Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Ethiopia: A Comparative Regional Study by Asnake Kefale

Author:Asnake Kefale [Kefale, Asnake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, Comparative Politics, Social Science, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781135017972
Google: 9as3AAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 18291191
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-07-31T00:00:00+00:00

7

Inter-regional conflicts

Somali region

Introduction

The previous chapter examined intra-regional conflicts within the Benishangul-Gumuz region. This chapter and the next (Chapter 8) both deal with inter-regional conflicts between the study regions and their neighbours. The federal restructuring carried out by dismantling the old unitary structure of the country led to territorial and boundary disputes. Unlike the older federations created by the union of independent units, which, among other things, have stable boundaries, creating a federation through federal restructuring leads to controversies and, in some cases, to violent conflicts. In the Ethiopian case, violent conflicts accompany the process of intra-federal boundary-making.

Inter-regional boundaries that divide the Somali region from its neighbours (Oromia and Afar) are ill-defined, and there are violent conflicts along these borders. In some cases, resource conflicts involving Somali, Afar and Oromo clans transformed into more protracted boundary and territorial conflicts. As will be discussed in this chapter, inter-regional boundary-making also led to the re-examination of ethnic identity.

This chapter examines two cases in relation to the impact of ethnic regionalization on inter-regional conflicts between the Somali region and its Oromo and Afar neighbours. First, it examines how the process of boundary-making led to a territorial contest among three Afaan-Oromo1 speaking clans in the border town of Moyale, southern Ethiopia. Second, it considers how the ethnic regionalization process affected the age-old Afar2-Issa conflict in north-east Ethiopia. Although the conflicts in both cases are not new, the federal restructuring process has transformed them into inter-regional boundary conflicts.

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