Oxfam Conflict Response: Gambella, Ethiopia

Posted: 11 June 2004

Oxfam is providing emergency supplies, shelter, and peace-building workshops to more than 1,500 people affected by conflict.

Anuak men who have returned to Gambella town, Ethiopia. In a single night of violence in December, hundreds of men in Ommingah were killed and their homes destroyed.

By: Nathaniel Raymond/Oxfam

Any visitor to the Ommingah neighborhood of Gambella town, Ethiopia, is immediately aware of one sobering fact—the village is almost entirely inhabited by children, the elderly, and widows.

In December of 2003, Ommingah was nearly reduced to ruins in a vicious attack that lasted just over 24 hours, killing most of the men in the village or sending them fleeing into the bush. Oxfam staff observed burnt-out buildings riddled with bullet holes and grenade shrapnel; in many areas, large sections of the ground are blanketed in ash and scorched by fire.

"My husband was at the church for choir practice," recalls one woman, the wife of a local pastor who was killed in December. "They threw bombs [grenades] through the windows."

Many villagers whose homes were destroyed in the conflict find shelter in tuklus, makeshift huts assembled out of grass and sticks.

The Gambella region, located in western Ethiopia along the border with Sudan, is in the midst of a bloody conflict, a six-month series of attacks and retaliations that has claimed an untold number of lives since December of last year.

The conflict is being fought between the Anuak, an indigenous people who have always lived in the Gambella region, and the highlanders, a local term used to describe a mix of Ethiopians who have moved to Gambella within the past twenty years from several regions around the country. Other groups present in Gambella include the Nuer and the Mejenger people, who have been involved in previous conflicts in the region.

The Ethiopian government estimates that more than a quarter of the total population in Gambella—some 60,000 people—have lost their homes or fled from them.

Widows of the December 13 massacre in Gambella Town tell their story to Oxfam staff.

By: Nathaniel Raymond/Oxfam

How is Oxfam responding to the violence in Gambella?

Oxfam America, one of the only organizations still operational in Gambella, is providing the following emergency assistance to the people of Gambella in cooperation with local agencies:

Shelter and emergency supplies (medicines, hygiene kits) for more than 1,500 people;
Technical support for 1,500 farmers; and
More than 200 oxen for Anuak communities that have lost their herds in the conflict.

To help decrease the likelihood of future violence, Oxfam America is working with its partner organization the Gambella Peace and Development Council (GPDC) to resolve differences among the various ethnic groups involved in the conflict. GPDC is organizing community workshops to strengthen lines of communication among all the ethnic groups living in Gambella town. In addition to providing basic humanitarian assistance in areas affected by armed violence, Oxfam America is also focusing on helping communities forge lasting solutions to conflict.

Many villagers seem open to the peace process. As one highlander elder told Oxfam staff, "Nobody on either side wants the fighting to continue. This killing must stop."

An Overview of the Violence in Gambella