Institute for Peace and Security Studies

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Browsing Institute for Peace and Security Studies by Author "Aklilu Amsalu(PhD)"

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    Resource Related Conflicts in Metekel Zone of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2024-08) Mulugeta Ayele; Aklilu Amsalu(PhD)
    The nexus of natural resource and conflict has always been at the heart of peace and security studies, which concomitantly the foremost interpretations have relied heavily on the political, socio-economic and cultural contexts. The persistent resource-related conflicts in several developing countries thus rung once again for a renewed understanding of the contexts in which the underlying causes and recurring patterns have all ingrained in for the past few decades. Immersed on the land, water, and forest resource-related discordant between the Gumuz and the non-Gumuz communities (among others these include the Amhara, Oromo and Agew ethnic groups), this study was intended to delve into the contexts, trends and drivers of resource conflicts, particularly in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region. The specific objectives were set to analyse the change and continuities in conflict trends and the key drivers of natural resource disputes and ethnic tensions; examining the socio-psychological positions of parties in conflict; identifying the key actors and relationships that has been shaping conflict dynamics and impacts; and evaluating existing formal and informal institutions involved in the early warning, prevention, and mitigation of such conflicts. A qualitative research methodology was employed to collect and analyse data. The leading data acquisition instruments include key informant interviews, expert interviews, focus group discussions, archival evidences, reliable documents and other data sources. The findings unveiled that a complex web of tensions have been rumbling the inhabitants of Metekel , and this was essentially driven by stiff competition over scarce natural resources, faulty strategies resorted to address historical grievances and elite-driven conflict-ridden regional politics. The actors involved in these conflicts range from grassroots community members to influential regional entities, each them has motivated by diverse interests such as resource acquisition, excessive lust for power, and shaky inter-ethnic alliance and counter alliance. Mutually opposing claims over land, group insecurity and the politics of difference in tandem with extensive misinformation and hateful rhetorics have all pivoted for the recurring violent interethnic confrontations. The study also uncovers that legal pluralism is in the making. Both the local institutions that customarily used to address the intra-ethnic conflicts and the state-run institutions which typically set to manage inter-ethnic disputes, often resorted to address the intra and inter-ethnic conflicts. Nonetheless, the local institutions of conflict resolution have not yet fully realized their potentials in both transforming the on-going challenges and nurturing durable peace.