered on the south by Hagere Mariam, and on the west, north and east by the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). Lake Abaya, on the western border, is divided between this woreda and the SNNPR. However, the Guji Oromo who live in Nechisar National Park are claimed to be administratively part of this woreda, in a kebele called "Irgansaa".
The Oromo Liberation Army is an armed opposition group active in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. The OLA consist primarily of former armed members of the pre-peace deal OLF who refused to disarm out of skepticism of the peace deal, and former youth protestors who grew disillusioned with nonviolent resistance.
The Oromo conflict is a protracted conflict between the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ethiopian government. The Oromo Liberation Front formed to fight the Ethiopian Empire to liberate the Oromo people and establish an independent state of Oromia. The conflict began in 1973, when Oromo nationalists established the OLF and its armed wing, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). These groups formed in response to prejudice against the Oromo people during the Haile Selassie and Derg era, when their language was banned from public administration, courts, church and schools, and the stereotype of Oromo people as a hindrance to expanding Ethiopian national identity.
Following the 2018 dissolution of the ethnic federalist, dominant party political coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, there was an increase in tensions within the country, with newly resurgent regional and ethnically based factions carrying out armed attacks on military and civilians in multiple conflicts throughout Ethiopia.
The Gambela Massacre was a three-day-long massacre in the city of Gambela targeting Anuak people in December of 2003. The massacre perpetrated by the ENDF and "highlander" militias after an ambush of ARRA employees. Calls from International community made to condemn and stop the various forms of attacks against the Anuak people- i.e. Ethiopia to take immediate action and to comply to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“ICERD”). The calls included actions against: 1)Racial Discrimination 2)State obligation to protect and ensure economic development, economic, social, and cultural rights, 3) Freedom of movement 4)The right to equal treatment in the justice system 5) Protection Against Violence, and 6) Access to Remedies and Justice for Crimes of Racial Discrimination.
The OLA insurgency is an armed conflict between the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which split from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in 2018, and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), continuing in the context of the long-term Oromo conflict, typically dated to have started with the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front in 1973.
The Amhara genocide is an ongoing and systematic massacre of ethnic Amhara and Agew people in Ethiopia since 1990. Large-scale killings and grave human rights violations followed the implementation of the ethnic-federalist system in the country. In most of the cases, the mass murders were silent with perpetrators from various ethno-militant groups— from TPLF/TDF, OLF–OLA, and Gumuz armed groups.
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.
Events in the year 2023 in Ethiopia.
The conflict in Konso is part of a series of ethnic-based violence in Ethiopia. UN OCHA reported that its Early warning department of SNNPR categorized Konso as a priority hot spot area. Repeated conflict and the issue of adverse weather exacerbated the existing humanitarian crisis in the Zone. Interpersonal ethnic violence are deepening into series human rights violations and suffering, with the ethnic federalism system that drew formal administrative divisions with regional boundaries falling along ethnic lines.