The politics of space in Borana Oromo, Ethiopia: demographics, elections, identity and customary institutions

Abstract

This article addresses the protracted state of political violence developed in and around the Borana and Guji zones of Oromia region after the introduction of the ethnic federalism in Ethiopia. In order to account for the persistence of the role of certain groups during different phases of the conflict, an attempt is made to elaborate on the connections between ethnic identity, natural resource and customary institutions by introducing the notion of primary identity. Since the turn of the millennium there is in Ethiopia a theoretically grounded attempt to co-opt customary institutions and elders into modern governance, particularly in the pastoral sector and with reference to both the political field and development. The field-research focused on the interplay of customary and modern politics on occasion of two electoral events, the 2004 referendum organised to solve the border issue between the Somali Regional State and Oromia, and the 2005 political elections. The analysis of the political dynamics and of local political history suggests that the constitutional provisions were transformed by the federal strategic need to control the insurgency of the Oromo Liberation Front, and by the peripheral motivations bound to the primary groups. The combined effect of these two factors produced a systematic abuse of human rights and the manipulation of development and refugees policies, involving the various actors in an informal 'demographic politics of space'. As a result the Borana Oromo were displaced from a large portion of their customary territory and were relegated into a state of permanent food dependency. Under these conditions, the opportunistic cooption of elders and customary leaders can only lead to the most destructive outcomes. It is here suggested that human and indigenous rights as defined by the relevant international instruments may better contribute to constructively valorise the potentials of customary governance.

Rain and Raids Revisited: Disaggregating Ethnic Group Livestock Raiding in the Ethiopian-Kenyan Border Region

“…Since colonial times, ethnicity based on common origin, customary institutions, and governance has been a persistent 'primary identity' among pastoral and agro-pastoral groups in the region. 13 Although scholars recognize the fluidity of ethnicity and warn against the tendency to essentialize and reify ethnic categories, ethnicity does have traction on the ground where it is one of several social identities that can be invoked to mobilize and serve collective aims. Other social identities include family, lineage, age-set, clan, and nation.…”

Land Registration and Gender Equality in Ethiopia: How State–Society Relations Influence the Enforcement of Institutional Change

“…This constitutes an unfortunate gap in the fieldwork. 12 Similar state strategies of co-optation of customary institutions as a means of enhancing authority and implementation capacity are reported by Hagmann (2005) in the Somali region and Bassi (2010) in other parts of Oromiya. 13 Though see footnote 7.…”

Dynamics of institutionalized competition in the geography of inter-ethnic rivalry: The case of the Jarso and the Girhi in Eastern Ethiopia

“…The article tried to identify and characterize the structures and processes that promoted collective consciousness and identity, and the way each group moved to assume strategic dominance to withstand and alter the dynamics of change. As in other places where the Oromo and Somali clans disputed over territory (see Adugna, 2011;Bassi, 2010;Tache and Oba, 2009), the Jarso-Girhi competitions prior to and during the referendum involved various interacting processes including reconstruction and redefinition of identity and the meaning of territory. Concepts were taken from theories of social movement to capture the content, meaning and structure of these processes.…”

“…The territories defining the Oromo and Somali people are fuzzy and have been changing over time (Bassi, 2010;Kefale, 2010;Markakis, 2011). The 1995 constitution established the country as a federation of nations, nationalities and people.…”