We are seeing the beginning of one more potentially big refugee crisis in the world, Haavisto said. In 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said his country should be ready for a war with Egypt over the dispute. UN food agency, FAO, UN children's agency, UNICEF, and WFP, warn that greater humanitarian assistance and livelihoods support is needed immediately to save lives and prevent the collapse of livelihoods in the worst-affected locations across South Sudan. Rising sea levels are prompting saltwater intrusions that are not only affecting water supply but also spoiling agricultural farmland, according to water management experts. It even considers that it is the only country entitled to the Nile waters, which Egypt totally rejects. They have ritual specialists called gafea. As the Berta People's Liberation Movement[21] or Benishangul People's Liberation Movement (BPLM), they - like the Gambella People's Liberation Movement of the Anuak in Gambella - were not accepted as full members of the EPRDF, but became regional partners of the new ruling coalition.[13]. Part of this work requires addressing the underlying factors that have fuelled the crisis. Associate Professor of History, Colgate University. They speak the Gumuz language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family. Even small-scale farm holders used to produce surpluses each year. In. Until yesterday, 3,364 people from 62 countries entered Ethiopia through Amhara region; 91 people from seven countries received through Kurmuk border crossing point, located in Benishangul-Gumuz region. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a massive hydropower plant on the River Nile that neighbors Sudan and Egypt, as the dam started to produce electricity, Feb. 19, 2022, in Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia. The government and its intelligence sector should reassess the routes and ways through which the militias are getting logistical support. Like other regions in Ethiopia, Benishangul-Gumuz is subdivided into administrative zones. A group of Gumuz men came to our village chanting leave our land, said Sebsibie Ibrahim, 36, a shop owner in Metekel district, speaking by phone. 1989. Minorities also deserve protection from tyrannical forms of majority ruleincluding forms that do not consider equal protection of minorities as essential, or which go so far as to engage in the forced assimilation and active annihilation of minority groups. Receive daily updates directly in your inbox -, Eastern Africa: Millions displaced, amid growing hunger, unprecedented needs, FAO ramps up support to Sudan farmers as starvation threat grows in East Africa, Hunger still rising across East Africa, says new UN-backed report, Battle not yet over against locust invasions in East Africa and Yemen, Humanitarians urge action to avert famine in Somalia and South Sudan, Sub-Saharan Africa under threat from multiple humanitarian crises. I think Marx has correctly identified the weakness of this article. Ethiopia may not have control over the behavior of Egypt and Sudan. It is becoming unsafe to present identity cards that show the holders ethnicity, even at security checkpoints, as this may result in persecution. Refugees and internally displaced people are at the centre of the food ration cuts, compounding a desperate situation for millions of people uprooted from their homes and often relying on aid to survive, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, UNHCRs Regional Bureau Director for the East, Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes. Violence by armed groups, and among ethnic-Gumuz, Agew, Amhara, and other communities in the Metekel zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz region, intensified in April, causing residents to flee.. As many social institutions and homes are destroyed, things like infrastructure building and support for reconstructing homes need to be considered. Nowadays it is simple to travel between the regional capital of Assosa and Gilgil Beles, the capital of the Metekel Zone. Abiys visit to the area was, unfortunately, followed by an escalation of the conflict and mass killings. But over the next two years, experts say Egyptians could approach a state of "absolute" water scarcity. What are the historical and social contexts? In addition, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) - supported by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which in the meantime had advanced far south from Eritrea - also fought for the area in the Ethiopian civil war in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Food insecurity is likely to rise by seven per cent across South Sudan in the coming months, compared to last year, according to a new UN report on food security, issued on Wednesday, leading humanitarians to renew their call for more humanitarian and livelihoods assistance to stave off looming hunger and enhance resilience. The incumbent parliament has 99 seats. It shares common borders with the State of Amhara in the east, the Sudan in the north-east, and the State of Oromia in the south. Opposition political parties, like the Boro Democratic Party (BDP), rejected the 18 May agreement between the regional government and the leaders of the militias, which included power-sharing elements, as illegitimaterecalling that the only way to assume power should be through an election. The cocktail of factors driving the worsening trend in food security for the whole of eastern Africa, will leave 7.74 million people (62.7 per cent of the population) across the country, facing IPC Phase 3 levels, or worse, of acute food insecurity during the lean season between April and July, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis. Survivors of a massacre in December in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia. There are also competing interests from actors in Sudan and Egypt who are opposed to the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Metekkel, and local elements who are unhappy with the formation of Ethiopias new ruling Prosperity Party. Guba is the closest district to Sudan. It hosts more than 70,000 refugees from those countries, as well as more than a half-million Ethiopians internally displaced by. With national and international attention being pulled in many directionsmost notably towards war in Tigraythe problems of Benishangul-Gumuz are being eclipsed. The Gumuz have traditionally been grouped with other Nilotic peoples living along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border under the collective name Shanqella (Pankhurst 1977). Attempts by the governments of Sudan and Ethiopia to increase control over the circulation of artisanal gold in their borderland regions have largely failed. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Immediately following the meeting, Ahmed issued a statement accusing foreign parties, in reference to Egypt, of causing chaos and instability in the country. Days later, the national army regained control of the town, but the event laid bare a deteriorated security apparatus, leaving many civilians with the impression that they have little hope for proper protection. It was previously known as Region 6. The Benishangul-Gumuz conflict was an armed conflict mostly in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Ethiopia that started in 2019, until peace agreement signed between the rebel groups and the government of Ethiopia in October 2022. The diplomatic dispute with Sudan and Egypt should be solved through dialogue and the dam negotiations should proceed amicably. In the absence of effective responses and with such a weak negotiation, popular trust in regional authorities, the command post, and government institutions has been diminished. All Gumuz are organized in clans. It is worrying indeed that the attention of national and international actors is turned almost exclusively to the war in Tigray. Control of the area must be regained. . Cite Ethiopia Insight and link to this page if republished. La Trib dei Gumus. At least 7,000 people who fled escalating ethnic violence in western Ethiopia have sought asylum in neighbouring Sudan, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said, amid heightened tensions between the two neighbouring countries. The new influx of refugees into Sudan comes amid tensions between Addis Ababa and Khartoum over a border dispute and the deadlocked talks over a massive dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile River. Dozens Die in Ethnic Massacre in Troubled Ethiopian Region, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/world/africa/ethiopia-ethnic-killings.html. Sister exchange marriage. Try it for free and cancel anytime. Secondly, taking military measures against the militias was not also effective in resolving or even minimizing the violence. High-ranking officials including Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited the area and discussed with representatives of the people in December 2020. Zanni, Leone. This indicated an inability of the government to provide security and maintain law and order in the region. [9], There are 2 refugee camps and 1 transit center, housing 36,440 refugees from Sudan and South Sudan, located in Benishangul-Gumuz region. Learn how your comment data is processed. Descendants of Gumuz people taken as slaves to the area just south of Welkite were found to still be speaking the language in 1984 (Unseth 1985). Concise, actionable scenarios and predictions from top regional experts. In December 2019, about 200 people were killed in the Metekel massacre. It borders the Amhara and Oromia states, and Sudan. There are several people, including children, who have lost their whole family due to the conflict. The attacks have been aggravated by recent land grabs by Amhara and other non-indigenous investors who want to control the zones agricultural and mining sectors. Comparative Komuz grammar. Ahmad, Abdussamad H. 1999. On April 19, Ahmed said that Ethiopia will fill the GERD reservoir in July and August, despite objections from the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan. Benishangul-Gumuz ( Amharic: , romanized : Benangul Gumuz) is a regional state in northwestern Ethiopia to the border of Sudan. Tigray has been the theatre of fighting since early November, when Prime Minister Abiy announced military operations against the regions ruling Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) party, accusing them of attacking federal army camps. Photos from the aftermath of the attack, provided by local activists, showed bloodied bodies of women and children strewn on the ground, many with horrific wounds. As President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said earlier, all options are open in preserving Egypt's right to the Nile waters, and the waters of the Nile River are ared line for the Egyptians., Sisi had warned April 7, No one can take a single drop of water from Egypt [and] all options are open., On March 30, Sisi said during a press conference, We are not threatening anyone, but no one can take a drop of water from Egypt [or] the region would witness a state of instability that no one can imagine., Awadi said, Ethiopia insists on the second filling of the GERD reservoir even before a binding legal agreement with Egypt and Sudan is reached. Assosa Zone makes less than half of constituencies, which does not guarantee the establishment of a regional government. He added, "Despite the plots and pressure, Ethiopia will fill the GERD reservoir on time. Despite efforts to make resources stretch through prioritisation schemes, the agencies are having to prioritize food assistance for the most vulnerable families,they saidin a press release, while the sheer number of refugees in need of support has grown, along with the gap between resourcing and needs. Alessandro Triulzi, "Asosa", in: Siegbert Uhlig (Hrsg.). In 2021, Egypt and Sudan held joint military exercises to showcase security ties between the two countries in response to the ongoing conflict, the Associated Press reported. Some of ethnic groups native to the Benishangul-Gumuz region are: Five of these ethnic groups (Berta, Gumuz, Shinasha, Mao and Kwama) are granted the exclusive right to non-territorially functioning indigenous councils. info@moh.gov.et. Now, we could be at the point in history where that changes," says Mohammed Mahmoud, a director of the Climate and Water Program at the Middle East Institute. For many, the agreement is an indication that positive gains can come from unsanctioned violence and may tempt others to achieve their wants through violence. Topographically, the . Killings were committed by representatives of different ethnic groups, each seeking revenge for violence suffered. Villages have been razed to the ground. These interest groups include actors from the neighbouring Amhara state who claim ownership of the Metekkel zone. Lifelines: exchange marriage among the Gumuz. Clashes had occasionally erupted in the past in the region that is home to various ethnic groups, including Gumuz, Agaws and Shinasas and the Amhara. To do so, its necessary to assess the success and failure of the previous strategies attempted by the command post in an effort to end fighting. Trading in slaves in Bela-Shangul and Gumuz, Ethiopia: border enclaves in history, 1897-1938. As of 2007, there were around 159,418 Gumuz in Ethiopia. But hitherto the default position of both the Ethiopian state and opposition forces is violence. [13] In the late 19th century, Ethiopia, under Menelik II, annexed the Sultanates of Beni Shangul and Gubba (Qubba in Arabic) at the behest of Abdallahi ibn Muhammad of Sudan who feared the British would occupy it. Note Etnografiche. While the Blue Nile-Benishangul-Gumuz borderland is not free from conflict, it provides an example of . The Berta rebels instead allied with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which overthrew the Mengistu regime in 1991 with the coalition EPRDF. Ethiopias former ruling coalition, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front. [19] Until the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in the mid-1930s, the area supplied gold and slaves to the central government on a large scale. The situation [in Metekel] has rapidly escalated in the past three months, Babar Baloch, UNHCR spokesman, told reporters in Geneva. Join the Middle East's top business and policy professionals to access exclusive PRO insights today. More and more children below the age of five years are experiencinghigh levels of stunting and wasting, as they lack the nutrients to grow and develop., Families do not know where their next meal will come from and are taking on huge debt, selling off what they can, or sending their children to work, added the Regional Director. "There'll be an imbalance in terms of less water supply and inflated demand," said Mahmoud. An aerial view of the Nile is seen during World Water Day in Cairo, March 22, 2023. More than 70 percent of refugees in need, do not receive a full ration due to funding shortfalls. Eighteen years later, marginalisation, ethnic exclusion, poor governance and the absence of workable democratic mechanisms have significantly affected community relations. The committees head, Abdallah Hamo, said that the committees investigation found that Sudan and Egypt support violence in the region, and that the armed groups received training and illegal weapons at the border with Sudan. From aboriginal to frontier society in western Ethiopia. With widespread instability and difficulty reaching IDPs, victims of violence are out of arms reach from humanitarian assistancewhether from the regional government or from national and international non-governmental organizations. 4 February 2022 Humanitarian Aid UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and partners are rushing life-saving aid to more than 20,000 refugees after they fled clashes in Ethiopia's Benishangul Gumuz. It was fighting the government of Ethiopia for more than 17 years and committed hundreds of deaths and huge number of displacements in the region until peace deal . He notes that they hunted with bows and arrows, a custom that survives today. . The massacre in Benishangul-Gumuz region, along the border with Sudan, is the latest challenge to the regime of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018 promising to unite Ethiopia but has struggled to contain a growing wave of ethnic violence. Insecurity has prevented people from accessing their land for next years farming. Bambasi (also known as Abba Moti) is a town in western Ethiopia. But funding gaps has forced @WFP to make difficult decisions about who receives food and who goes without. The Amhara state wants the right to administer Metekkel because it wants to control the zones mineral deposits and arable lands. [4] On 28 July 2009, the Regional Rural Roads Authority reported that over the previous year almost 600 of the 800 kilometers of local all-weather roads had been upgraded at a cost of 11.5 million birr, and an additional 447 kilometers of roads constructed. Awadi noted that the Ethiopian society is disintegrated, as sporadic demonstrations occasionally erupt in the country, due to the prime ministers policies of marginalization and persecution of several social groups. Despite this fact, the regional government immediately incorporated the strategy of civilian defense as part of conflict prevention and peace-building. Some of the reasons for the attacks include neighbouring Amhara states claim to ownership of the Metekkel zone. [15] Archaeologists have found sites that they date to the end of the 1st millennium BC or the beginning of the 1st millennium AD and assign them to the forerunners of today's Komuz-speaking ethnic groups. Indeed, on 10 June, there was a report of an attack by militias in Oda Bulidigilu Wereda which is located in Assosa Zone. The claim stems from the belief that Guba was gifted to Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia (1889-1913) by Khalifa Abdullahi, a Sudanese Mahdist leader, in 1897. The unfolding conflict in different parts of the country and the withdrawal of popular political parties from the election has overshadowed the stalled national election. Do their policies help peace or exacerbate conflict? The Gumuz enjoyed administrative rights over Metekkel zone. In, James, Wendy. The Bega (Gumuz) of Wellega: Agriculture and subsistence. It has been over six months since more than 207 people were massacred in a single day on 24 December 2020 in Bakuji, a small kebele in Bullen Wereda. Join over 50,000 readers who access our journalists dedicated newsletters, covering the top political, security, business and tech issues across the region each week.Delivered straight to your inbox. Getting people out of harms way and shielding them from serious protection risks also requires that their food needs are adequately addressed.. Ethiopia's new party is welcome news, but faces big hurdles. Regardless, some efforts were tried and they all failed. Egypt's population of 109 million is projected to grow significantly in decades, further straining the demand for water in the region. But it also unleashed simmering ethnic tensions. Afari said, I do not rule out any Egyptian and Sudanese efforts to use the rebels in Ethiopia as a pressure card and to provide them with weapons, in light of the difficult choice to head to a direct war and in an attempt to deter Ethiopia from taking unilateral actions., Samir Ghattas, a former Egyptian member of parliament and head of the Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, Egypt is in a difficult positionas Ethiopia insists on the second filling of the GERD, and given the difficulty to go into a direct war out of fear of international reactions. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said more than 180 people were killed in separate massacres in Metekel in December and January. Firstly, government-sponsored reconciliation efforts were made since the eruption of the violence which, unfortunately, failed to produce the expected outcome. However, Ethiopia Insight will correct clear factual errors. Haavisto repeated urgent calls from the international community for the Ethiopian government to grant full humanitarian access to Tigray, including areas beyond its control. On Dec. 22, Mr. Abiy took time out from the campaign in Tigray to visit Benishangul-Gumuz and calm tensions in the area. In 2021, Egypt and Sudan held joint military exercises to showcase security ties between the two countries in response to the ongoing conflict, the Associated Press reported. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and partners are rushing life-saving aid to more than 20,000 refugees after they fled clashes in Ethiopia's Benishangul Gumuz region, bordering Sudan and South Sudan. Benshangul-Gumuz Regional Health Bureau P.O. [10], Religion in Benishangul-Gumuz Region (2007)[11]. The Gumuz (also spelled Gumaz and Gumz) are an ethnic group speaking a Nilo-Saharan language inhabiting the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in western Ethiopia, as well as the Fazogli region in Sudan. The mob killing of a Gumuz man in Chagni, on 12 April, in the heart of the town in front of government authorities, is one of many signs of uncontained chaos. If you dont influence it now then the circumstances will build so that there are more and more refugees coming.. Addis Ababa and Asmara both deny that Eritrean forces are involved in the conflict, contradicting witness reports from civilians, aid workers and some military and government officials in Tigray. Out of this, the Assosa Zone has 42 seats while Metekel and Kamashi zones have 33 and 20 seats respectively. Unseth, Peter. In particular, the proposed power-sharing arrangements with the militias has raised many eyebrows. This is a good article. As "Shanquella", they are already mentioned by Scottish explorer James Bruce in his Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, published in 1790. At least 80 people were killed on Tuesday when unidentified gunmen stormed through a village in western Ethiopia in the latest of a series of ethnically driven massacres in the area, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and witnesses said on Wednesday. 505 from Sudan 1,054 from Somalia and 25,947 from South Sudan (NRC, 2014). Join the Middle East's most notable experts for premium memos, trend reports, live video Q&A, and intimate in-person events, each detailing exclusive insights on business and geopolitical trends shaping the region. Rocket fire from Gaza after Palestinian hunger striker dies, At 75, Israeli society faces sharpening divisions, 75 years after the Nakba, Palestinians still long for return, Former Sudan advisor to US government Cameron Hudson says US sanctions on Sudan's rival generals could have averted conflict. This article attempts to investigate and analyze the relationship between Beni Shangul Gumuz and the central government in the period between 1898 and 1941 in the context of center-periphery theories. Main photo: PM Abiy Ahmed and Benishangul Gumuz regions president Ashadli Hassan at a public conference in Benishangul on peace and security situation in Metekel; 22 December 2020; Office of the Prime Minister. [22], Over 60% of this region is covered with forest, including bamboo, eucalyptus and rubber trees, incense and gum forests as well as the indigenous species. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government has provided scant information on recent violence in Benishangul-Gumuz, particularly in Metekel zone, where Debate is located.
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