That means the election will only take place in Benishangul-Gumuzs Assosa Zone. Concerning religion, 44.98% of the population were Muslim, 33.3% were Orthodox Christians, 13.53% were Protestant, and 7.09% practiced traditional beliefs. 1939-40. Awadi denied any Egyptian involvement in the recent violence in the Benishangul-Gumuz region. The threat of famine is very real in Somalia and South Sudan and urgent action is needed now to avoid a catastrophe, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday. Benishangul-Gumuz ( Amharic: , romanized : Benangul Gumuz) is a regional state in northwestern Ethiopia to the border of Sudan. Globally, floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and intense, severely impacting countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, and worsening food insecurity. The stories the refugees are bringing they are fleeing attacks from their opponents, Baloch said. 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. Hence, the regional and the federal government should collaboratively work to investigate the situation and bring the perpetrators to account. But hitherto the default position of both the Ethiopian state and opposition forces is violence. [7], In the Metekel conflict, starting in 2019, Gumuz militia were allegedly involved in attacks against Amhara, Agaw, Oromo and Shinasha civilians.[8][9][10]. 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. And as a result, the Nile delta becomes the second most susceptible place on earth to climate change impacts in terms of sea level rise," says Karim Elgendy, an associate fellow at the Chatham Institute think tank. In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the region's population was reported to be 460,459 of which 233,013 were men and 227,446 were women. Trend Reports - Deep dive analysis on market updates. and militarization in Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz Region led to the closure of the . A sharp increase in food and fuel costs and conflict-caused displacement are being compounded by a worsening climate crisis. The Abay River (Blue Nile) divides Benishangul-Gumuz, and there was no bridge crossing it until 2012. The officials believe that the Prosperity Party, to which they now belong, wants to eliminate the existing federal arrangement which guarantees self-rule to ethnic groups in the country. John Young, "Along Ethiopia's Western Frontier: Gambella and Benishangul in Transition". Blood was flooding from his neck, he said. On Wednesday, Ethiopia said its military had killed three senior members of Tigrays former ruling party, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, including Seyoum Mesfin, a former foreign minister of Ethiopia. Nowadays it is simple to travel between the regional capital of Assosa and Gilgil Beles, the capital of the Metekel Zone. 1975. Ahmed said that these parties seek to plunge the country into chaos. Concise, actionable scenarios and predictions from top regional experts. More than 100,000 people have been displaced and 7,000 people have fled to Sudan. 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. Those living near the Sudanese borderland converted to Islam and a few are Christians, but most Gumuz still maintain traditional religious practices. [12], Like the Gambela Region, Benishangul-Gumuz is historically closely linked to neighbouring areas of Sudan, and to a lesser extent to the Ethiopian Highlands. The attacks further threaten the stability of Africas second-most populous nation at a time when Mr. Abiy is already embroiled in an escalating conflict in the northern Tigray region, where he launched a major military operation on Nov. 4 that he said was intended to capture defiant local leaders. Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Ati said in a statement April 18 that Cairo submitted15 different proposals for the filling and operation of the GERD over the past years, so as to meet the Ethiopian demands without causing any damage to Egypt and Sudan. Benishangul-Gumuz Region is one of the peripheral regions of Ethiopia bordering the Sudan. 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.. Anyone can read what you share. 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. I Preniloti: unarcaica provincia culturale in Africa. "Experimenting with Non-Territorial Autonomy: Indigenous Councils in Ethiopia". This is an escalation of the border dispute between Sudan and. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [14][20], Resistance to the Mengistu regime here came mainly from the Berta. Nilotic ethnic group in Ethiopia and Sudan, https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1275-84, "12 killed in latest attack in western Ethiopia", "Benishangul: At least 60 civilians mostly women, children killed", "More than 100 killed in latest ethnic massacre in Ethiopia", Field recordings from 1980 of traditional music, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gumuz_people&oldid=1144297259, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2008, "Related ethnic groups" needing confirmation, Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesmanMansour Bouladresponded to the Ethiopian accusations on March 5, saying in apress statement, Sudan has no intention to invest in violence in its relations with other countries.. Benishangul Gumuz has an estimated area of 51,000 square kilometers and is located in the north-western part of Ethiopia. The region has faced major challenges to economic development, due to lack of transportation and communications infrastructure. As a result, the militias are strengthening their holdings and bargaining power. Published under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. Over 10,000 militia members were recruited and received government-sponsored military training in all weredas of the Metekel Zone. Amharas are the second most populous ethnic group in Ethiopia and they have been targeted repeatedly over the last year. It said it was working with local authorities in the Blue Nile province to respond to the humanitarian needs of the newly arrived, many of whom have arrived in hard-to-reach places along the border. Since its establishment under the 1995 constitution, questions about who has rights in the region have been contested. Ethiopians know that state institutions are weak and can easily imagine how the justice system in a place like Benishangul-Gumuz would be ill-equipped to investigate mass killings and bring perpetrators of atrocities to full account. Benshangul-Gumuz Regional Health Bureau P.O. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. It is becoming unsafe to present identity cards that show the holders ethnicity, even at security checkpoints, as this may result in persecution. Regardless, some efforts were tried and they all failed. What are the historical and social contexts? . Sister exchange marriage. 1980. Egypts Al-Bawaba News, which is close to the state, reported in an April 23 article that a civil war is unfolding in Ethiopia due to the poor economic and social conditions in the country and its citizens being marginalized and isolated. By foregoing action to investigate crimes and ensure accountability, the signed agreement has also neglected the issue of justicea foundation of sustainable peace. They fired their guns and used swords to attack anyone they came across women, children, elderly people.. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been a part of a contentious decade-long dispute involving Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Benishangul Gumuz regional authorities have shown solidarity with refugees and identified a new temporary site with capacity to accommodate 20,000 people. This is the viewpoint of the author. The situation [in Metekel] has rapidly escalated in the past three months, Babar Baloch, UNHCR spokesman, told reporters in Geneva. [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. But funding gaps has forced @WFP to make difficult decisions about who receives food and who goes without. What are the policies of neigbouring states toward the BSG region? It was not until the mid-20th century that Berta also settled in the lowlands, as slave hunts and armed conflict had ended. The Region hosts Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and has been the site of intense ethnic killings throughout the past year. The number of hungry people in the Sahel and West Africa hasquadrupledover the last three years, currently reaching41 million, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Friday. Our Vision is to see Healthy, Productive, and Prosperous Citizens of Ethiopia. This claim gained momentum after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed assumed power in April 2018. It has also sounded the alarm over a very critical malnutrition situation unfolding in the Tigray region, citing continuing insecurity, bureaucracy and the presence of various armed actors as major obstructions to the efforts to deliver life-saving aid. Benishangul-Gumuz is also home to the government's prestige $5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Disarming the armed group could have been a better solution than arming the unarmed group which will likely fuel further conflict, putting the area into a vicious cycle of conflict. The militias want to protect the Gumuzs 30-year rule of the region. It needs to change. 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. Before picking a side, it is important to put the agreement between the militias and the regional government into perspective. [8] Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Benishangul-Gumuz as of 2005[update] include the following: 19.1% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 47.4% and for women 23.2%; and the regional infant mortality rate is 84 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is greater than the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants first month of life. The Amhara claim should be handled through constitutional means; not by force. Do their policies help peace or exacerbate conflict? 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. According to their traditions, in earlier times they inhabited the western parts of the province of Gojjam, but were progressively banished to the inhospitable area of the Blue Nile and its tributaries by their more powerful Afroasiatic-speaking neighbors, the Amhara and Agaw, who also enslaved them (Wolde-Selassie Abbute 2004). In the past decade the number of refugees in eastern Africa has nearly tripled, from1.82 million in 2012 to almost five million todayincluding 300,000 new refugees last year alone. At the epicenter of these complex crossroads is Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State: site of the dam, bordering with Sudan, and cloaked in chaos that will prevent many of its constituents from participating in the upcoming national election. Slaves were also smuggled into Sudan across the border, which was established in 1902. The Gumuz see minorities as settlers, the rights group said. In the chaos that followed, houses were torched and an old man was beheaded outside his house, Mr. Sebsibie said. 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. In a statement on 1 May, the government of Sudan claimed Benishangul-Gumuz as potentially its territorya provocation which the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly condemned. The region has 20 weredas and two Special Weredas making three Zones of the region. Already, reports indicate the presence of training operations for militias in the Ethiopia-Sudan border. [17], In the first quarter of the 19th century, Arab traders arrived from Sennar, which was occupied by Ottoman Egypt from 1821. [9], There are 2 refugee camps and 1 transit center, housing 36,440 refugees from Sudan and South Sudan, located in Benishangul-Gumuz region. Since 2019, a cross-border collaboration programme has been implementing activities aimed to develop and enhance income-generating opportunities in the border area of Benishangul-Gumuz Region (Ethiopia) and Blue Nile State (Sudan), as a means of strengthening the population's resilience to instability and displacement and to improve overall living conditions. As of 2007, there were around 159,418 Gumuz in Ethiopia. The growth in needs here mirrors what we see happening around the globeand we implore the world not to turn its back on this region and, in particular, the extremely vulnerable communities of refugees who have limited access to livelihoods and rely on WFP to survive.. Indeed, on 10 June, there was a report of an attack by militias in Oda Bulidigilu Wereda which is located in Assosa Zone. Box 61 Assosa, Ethiopia Telephone: +25125-7-754738 . 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. Sudans recent claim to Metekkel and particularly to Guba district has shocked the region. "There'll be an imbalance in terms of less water supply and inflated demand," said Mahmoud. For the umpteenth time, we call on the federal and regional authorities to scale up security in Metekel, he said, referring to the district of Benishangul-Gumuz where the killings took place. 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. Instead, cross-border trade has increased, away from official pathways. [18] In 1898, Asosa became the political and economic capital. They speak the Gumuz language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family. [citation needed]. Topographically, the . 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. Sorghum is used for cooking porridge (nga) and brewing beer (kea). Please send an email to pro.support@al-monitor.com and we'll onboard your team. If you dont influence it now then the circumstances will build so that there are more and more refugees coming.. We are seeing the beginning of one more potentially big refugee crisis in the world, Haavisto said. This indicated an inability of the government to provide security and maintain law and order in the region. The Gumuz are one of the indigenous groups in Metekkel. With national and international attention being pulled in many directionsmost notably towards war in Tigraythe problems of Benishangul-Gumuz are being eclipsed. [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. [13], According to Negasso Gidada, Oromo penetration into the region began in the mid-18th century. " The Benishangul-Gumuz region borders Sudan and South Sudan. The Benishangul Gumuz Peoples Liberation Movement (BPLM) was Sudan based rebel group built its operational zones in Benishangul Gumuz Region around remote areas of Assosa zone. Abiy, the winner of the Nobel 2019 Peace Prize, declared victory after federal forces entered the regional capital of Mekelle in late November, though the TPLF pledged to fight on and clashes have persisted in the region, hampering efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance. 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. Intimate in-person access to policy and business VIPs. Alessandro Triulzi, "Trade, Islam, and the Mahdia in Northwestern Wallagg, Ethiopia". In, James, Wendy. The Amhara state wants the right to administer Metekkel because it wants to control the zones mineral deposits and arable lands. James, Wendy. Cereal crops are kept in granaries decorated with clay lumps imitating female breasts. Though a transit road has been built and commercial farms established in the lower basin the Gumuz people were seen in 2018 as politically "peripheral" in regard to the Ethiopian highlands that hold the power in the country. The other communities are not well represented in the local leadership framework. Live Video Q&A - Hear from our top journalists and regional experts. Try it for free and cancel anytime. It even considers that it is the only country entitled to the Nile waters, which Egypt totally rejects. Despite some progress, the humanitarian response remains drastically inadequate compared to the sheer magnitude of needs across the region, the UNs Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA) said in a report on Saturday. Read more: Attempts by the governments of Sudan and Ethiopia to increase control over the circulation of artisanal gold in their borderland regions have largely failed. Insecurity has prevented people from accessing their land for next years farming. The Benshangul/Gumuz Region lies on Ethiopia's western border with Sudan, and shares internal borders with Amhara and Oromia Regions. I have no confidence in the proposed solution. Photo: Benishangul Gumuz regional government Addis Abeba - The Benishangul Gumuz regional government said it has signed a peace agreement on 10 December with the armed group Benishangul People's Liberation Movement (BPLM) in Khartoum, Sudan. Egypt's support for the rebels is very probable, as the Nile waters consist of a life or death matter for the Egyptians, and it is possible for Egypt to use all the cards to pressure Addis Ababa in its battle with Ethiopia.. In. 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. He was born in Metekel and worked in Benishangul-Gumuz for almost a decade. Zanni, Leone. On 21 May, the National Election Board of Ethiopia confirmed that the election, which will take place on 21 June, will not take place in both Metekel and Kamashi zones, indicating that registration of voters did not occur due to security reasons. Gumuz: a dialect survey report. An aerial view of the Nile is seen during World Water Day in Cairo, March 22, 2023. Built on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz region, just 30 km from the border with Sudan, the GERD is nearing completion, with the Ethiopian government announcing in March 2023 that 90 per cent of the dam was finalized. Separately, a European Union envoy warned the crisis in Tigray appears out of control, after visiting Ethiopia on behalf of the bloc. 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. 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. This figure does not include the uncounted and unreported displacement of Gumuz and Shinasha people that took place within Metekel Zone. Severe climate shocks Globally, floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and intense, severely. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said more than 180 people were killed in separate massacres in Metekel in December and January. 1975. With the stalled negotiations on the filing and operation of the GERD, discontented youth might be attracted to seek support from either Sudan or Egypt. Berta is spoken in the Sherkole woreda, Gumuz is spoken along the western boundary of Guba and Dangur woredas and in the Sirba Abbay woreda, and the Shinasha are a displaced people of Kaffa scattered across Welega and Gojjam. This is a good article. James, Wendy. Prioritize your target industries for weekly review: We also offer team plans. [14], Under the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, who ruled Ethiopia from 1974, some 250,000 drought- and famine-stricken peasants from the highlandsmostly Amharas from Wollo provincewere relocated to Benishangul-Gumuz from 1979 and especially in the mid-1980s. These attacks were premeditated and highly prepared, he said. The number of refugees arriving per month has been steadily reducing and in May only 159 new arrivals were registered in Kassala and Geraref and another 162 new . 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. Some of the reasons for the attacks include neighbouring Amhara states claim to ownership of the Metekkel zone. Dessalegn, Beza. The area has been under the stewardship of the command post since September 2020. "Both because of climate change, and also because of socio economic conditions and population growth.". 1985. I suspect justice means something different to the rebel group than to this author and government. Previously one had to travel through Wollega and Gojjam in the neighboring regions of Oromia and Amhara, a distance of 1,250 kilometers, but it is now around 378 kilometers on the new road and bridge. 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 choice may be clear : it may be a bitter pill to swallow: do we want to see one Ethiopia, living in a relative peace ,by changing some agreement on the dam or sticking to our current position and face the eternal infighting and the disintegration of the country? Learn how your comment data is processed. "It will determine the impact of this disruption and the reduction to the volumes of water that goes to Egypt," he said. The Ethiopian Prime Minister called out his neighbors for fueling the recent round of violence in Ethiopia's western Benishangul-Gumuz region where the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is located. The reconciliatory act has also aggrieved those who have suffered in the process of the conflict and who have been waiting for justice. Millions of displaced families across eastern Africa will fall deeper into hunger as food rations dwindle due to humanitarian resources being stretched to the limit as the world grapples with a toxic cocktail of conflict, climate shocks, and COVID-19, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday. The Gumuz speak the Gumuz language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family (Bender 1979). Ethiopia is now at a crossroads. The most obscure of Ethiopia's regions, practically never visited by tourists, is Benishangul-Gumuz, which runs for about 2,000km along the Sudanese border to the east of Amhara, but is on average no more than 200km. As a result, ethnic clashes that had already been growing for months have only gotten worse. It borders the Amhara and Oromia states, and Sudan. High-ranking officials including Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited the area and discussed with representatives of the people in December 2020. info@moh.gov.et. Ahmad, Abdussamad H. 1999. Time is not on Ethiopias side;it is on the side of Egypt and Sudan.I suspect that they may have hands in almost all conflict areas in the country. The diplomatic dispute with Sudan and Egypt should be solved through dialogue and the dam negotiations should proceed amicably. This page was last edited on 12 March 2023, at 23:23. 1993. Are there fears of exclusion? In several parts of the Gumuz area, the settlers' economy dominated by 2018. Despite this fact, the regional government immediately incorporated the strategy of civilian defense as part of conflict prevention and peace-building. The dust of the violence in Metekel has not yet settled and threatens to spread into neighboring zones, raising fears of escalating conflict. [7] According to the 1994 census 44.1% of inhabitants were Muslim, 34.8% Orthodox Christians, 13.1% followers of traditional religions and 5.8% Protestants. Their claim to the entire Metekkel zone has fuelled Gumuz militia attacks on non-Gumuz residents. UNHCR, COR and partners are also responding to their needs. #NEWS ALERT The number of #refugees in eastern Africa has tripled in the last decade to almost 5 million. Various trade routes met in Benishangul, and local gold and Ethiopian amole (salt bars) were exchanged for slaves, cattle, horses, iron, civet, musk, coffee, ivory and honey (which also came from the Oromo areas of Sibu and Leeqaa). The town is named after the highest point in the Asosa Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Mount Bambasi. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd, Ethiopia's new party is welcome news, but faces big hurdles, area has become a juncture for different interest groups, actors from the neighbouring Amhara state, Why Ethiopia's new leader could be a game changer, opposed to the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam without negotiation, owned up to orchestrating ethnic targeted killings, Chief of Staff (Global Culture and Engagement), Lecturer in Environmental Art - School of Art and Design. This was followed by the killing of over 80 people in a place called Daleti in Metekel Zone.
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