Institute for Peace and Security Studies

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Browsing Institute for Peace and Security Studies by Subject "Addressing the Moyale Conflicts in Southern Ethiopia"

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    Addressing the Moyale Conflicts in Southern Ethiopia: Challenges and Prospects
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-06) Sintayehu, Melkamu; Hassen, Ahmed (PhD)
    The theme of this study is concerned with addressing the conflicts of the Moyale town in southern Ethiopia. There has been conflicts in Moyale and its environs since early times. However, the nature of the conflict has changed in recent decades, both in its actual subject-matter and in the form of its expression. The conflicts were obviously not the usual fights between pastoral communities over pasture, water source or cattle raid. As a result, the study is aimed at identifying the actors, the factors and the interplay between different dimensions of the Moyale conflicts. Qualitative case study method and descriptive design were used to this end. The analysis is also framed using theories of ethnicity and ethnic mobilizations. The finding indicates that the conflicts in Moyale and its environs shaped and re-shaped by historic and ongoing socio-economic and political developments. The Borana, the Garri and the Gabra found to be parties in conflict while other actors such as the OLF, Al-Shabab, Business Men, Community elites, Security forces from both the Ethiopian and the Kenyan sides involved in the conflicts of the area. The factors of the conflicts also includes Land Ownership and Blurred Frontier Demarcations, Politicized Ethnicity and Elite Mobilization, the Location of Moyale and Unenforceable Citizenship Rights. The efforts of achieving lasting peace held back due to the Socio-economic and Political developments, focus on the Immediate factors of the conflict, the Proliferation of Small Arms, Lack of commitment from Local Elites and the Regional Dimension of the conflicts. At the same time, the recent measures of the government upon local elites, the mental set-up of the community for peace, increased dependency on legal instruments and joint planning and execution of social services found to be windows of opportunities in dealing with the conflicts of the area. In general, the study concludes that the conflicts in the town of Moyale and its environs are the result of a number of actors and factors. And also have a peculiar features which cannot be addressed in terms of pastoralist conflicts of the region and calls for a shift of focus to a deeper level, beyond the surface factors, where the underlying factors are directly addressed.