The historical root of the Anuak-Nuer conflict and interaction can be traced back to the eastward expansion of the eastern Jikany Nuer groups. The findings suggest that conflicts and interactions between two groups aggravated and shaped by the new developments in Ethiopia and Sudan. This study analyzes the context and origins of the conflict between the two groups and explains the key determinants of the conflict. The study of the conflict and interaction between Nuer and the Anuak would partly explain how the security and unity of the Sudan and Ethiopia is being challenged and questioned in the twentieth first century.

Background: Pre-lacteal feeding is a barrier to implement optimal breastfeeding practices and caused new-born disease. Pre-lacteal feeding is primarily practiced in developing countries, where cultural and social structures are based on descent and relationships. The aim of study was to determine the magnitude of pre-lacteal feeding practice and its influencing factors among mothers with children under the age of 2-years in Afar region of Ethiopia. Method: A community based cross sectional study supplemented by qualitative study was employed. In the quantitative study, 235 study participants were included, whereas seventeen study subjects participated in the qualitative study. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with pre-lacteal feeding practice. The qualitative data was analyzed using thematic approach. Result: The magnitude of pre-lacteal feeding was 36.6%. Being a housewife (AOR=4.1, 95% CI: 1.4-12.2) and having male indexed child (AOR=4.9, 95% CI: 1.8-13.5) were more likely to practice pre-lacteal feeding than those of trade and female, respectively. However, pre-lacteal feeding practice decreased in those mothers with three and above ante natal care visits (AOR=0.31, 95% CI: 0.1-0.9), delivered at health institutes (AOR=0.1, 95% CI: 0.02-0.3), starting breastfeeding within one hour (AOR=0.04, at 95% CI: 0.01-0.1) and getting breast feeding counseling (AOR=0.21, at 95%CI: 0.06-0.7). Milk, plain water, sugar solution, honey, butter, dates (‘temir'), a leaf, and condo pepper were the most common pre-lacteal foods reported by study participants. Cultural beliefs and the assumption of cleaning new-born throat and bowel were the most common reason to practice pre-lacteal feeding. Conclusion: The magnitude of pre-lacteal feeding was high due to socio-cultural and maternal health service utilization factors. Water, milk products, sweet foods and some of plant types were the most common pre-lacteal foods. Key words: Pre-lacteal feeding, factors, mother, children

Ethiopia has been both enriched and burdened by its past, including its land tenure system. ‘Land to the Tiller’ was one of the main factors for the decline and fall of the imperial period, the reign of Emperor Haile-Sellase (1941–1974). This study is essentially based on archival materials from the Wolde-Mesqel Research Center at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University. I consulted material from the Center that deal with the subject of this article. The article examines the essential features and elements of land reform, land tenure and the qalad system (land measurement) in Ethiopia. It also tries to analyze the factors that made land measurement and land reform complex and difficult during Imperial Ethiopia. The findings suggest that most of the available literature on the government of Haile-Sellase’s land tenure system lacks a sense of critical scholarship, and needs to be more comprehensive and balanced in its judgements and interpretations. It has no depth or objectivity and seems to have been written for political consumption. This article concludes by giving a comparative and contrastive analysis of some of the existing literature on land tenure, reform and measurement, using the archival materials of the Research Center.

The Anuak-Nuer resistance to centralization traced back to their incorporation in the last decade of the ninetieth century. It was a reaction against submission, and aggravated and shaped by the new developments in Ethiopia and British-ruled Sudan. The perspectives of local and ethnic groups and formation of local groups, identities and interests have been formed, dissolved and affected the political and social processes and changes along the Ethio-Sudanse borderlands since the 19 th century. The purpose of this study is to examine center-periphery relations and the dynamics of shared identities. It also explains the key determinants of the resistance against the centralization processes on one hand and to some extent, the evolution and development of minority identity and politics in the political economy of the study area on the other. A multidisciplinary study emphasizes the anthropology, politics and history of the Nuer and Anuak in relation to the center.