Academic literature on the topic 'Somali-Ethiopian Conflict'

In 1977 Somalia invaded Ethiopia hoping to seize the Ogaden, an Ethiopian region predominantly inhabited by ethnic Somali. Histories of this event are rare and focus exclusively on the political and military aspects of the conflict. This is not surprising given the Cold War backdrop of the conflict. This article, however, shifts the focus away from the political towards the personal. Focus here is on the different roles Ogadeni women took up in the Somali-Ethiopian war, also known as the Ogaden war. Through interviews with former actors in the conflict it became clear that women occupied a range of roles in the war, varying from victims or care-givers to active participants in militias and front-line combat. In conflicts today, Somali women still retain many of these roles. Originally some Somalis did oppose this state of affairs, today most seem to have accepted the phenomenon of female actors in the Ogaden war, even though that approval can be linked with a political agenda. Both Ogadeeni and Somali women were active in the war, transcending Somali clan lines along the way. Accounts of the women interviewed illustrate the effects of their choice to participate in the Ogaden war.

Since 1991 Ethiopia has made a change in thinking favoring federalism against the centralized hierarchical power to radically respond to the problem of diversity and better recognize and accommodate the country's ethnolinguistic and cultural diversity. Paradoxically, Ethiopia had experienced more ethnic-based conflict in its post-1991 existence than ever before. Among others, the Somali-Oromo conflict is the worst ethnic-based conflict in the country’s history. Though the two communities, have a long tradition of co-existence and strong socio-cultural integrations due to their shared Muslim-Cushitic identity, economic interdependence, and shared cultural practices; antagonistic relationships, and intermittent conflicts due to resource competition, territorial expansion, bad governance, and other factors have prevailed in the last three decades. It is the objective of this paper, therefore, to investigate and analyze factors of ethnic conflict along the shared border of the Somali and Oromia regional administrations, specifically Bable and Bobas districts, within the context of Ethiopian federalism. Methodologically, the study employed a comparative research approach and made use of key informant interview and survey questionnaires' techniques in gathering the relevant data, and in effect, both qualitative and quantitative data interpretation and analysis methods were utilized in the analysis section. The findings of this study demonstrate that the Somali-Oromo conflict is complex & dynamics and the result of the interplay of historical, institutional/structural/political, economic, socio-cultural, and environmental factors. Furthermore, the result of the study reveals that major drivers of ethnic conflict in both areas are similar.

The aim of the research is to identify the role of Saudi diplomacy vis-à-vis the 1982-1988 Somali-Ethiopian border war, particularly since the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea are particularly important in Saudi security thinking; The conflicts in the Horn of Africa region represented an important source of security threat to the region's neighbours, particularly Saudi Arabia, because every conflict that erupted in the region had implications for Saudi Arabia; By virtue of the long coastal boundary on the Red Sea.

This paper examines resource-related conflict among pastoralists in southern Ethiopia, specifically the Somali and Oromo ethnic groups. It applies theories of property rights, environmental security and political ecology to discuss the complexity of the conflict, using narrative analysis and conflict mapping. Results reveal that the conflict results from interrelated cultural, ecological and political factors. The systems of governance, including the setting up of regions on an ethnic basis and associated competition for land and control of water-points, have contributed to violent conflict between the two ethnic groups. The creation of new administrative units (kebeles) close to regional boundaries has exacerbated the conflict. Moreover, change in land use, prompted by insecure property rights to communal land, rather than expected increase in economic benefits has caused conflicts among the clans of the Oromo. The findings suggest Ethiopian authorities support the functioning of traditional access options, successful operation of customary courts and penalising opportunistic actors to address inter-ethnic conflicts. Applying land use and administration guidelines and empowering customary authorities would reduce the incidence of inter-clan conflict.

Adopted in 1991, ethnic federalism indeed paved the way for the recognition, accommodation, and institutionalization of ethnocultural diversity for the first time in the country’s history since its modern existence. What is equally important is, the practice of ethnic federalism complicated state-society and inter-group relationships creating a favorable environment for ethnic confrontation and conflict to take place in the country threatening national unity, eroded century-old values of coexistence, a hard ethnic boundary where administrative boundaries are served as political and ethnic differentiators like the Oromo and Somali conflict over contested boundaries. Territorial recognition, and institutionalization of ethnicity gave room for the emergence of ‘ethnic like and ethnic others’ thinking, made minorities in different regions victims of politics and failed to provide sound accommodation mechanisms from them, severely restricted people’s constitutional rights including the right to mobility and right to work, created room for the re-emergence of secessionist tendency. Hence, ethnic federalism while solving old problems of ethnic inequality and injustice; has created new problems of ethnic tensions and conflict across Ethiopia. It is the purpose of this study to investigate how and why federalism is being considered as the source of ethnic conflicts in the Ethiopian context. The study adopted a qualitative comparative approach while FGDs and key informant interviews were used to gather data. The finding of the study shows that though multinational federation plays an irreplaceable role to accommodate and institutionalize ethnocultural diversity, the notion and implementation of federalism instigate ethnic conflict in the Ethiopian context.

0,4° north of the equator : sovereignty in a state of neglect. In the regions North of the Equator, the Kenyan State has left all sovereignty to warlords who use their control of a territory to terrorise neighbours and steal their livestock. In the West, the Pokots have remained unpunished and become the unquestioned masters of the livestock theft which supplies the markets of the rebellions in Uganda and Southern Sudan. In the East, the taking of sides of the regime in the Somali conflict and the fear of the Ethiopian threat leave the way clear for the most murderous feuds between different armed factions.

The present study interrogates the interstate media wars that erupted following the emergence of relational troubles among the parties of Ethiopia’s coalition: the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Data from archives and interviews were used to understand the causes and characteristics of the media wars that were mostly fought out on television and other mass media. Findings show that the states used offensive and defensive strategies that included delegitimation, narrativisation and moralisation. Findings further indicate that the most open media war involved the Somali and Oromia states, which used Facebook as their major platform to express an open political hostility relating to their ethnoterritorial disputes in the earliest phases of the conflict. The present study highlights the potential dangers of inflammatory state media deployment in the context of fractured and fragile federations.

AbstractThis article aims to rekindle the debate on the politics of aid in the increasingly common – yet still under-studied – authoritarian and low-intensity conflict settings, detailing the case of Ethiopia in 2016, when a 50-year drought coincided with a wave of protests and a state of emergency. During four months of qualitative fieldwork in 2017, state, civil society, Ethiopian and international actors were approached – from humanitarian headquarters to communities in the Amhara, Oromiya and Somali regions. Research participants relayed stark discrepancies between the humanitarian theatre's ‘frontstage’, where disaster responders showcase an exemplary response, and its ‘backstage’, where they remove their frontstage masks and reflect on the information, the decision-making monopoly of the state and the intrusion of conflict dynamics into the humanitarian response. In humanitarian research and in policy, a collective conversation is necessary on where to draw the line between respect for governments’ sovereignty and the intrusion of humanitarian principles.

Pastoralism is a culture, livelihoods system, extensive use of rangelands. It is the key production system practiced in the arid and semi-arid dryland areas. Recent estimates indicate that about 120 million pastoralists and agro-pastoralists life worldwide, of which 41.7% reside only in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Pastoralists live in areas often described as marginal, remote, conflict prone, food insecure and associated with high levels of vulnerability. Pastoral communities of Ethiopia occupy 61% of the total land mass and 97% of Ethiopian pastoralists found in low land areas of Afar, Somali, Oromiya, and SNNPR. In spite pastoral areas have significance role in national economy, yet very little consideration was given to pastoral development and policy makers often neglect them, focusing on the interests of agriculture and urban people. The constitution of Ethiopia gives pastoral communities the right to free land grazing, fair use of natural resources, have market access and receive fair price, and not displaced from their own lands. However, pastoralists have faced new problems in recent years, including competition for water and pasture; unrepresented in socio-economic and political activities, ethnic based conflicts, poverty, and uneven drought and climate changes. The government of Ethiopia began large scale efforts to develop the pastoral areas and initiated different projects, but pastoral development policies and strategies seem to be state centrally-driven. In Ethiopia the current nature of pastoralism and pastoral communities’ life style is changing. Therefore, government needs to develop policies and strategies which are based on local customs and practical knowledge.

Balance-of-Power theory was tested by examining the 1977-1978 Ethiopian-Somali conflict and its outcome. The theory, according to Waltz (1979), claims to explain the international outcome arising from realpolitik or power politics, namely, the formation of balances of power. Given the close fit between the major developments leading to the eruption of conflict and the principal propositions of balance-of-power theory, the outcome of the conflict was expected to be consistent with that posited by the theory. This expectation was borne out by the study's finding which indicated that the conflict has produced a similar result. Confirmation of the theory was achieved by further subjecting the finding to the verification test established by Waltz.

The main objective of this thesis is to critically investigate and analyse the institutional role of the OAU in conflict resolution in Africa. In order to achieve that goal, among other things, it is argued that the philosophy, ideology and history of the Pan-African Movement influenced and shaped the institutionalisation process of the Pan-African Movement and the eventual establishment of the OAU, the formulation of its goals and objectives, as well as the OAU's potential in the resolution of conflicts on the continent. It is also argued on the one hand, that the tension between the preservation of sovereignty of the OAU member states, as well as their national interests and the promotion of continental interests on the other hand, directly affected the work of the OAU in conflict situations in Africa. Furthermore, it is emphasised in the thesis that the colonial legacy and the dynamics of the Cold War era did indeed affect the relations between the OAU member states and as a result, impacted on the African regional cooperation and the role of the OAU in conflict resolution processes in Africa. Another important aspect highlighted in the study was the evolution of the structures of the OAU involved in conflict management and resolution and their effect on the resolution of conflicts on the continent. A critical assessment was made of the various organs, mechanisms and methods adopted by the OAU and an attempt was made to ascertain whether they were suitable for the types of conflicts they were meant to resolve. Indeed, it is argued in the thesis that the principal organs of the OAU either lacked adequate powers to resolve inter-state conflicts, or they were inappropriately structured and thus they could not resolve these conflicts because their structures were not appropriate to intervene in most of these conflicts. Therefore, it can be stated that the mechanisms that were adopted by the OAU mediators to resolve these conflicts were not appropriate for the types of conflicts in which they were involved. It is important to mention that the conflict resolution mechanisms, which were provided for by the OAU Charter, were mainly aimed at resolving inter-state conflicts, and did not cater for various types of intra-state conflicts. An attempt was made in the study to ascertain to what extent this omission affected the role of the organisation in dealing with intra-state and other forms of conflicts, which emerged on the continent. Moreover, it is argued that the structural set up of the OAU's conflict resolution organs has produced complex legal and political problems for member states as well as to the parties to the conflicts. That situation in turn produced complex impediments in the operationalisation and the work of these organs in conflict resolution situations in Africa. This was because their functions were not distributed to minimise jurisdictual disputes such as boundary conflicts, hence resulting in the ineffectiveness of the work of the organisation. The study further analysed the extent to which the role and position of the UN as an international institution affected the role of the OAU in conflict management and resolution in Africa. The thesis also tried to ascertain to what extent the structural weaknesses and inherent challenges regarding the role of the UN in peace making in Africa hampered the work of the OAU in conflict situations where its cooperation with the UN was essential. Moreover, it is argued that the role and position of other regional organisations on the continent did in fact affect the role of the OAU in conflict management and resolution and that the inherent challenges and legal omissions of some vital provisions in the OAU charter regarding the role of the sub-regional organisations in peace-making in Africa did constrain the work of the OAU in conflict situations where its cooperation with sub-regional organisations was required. It was further argued that, although the American-European initiatives in conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa was meant to facilitate and enhance the activities of the OAU in conflict situations in Africa, some of these initiatives did affect in different ways the role of the OAU. Finally, several arguments were presented to explain why the OAU was not able to successfully resolve the Ethiopian-Somali boundary dispute, a conflict seen as a typical inter-state dispute. Indeed, it is argued in the thesis that the Ethiopian-Somali boundary dispute exemplifies the challenges faced by and inherent weaknesses of the various mechanisms the OAU mediators had adopted to deal with conflict situations in Africa.
Political Science
D. Litt. et Phil. (International Politics)