The Role of Federal Police in Preventing and Managing Inter-Ethnic Conflict in Ethiopia: The Case of Afar-Issa Boundary

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Date

2021-07

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Addis Ababa University,

Abstract

This thesis discusses in detail the Afar-Issa (Somali) inter-communal conflict, to assess the role of the deployed Federal Police force in preventing and managing the violent conflict. Conflict among Afar and Issa Somali ethnic groups is not a new phenomenon it is a protracted and intractable situations. The trigger cause of the conflict was natural resource scrambling, crimes committed by individual persons from each sides such as raiding animals, and killing peoples and currently the issue of boundary delaminates and territory claim have becoming the main issue of conflict .These series situations was invited the federal government to deploy a Para military police and with concerned stake holders on the contested territory to contain and manage conflict violent .The study is qualitative by design. Participants of the study were selected using purposive sampling technique. In this regard, the researcher organized three Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) where two group discussion were categorized from the Afar and Issa( Somali) pastoral local communities respectively, and the third group was composed of the deployed Federal Police officers. Generally, the participants of this study were 41 in number, among which 24 informants were involved in the focused group discussions and each group cession were comprising of 6- 8 people and the rest 17 informants were involved as semi structured open ended interview from the concerned Federal institutions which means the deployed Federal police Division, the MOFA which is with the mandate to manage and oversight the conflict Zone and Afar and Issa Inter Ethnic security professionals and practitioners and the FDRE defense troops which is found in the conflict site participated as key informants. Secondary data mainly conflict incident reports and records of the Federal Police rapid response directorate about the damages and losing human lives looting properties since the 2011-2018.. The study is guided by the conflict violence transformation theory. The findings of the inquiry focus on the role of Federal Police in preventing and managing conflict, on conflict handling mechanisms being employed and what chronic challenges faced, and the neutrality of the Federal Police in delivering its duty. Thus, the study found out that there is an inconsistency in conflict management, the absence of efficient ways of communication among the stake holders, and direct prevention delay, insufficient cooperation from regional actors, inefficiency and insufficiency of Federal Police training and logistics, illicit arms trade, failure to prevent and control criminal offence those who are trigger cause for conflict clash, different chains of command and the absence of conflict transformation have been among the main challenges. In its concluding remarks, the study presents the prospects and opportunities for the more viable option to be taken to prevent and manage the Afar-Issa conflict.

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Keywords

Federal Police, Inter-ethnic conflict, Intervention, containment Conflict violent, Conflict Management, Interregional relations, Traditional Conflict Resolution

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