In August 2006, ethnic fighting in the lowlands of the Borena and Guji Zones in Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia got to such a bad state that it displaced more than 3,000 households from seven locations. With the assistance of Oxfam America and the Borena-Guji branch of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, not only have the majority of people returned to their homes, but they can now expect peace long into the future.
"You cannot compare the peace we got with what I lost," says Sarite Bonaya.
A 35-year-old Guji man, Sarite lives in the Oromia region near the Mormora River about a day-and-a-half's drive from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Forced from his home during the conflict, Sarite lost much of his wealth, including 233 heads of cattle.
But under an agreement brokered by a newly formed Peace Committee, Sarite, who is responsible for the care of 25 family members, got something even more important back: the ability to return to his home and farmland.
The agreement, reached during a peace conference among the Borena, Guji, and Gebra in April, settles for good the recent crimes they committed against each other and lays the groundwork for punishing future offenses and settling disputes.
Erosion of the old ways
In the Borena and Guji Zones near Ethiopia's border with Kenya, herding is the main means people have of making a living—a lifestyle in which they move their animals in search of pasture and water. Although most of the people in this area share the same background and culture, they are divided along ancestral lines.
Each of the different clans has its own system of governing which is adept at solving disputes and punishing crimes within that particular clan. The problem is that the only justice for a person who has had property stolen from him or a family member killed by someone from a different clan is to take matters into his own hands. In an area where guns are everywhere, retaliation has the potential to get very ugly—and it has.
Scarce resources and greed-driven cattle theft have always sparked minor conflicts between different clans. In the past, however, the various clans had agreements with each other in order to keep conflicts from spiraling out of control. Due to a weakening in their traditional governing systems brought about by the introduction of a more formalized, central governing approach, the clans' old agreements had been undermined, allowing violence to escalate.
In early 2006 a series of killings and retaliations brought on by scarce resources and cattle theft sparked separate conflicts between multiple clans in the area. By August, thousands of people had fled their homes in search of safer territory after losing much of what they owned.
By April of this year, everyone in the area had had enough and they turned to the Ethiopian Red Cross Society for help.
A solution is found
With support from Oxfam America, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, or ERCS, set up a conference in Alona village which brought together the Borena, Guji, and Gebra—the clans responsible for a great deal of the conflict. At the conference a committee was set up with 10 people from each of those clans. The clans elected the committee members, and they quickly got to work.
The committee reached a few key agreements to bring an immediate end to the violence. The most important of these was that people should not ask for compensation for what had been done to them in the past, and a repayment system was set up for future inter-clan killings and robberies in order to prevent retaliation. The Peace Committee saw this repayment system as the most effective way of keeping people from retaliating on their own.
Since April, the committee has met once a month in order to resolve outstanding issues and ensure that peace holds in the area. It has been conducting these meetings in various places where displacements had occurred. So far, the committee has been able to help people from six of the seven displacement locations return home. The most recent of these meetings was held in August in Darmee village—the place where thousands of Guji, like Sarite, fled from a year ago. A team from Oxfam America was invited to attend.
Across the river to Darmee
When we arrived at the village, we were quickly ushered towards the banks of the Mormora River. There, spanning the river, was what the villagers referred to as a bridge?a couple of steel cables, with some sticks tied between them, running 130 feet across the water. After a harrowing few minutes and many small, shaky steps we all made it safely over the rushing river 15 feet below.
After this experience it did not come as much of a surprise when, during the meeting, my translator leaned over and told me that people were identifying a root cause of conflict in this area as a lack of access to each other. Traditionally in this village the Borena live on one side of the river and the Guji live on the other, making casual social interaction a difficult task considering what they had to go through to cross the river. Members of both clans agreed that with more interaction they would act more like brothers and one clan would not have to feel threatened enough to flee the area as had happened last year.
The meeting—200 men strong—took place in the shade of trees in an empty school yard on the Guji side of the river. Soon, everyone had turned their attention to the fate of families displaced by the earlier violence.
A lively discussion took place between members of the Peace Committee, government officials, and those whose futures were being discussed. In the end, the displaced people agreed to return to their lands within the month under protections guaranteed by the arrangements reached in the Peace Committee.
However, they still remained adamant that something needed to be done about the bridge and the shortage of clean water which has led to outbreaks of waterborne diseases. They said that with better access to each other the Borena and Guji would act more like brothers and would not resort to violence in the future.
"I am very happy," said Qumbi Dhoto, 34, with a big smile when the meeting was over. He was one of those who had to flee his home there. "This discussion will help bring peace to the area."
Follow us online