Land

Most conflicts are made up of a number of interconnected factors. When analysing conflicts it is therefore necessary to untangle these different causes and discuss each factor individually, to later understand how they all fit together. When I asked my informants what the core issues of the conflict between Guji and Gedeo really were the answers were diverse and complex.

The conflict clearly consists of multiple factors and there is a long history leading up to the outbreak in 2018. As a starting point for this analysis, several informants mentioned “land”, as an important issue in the conflict.

“It is about land. This is mid-Africa, it is land. Normally in other countries it is the herders and the agriculture, like in Congo, here it is all about populations and land.” (Interview 7, Guji NGO-worker)

The issue of “land” was predominantly mentioned as a contextual factor or cause, meaning that the informants would point to land and then go on to explain other issues in which land was a relevant factor. Therefore, it makes sense to consider this issue first, to later understand how it connects to the other identified themes. The reader will recall that we discussed the issue of land, and the Guji Gedeo lifestyle in a previous chapter (Ch 2, Context), this first section builds upon this information.

6.1.1 Land Scarcity

“Ownership or access to land is a key to the well-being and livelihood of many African

families. Land is the single most important asset. It is a key social and economic asset, crucial for cultural identity, political power and participation in decision making, providing a secure place to live and a site for economic and social activity” (Gizaw & Woldetsadik, 2013).

Ethiopia has a predominantly agrarian economy, which makes land one of the most important resources, as most people need land to make a livelihood (Haddis, 2016, p. 1). The value of the land was similarly expressed by an elder in the Guji zone “…the coffee, the false banana, the breeding of cow, all of this need what? All takes place on the land” (Interview 13). In other words, land is crucial for production and livelihood, both for farmers and livestock herders in the Guji and Gedeo zones. At the same time Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa, with approx. 108 million people in 2018, of which more than 70% are under 30 years old, indicating a high population growth in the last few decades (ETHIOPIA, National Human Development Report 2018: Industrialization with a Human Face, 2018, p. 7).

Farming is the primary lifestyle in the Gedeo zone, the farmers mainly produce coffee and Enset (false banana). At the same time, the Gedeo zone is one of the most densely populated areas in all of Ethiopia (Senishaw, 2018). A government official in Yigetchaffer Woreda in the Gedeo zone, underlined the issue land scarcity presents for the local administration and the people within the zone. According to the informant the average amount of land per household in the area is very low (less than 0.5 hectare). Furthermore, a large number of people in the area are “landless” and hence unable to make a proper living for themselves and their families. Lack of land, the informant said, was a “painful” issue for them (Interview 23).

6.1.2 Resettling Schemes

This “land issue” in Gedeo is nothing new and has been present for a long period of time, it was mentioned in research executed in the area as far back as the 1950s, and arguably has come to affect the lifestyle and history of the Gedeo. It has also affected the relationship between the Gedeo and their neighbouring groups (Senishaw, 2018).

In the background (Chapter 2) we discussed how previous research has found that the

Ethiopian government has supported Gedeo expansion into Guji areas since the beginning of the century, through resettling schemes for different purposes. These resettling schemes, dictated by the government, have resettled Gedeo into areas that were previously inhabited mainly by Guji over time. This has had longstanding consequences for the two groups up until today.

Gedeo inhabitants in the Guji zone were often referred to as “guests” by my informants, who strongly felt that despite the longstanding presence of the Gedeo the land still belonged to the Guji. Even so, as my informants patiently explained, the Gedeo minorities in Guji might have lived in the area for 40 or 50 years (some even longer), many of them born and raised there (Interview 2). Yet, it appears they will always be considered as “guests” because of their ethnicity. Here, the 2018 conflict shares some common features with ‘sons of the soil’ type conflicts. As stated in the previous chapter such conflicts break out when the indigenous inhabitants perceive themselves as the rightful owners of the land, and therefore get into conflict with settlers (Elefversson & Brosché, 2012, pp. 33-35). This will be increasingly clear in section 5.3 where local inhabitants outline the motivation and rationale behind the violence that took place in their community.

6.1.3 Pastoralists and Land Rights

The Guji and the Gedeo lived together with close relations and much contact. Expressed through, for example, intermarriages, trade dependency, and sharing of certain cultural practices. In the background it was outlined that the Gedeo traditionally practiced farming, while the Guji on the other hand are traditionally pastoralists, focusing on livestock

production. Research shows that pastoralists are often at a disadvantage when it comes to property rights and other political decisions (Hazen, 2013). That seems to have been the case for the Guji as well, as research strongly suggests that (governmental) decisions on land have tended to favour the Gedeo over the Guji. This is well-illustrated by the government’s

resettling schemes into the Guji zone, as well as the decision to hold a bare majority vote in the previous referendums, which some argue favoured the Gedeo.

It is necessary to take note of the importance the land holds in this context, and how all these events have made it increasingly difficult to determine who “owns” the land. The history has blurred traditional demarcation between the groups, who already had close relations, which had consequences for the events that took place in 1995, 1998, and again in 2018. This project does not aim to say anything about who actually has a claim to the land, but it was obvious during interviews that conflicting claims came up (Interview 2, 19, 23, 30 & 33). We will revisit this issue in later sections.

In the previous chapter we saw how Torbörnsson suggested that most communal conflicts in Africa originate in issues over land (Torbjörnsson, 2016, p. 16), that argument appears true in this case. Land and dispute over land is a contextual factor affecting the recent conflict between Guji and Gedeo. As outlined, land is a particularly valuable resource in Ethiopia overall. However, land scarcity and dispute over land in itself is not enough to cause the conflict, the groups lived together in the past despite minor disputes over resources. Much like previous research has suggested, it would be too simple to write this conflict off as a dispute over land or resources. This thesis suggests that access to land might work as a motivating factor of sorts, however there are other issues at play that bring the conflict forth.