The most affected states are Jonglei, Unity, Upper Nile, Lakes, Eastern Equatoria (Kapoeta East) and Warrap - more than 80 per cent of those food insecure. Try it for free and cancel anytime. The other communities are not well represented in the local leadership framework. James, Wendy. 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. The Berta rebels instead allied with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which overthrew the Mengistu regime in 1991 with the coalition EPRDF. 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. It was previously known as Region 6. In other words, the upcoming election will be conducted in 46 regional constituencies, and will not take place in 53 constituencies due to security reasons. The OLF tried to incorporate the local population as "black Oromo", but met with little support. 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. More and more children below the age of five years are experiencinghigh levels of stunting and wasting, as they lack the nutrients to grow and develop., Families do not know where their next meal will come from and are taking on huge debt, selling off what they can, or sending their children to work, added the Regional Director. It was the latest of several bloody outbursts over the past year in the western region of Benishangul-Gumuz, along the border with Sudan, where ethnic tensions are running high. Communities have been torn apart. . "Both because of climate change, and also because of socio economic conditions and population growth.". What are the historical and social contexts? The situation [in Metekel] has rapidly escalated in the past three months, Babar Baloch, UNHCR spokesman, told reporters in Geneva. Sorghum is used for cooking porridge (nga) and brewing beer (kea). #NEWS ALERT The number of #refugees in eastern Africa has tripled in the last decade to almost 5 million. Those who supported the agreement argued that negotiation and compromise are positive by their nature and should be appreciated. The Gumuz also hunt wild animals, such as duikers and warthogs, and gather honey, wild fruits, roots and seeds. The unfolding conflict in different parts of the country and the withdrawal of popular political parties from the election has overshadowed the stalled national election. Since its establishment under the 1995 constitution, questions about who has rights in the region have been contested. 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. Both countries are opposed to the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam without negotiation. The dust of the violence in Metekel has not yet settled and threatens to spread into neighboring zones, raising fears of escalating conflict. The reconciliatory act has also aggrieved those who have suffered in the process of the conflict and who have been waiting for justice. Spirits are called mus'a and are thought to dwell in houses, granaries, fields, trees and mountains. January 6, 2021, 4:10 AM On Dec. 22, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited the vast lowland territory of Metekel in Ethiopia's far western region of Benishangul-Gumuz, the so-called. Insecurity has prevented people from accessing their land for next years farming. The area comprising Benishangul-Gumuz formally became part of Ethiopia under the terms of a Nile-focused 1902 treaty signed by Emperor Menelik II with Great Britain, which ruled Sudan. 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. A general view of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. Already, reports indicate the presence of training operations for militias in the Ethiopia-Sudan border. The command post also tried to deter the militias by declaring that it would make door-to-door hunts and take all necessary measures to apprehend militia members. Currently, the regional government has some control in towns where administrative offices are located, but not much beyond that. The region has faced major challenges to economic development, due to lack of transportation and communications infrastructure. Negotiations over an agreement between the three nations over the filling of the dam have stalled recently. On April 22, the government-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commissionannounced that an armed group has taken full control of a county in Benishangul-Gumuz, killing and committing acts of violence against civilians, while security forces could not stop it. [citation needed]. The Amhara state wants the right to administer Metekkel because it wants to control the zones mineral deposits and arable lands. Even small-scale farm holders used to produce surpluses each year. In December 2019, about 200 people were killed in the Metekel massacre. Intimate in-person access to policy and business VIPs. First, an area needs to be effectively controlled, ensuring the availability of appropriate levels of security, social services, and economic opportunities for returnees. 4 February 2022 Humanitarian Aid 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. Benishangul-Gumuz is also home to the government's prestige $5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. [19] Until the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in the mid-1930s, the area supplied gold and slaves to the central government on a large scale. This figure does not include the uncounted and unreported displacement of Gumuz and Shinasha people that took place within Metekel Zone. Ethnic violence poses a major challenge to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as he tries to promote national unity in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups. 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. 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. As President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said earlier, all options are open in preserving Egypt's right to the Nile waters, and the waters of the Nile River are ared line for the Egyptians., Sisi had warned April 7, No one can take a single drop of water from Egypt [and] all options are open., On March 30, Sisi said during a press conference, We are not threatening anyone, but no one can take a drop of water from Egypt [or] the region would witness a state of instability that no one can imagine., Awadi said, Ethiopia insists on the second filling of the GERD reservoir even before a binding legal agreement with Egypt and Sudan is reached. Ahmad, Abdussamad H. 1999. The name of the region comes from two peoples Berta (also called Benishangul) and Gumuz. With its vast and fertile land, Benishangul-Gumuz was once looked at as a crucial development corridor of the country. In, Wallmark, Peter. The Gumuz see minorities as settlers, the rights group said. Advertisement . Awadi noted that the Ethiopian society is disintegrated, as sporadic demonstrations occasionally erupt in the country, due to the prime ministers policies of marginalization and persecution of several social groups. 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. Published under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. This is an escalation of the border dispute between Sudan and. What is the rationale behind having an ethnic identity card? Abiys visit to the area was, unfortunately, followed by an escalation of the conflict and mass killings. There have been reports that the Ethiopian National Defense Forces took measure on up to 500 youths reportedly coming from Sudan with training and armament. The question of Eritrean troops is extremely sensitive, so we dont get the clear answer about the whereabouts or magnitude of the Eritrean troops, he said. As such, one could go so far as to argue that even bothering to conduct an election in Assosa while postponing elections in Metekel and Kamashi is effectively pointless. Bambasi has a longitude and latitude of 945N 3444E with an elevation of 1668 meters above sea level. (Calverton: Macro International, 2008), http://catalog.ihsn.org/index.php/catalog/3583/download/50086, "Exhibiting Cultures of Contact: A Museum for Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia", "Ethiopia and the Mahdiyya You Call Me a Chicken? On April 19, Ahmed said that Ethiopia will fill the GERD reservoir in July and August, despite objections from the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan. Many Gumuz became sedentary while continuing their agricultural system. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Afari said, I do not rule out any Egyptian and Sudanese efforts to use the rebels in Ethiopia as a pressure card and to provide them with weapons, in light of the difficult choice to head to a direct war and in an attempt to deter Ethiopia from taking unilateral actions., Samir Ghattas, a former Egyptian member of parliament and head of the Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor, Egypt is in a difficult positionas Ethiopia insists on the second filling of the GERD, and given the difficulty to go into a direct war out of fear of international reactions. Immediately following the meeting, Ahmed issued a statement accusing foreign parties, in reference to Egypt, of causing chaos and instability in the country. Those living near the Sudanese borderland converted to Islam and a few are Christians, but most Gumuz still maintain traditional religious practices. It criticised Sudan's 1 May claim of sovereignty over Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz region, where the dam is being constructed. [18] In 1898, Asosa became the political and economic capital. Please send an email to pro.support@al-monitor.com and we'll onboard your team. Both Egypt and Sudan argue that the dam affects the flow of the Nile waters into their respective countries. Unfortunately, in the last two years, the people in Metekel are enduring terrible shortages, and famine looms ahead due to a manmade crisis. 21 The dam, Africa's largest, began generating electricity in February 2022, after 11 years of construction work. 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. [6] It had a projected population of 1,127,001 in 2018.[2]. Terms of the agreement that seemingly aimed at appeasing the militias included, among others, sharing power with militia members at the wereda, zonal and regional levels, creating job opportunities, offering access to financial support services, and giving urban and rural land to the members of the militias. Besides the country is on the verge of being labeled as a pariah state, due to the conflict it has been ignited with western powers.It could be wise of the government, to step down from its rigid and jingoistic stance and try to accommodate to a certain degree, the interest of these three entities. Text Alerts - Be the first to get breaking news, exclusives, and PRO content. The Amhara claim should be handled through constitutional means; not by force. The claim stems from the belief that Guba was gifted to Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia (1889-1913) by Khalifa Abdullahi, a Sudanese Mahdist leader, in 1897. There are also competing interests from actors in Sudan and Egypt who are opposed to the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Metekkel, and local elements who are unhappy with the formation of Ethiopias new ruling Prosperity Party. In. 1985. Finally, Benishangul-Gumuz local government officials have owned up to orchestrating ethnic targeted killings in Metekkel as push back against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmeds new Prosperity Party, which replaced What we need from the Ethiopian government is the green light to the humanitarian community to negotiate access to the Eritrean-controlled areas, to the opposition-controlled areas, he said. UNHCR says most of the asylum seekers who fled ethnic violence in Benishangul-Gumuz region have been living among Sudanese host communities. All Gumuz are organized in clans. Fighters from Amhara, however, have been accused by witnesses of carrying out atrocities along with Ethiopian and Eritrean forces in the Tigray conflict. Its main inhabitants are the Gumuz, Oromo, Awi, Amhara, and Shinasha communities. The cocktail of factors driving the worsening trend in food security for the whole of eastern Africa, will leave 7.74 million people (62.7 per cent of the population) across the country, facing IPC Phase 3 levels, or worse, of acute food insecurity during the lean season between April and July, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis. Killings were committed by representatives of different ethnic groups, each seeking revenge for violence suffered. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he was sending more soldiers to secure Ethiopia's restive Benishangul-Gumuz area after armed gunmen killed more than 100 civilians. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government has provided scant information on recent violence in Benishangul-Gumuz, particularly in Metekel zone, where Debate is located. The Gumuz enjoyed administrative rights over Metekkel zone. 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. Box 61 Assosa, Ethiopia Telephone: +25125-7-754738 . Tsegaye is studying for a Peace and Development Work Masters degree at Linnaeus University in Sweden and is a political science lecturer at Assosa University. Metekel Zone, located in Benishangul Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, is home to many ethnic groups, such as the Gumuz, the Amharas and the Shinashas. 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. Full Release https://t.co/366QlfLowm@Refugees pic.twitter.com/3gdeWPfObw. Topographically, the . I do not think the article addressed why the Gumuz rebel. The hydro-electricity dam is now nearly complete and has begun filling to provide direly needed energy supply to Ethiopia. UNHCR and partners have moved refugees from Sudan and South Sudan to safety in Ethiopia's Benishangul Gumuz region. [5], Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), the Benishangul-Gumuz Region has a total population of 784,345, consisting of 398,655 men and 385,690 women; urban inhabitants number 105,926 or 13.51% of the population. Thousands have been killed and buried in mass graves, forced out of their homes, and properties looted and set ablaze. [4][5][6], Many changes occurred for the Gumuz people from the 1980s through to the 2010s. As it used to be among the Sudanese Uduk, marriage is through sister exchange. 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). Like other regions in Ethiopia, Benishangul-Gumuz is subdivided into administrative zones. Lifelines: exchange marriage among the Gumuz. [4] Background [ edit] Ethnic tensions [ edit] 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.