Re- assessing the Root Causes of Conflict in the Horn: The Case of Oromia and Somali Regional States in Ethiopia (1991- 2018)

Abstract

This article intended to re-assess the root causes of conflict along the common borders of Oromia and Somali regional states in Ethiopia based on personal interviews, group discussions and secondary data that was held in Mi'esso (Oromia) and Mi'esso (Somali) and Moyale (Oromia) and Moyale (Somali) districts. Accordingly, the root causes of the post 1991 ethnic conflicts in Ethiopia, mainly along the common boundaries of both regional states was multiple and complex. These causes are associated with nation building processes and power sharing conflicts. The theoretical ground of this study claims that the conflict in both regions was a clash between conflict actors over scarce resources which finally transferred to administrative border contestation. In addition to this, the idea of Greater Somalia was a historical factor that the legacies of the 1960s and 70s Somali politics in the Horn of Africa still has got impacts in the local level conflict between the Oromo and Somali. The main actors of the conflict in both regions includes the local administrative, militia, demobilized soldiers, Fetno-Derash of Oromia and the Liyu police of Somali and the para- military forces. The forces have been fighting under the guise of local people, which has been strictly concealed at the administrative levels. In general, the Oromo- Somali border conflicts have been built over a long period of time and brought about numerous economic, political and social (humanitarian) crisis. The conflict has frequently left hundreds of thousands displaced people, and many more death and injury. Data from the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) indicate at least 1,073,764 People were displaced by conflict in 2018 and live in government collective centers.