http://mg.co.za/article/2017-01-13-00-ethnic-unrest-besets-ethiopia/
Africa <
http://mg.co.za/section/news-africa>Ethnic unrest besets Ethiopia
Kalkidan Yibeltal <
http://mg.co.za/author/kalkidan-yibeltal> 13 Jan 2017
00:00
[image: The recent Oromo protests to demand autonomy are seen as the
precursor to the current groundswell in Amhara ethic assertiveness in
Ethiopia. Photo: Tiksa Negeri /Reuters]
The recent Oromo protests to demand autonomy are seen as the precursor to
the current groundswell in Amhara ethic assertiveness in Ethiopia. Photo:
Tiksa Negeri /Reuters
<
http://mg.co.za/article/2017-01-13-00-ethnic-unrest-besets-ethiopia>
*NEWS ANALYSIS*
Etenesh* sits alone on a worn cowskin in her mud-walled home in Amba
Giorgis, a small Ethiopian market town in the northerly Amhara region. Her
husband, a merchant, was arrested early in November because he had
allegedly participated in anti-government protests.
“He was taken to a military camp,” says his wife Aishah*, who sells coffee
to farmers from her shack. “I know that because he called me twice.”
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She does not know when, or if, he will come back, but she does know that
life without the family’s primary breadwinner is tough. “It’s just me now,
trying to provide for my children.”
Talk of arrests is prevalent in Amba Giorgis, which is part of the North
Gondar district where clashes between armed farmers and the military are
taking place.
On the edge of town, government soldiers man a new checkpoint. They moved
into a road construction camp, following the declaration of a state of
emergency on October 8 in response to the unrest among Ethiopia’s two
largest ethnic groups: the Oromo, who make up about a third of the
population, and the Amhara, constituting 27% in the country of nearly
100‑million people.
On July 31, residents of Gondar came out to demonstrate amid a
long-standing territorial dispute with the neighbouring Tigray region.
During Ethiopia’s transition from a unitary to a federal state in the early
1990s, some Amhara claim they lost territory to Tigrayans when the country
was restructured along ethnolinguistic lines.
The demonstrations have been used as a platform to voice discontent over
alleged government repression of the Amhara as well as to promote a budding
ethnic nationalism among them.
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The ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF), is a grouping of four ethnic-based parties, including Oromo,
Amhara and Tigray parties. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is
the founder of the EPRDF and is perceived to be the powerhouse of the
coalition, even though Tigrayans represent just 6% of the population.
Pro-TPLF commentators believe that the Amhara wing of the coalition, the
Amhara National Democratic Movement, gave its blessing to the Gondar
protest as part of an attempt to reduce TPLF dominance. But events gathered
momentum when the sentiments on display in Gondar reverberated in the
following weeks, as thousands of ethnic Amhara took to the streets in towns
like Amba Giorgis.
During the protests, slogans reflected a sense of victimisation.
“Being an Amhara is not a crime,” read one. “Respect Amharaness,” said
another.
Properties associated with the ruling coalition were attacked and the main
road leading to the tourist-magnet Simien Mountains was blockaded.
The government’s emergency decree, which, among other things, bans most
political activity, including watching opposition satellite channels, has
seen thousands of people detained on suspicion of being party to the unrest.
“Some 11 607 individuals have so far been detained in six prisons, of which
347 are female, in connection with the state of emergency declared in the
country,” official Taddesse Hordofa said in a televised statement on
November 12 after the state of emergency was implemented.
The measure has returned a degree of order to Ethiopia. But underlying
issues remain.
The Amhara held privileged positions during the imperial era that ended
with Emperor Haile Selassie’s overthrow in 1974. Some EPRDF federalists
insist that they remain loyal to ideas from that time and are suspicious of
the current arrangement.
For hundreds of years, the language and culture of Ethiopia’s imperial
courts were Amharic and, for many, advancement in career or social status
depended on assimilation. Many ambitious members of other ethnicities
adopted Amhara customs.
By the 20th century, the Amhara culture had become the culture of the
educated and of urban “elites” who were often ethnically mixed, according
to historian Takkle Taddese. As a result, the Amhara can be seen as “a
supra ethnically conscious ethnic Ethiopian, serving as the pot in which
all the other ethnic groups are supposed to melt”, writes Taddese in his
essay titled Do the Amharas Exist as a Distinct Ethnic Group?
When the EPRDF came to power in 1991 and ushered in federalism, the Amhara
were treated just as any other ethnic group: a collection of people with
their own identity and territory — a premise with which proponents of
contemporary Amhara nationalism agree.
The Amhara have existed as a distinct community for thousands of years,
fulfilling “all the basic markers of an ethnic group: distinct language,
distinct culture, collective national memory and experience and so forth”,
argues Wondwosen Tafesse, an academic based in Norway and a commentator on
Amhara issues.
But even with surging ethnic assertiveness, many Amhara are still likely to
give precedence to pan-Ethiopian identity, as Amhara nationalism is not an
end in itself, according to Wondwosen.
Rather, it is a reaction to “fend off multiple attacks, real and imagined”,
he says. The expulsion in 2013 of thousands of Amhara by regional officials
from the Southern People’s Regional State and Benishangul-Gumuz , according
to a report by the Human Rights Congress of Ethiopia, is raised to support
allegations that the government deliberately targets ethnic Amhara.
For opposing Amhara elites who had to grapple with the pre-eminent
questions of identity during EPRDF rule, ethnic nationalism was
antithetical to pan-Ethiopian nationalism.
Even with a growing sense of ethnic nationalism, pan-Ethiopian nationalism
still enjoys wider acceptance among the Amhara elites, argues Chalachew
Taddese, a contributor for Wazema, a nonprofit radio station founded by
exiled Ethiopian journalists based in Europe and the United States. Amhara
nationalists, therefore, have to tackle those who see an excessive ethnic
focus as compromising the nation’s integrity.
Taddese says two factors have contributed to the increase in Amhara
identity: “A growing perception of ethnic discrimination” by the government
and “persistent anti-Amhara campaigns” by Oromo elites, who portray the
group as “a historical coloniser and victimiser of all other ethnic groups”.
If Amhara nationalism grows in prominence, the relationship with Oromo
nationalism might be decisive for the country’s future.
During the protests, Oromo and Amhara nationalists displayed signs of
solidarity in the face of what they believed to be a common enemy: the TPLF.
But there were always questions about the camaraderie and whether it was
meaningful and sustainable.
The Oromo rose up in November 2015 amid complaints that they have been
politically and economically marginalised under a federal system that
promised them autonomy. The protests were a testament to a reinvigorated
Oromo nationalism.
Unlike its nascent Amhara equivalent, Oromo nationalism goes back half a
century, with an established ideology, institutions and aspirations. Any
secessionist Oromo tendencies cause alarm among the Amhara, who promote
their identity within a multinational Ethiopia.
But Oromo nationalism is also predicated on alleged persecution by Amhara
elites during the imperial era.
Accordingly, Amhara nationalism, if it solidifies, “will be forced to
counteract the narratives of Oromo elites”, Chalachew says.
One battleground will be the legacy of Menelik II, a 19th-century emperor
whose military campaigns shaped the boundaries of modern Ethiopia. Oromo
nationalists, who want to remove his statue in the heart of Addis Ababa,
see him as an Amhara imperialist conqueror.
Amid these immediate and pressing challenges, the rise in Amhara
nationalism creates more turbulence in the region, raising questions that
no one yet seems able to answer. — Al Jazeera/News24 Wire
<
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/01/ethiopia-ethnic-nationalism-gondar-protests-170102081805528.html>
* Names have been changed to preserve privacy
Received on Thu Jan 12 2017 - 22:15:36 EST