‘This pasture is ours since ancient times’: An ethnographic analysis of the reduction in conflicts along the post-1991 Afar-Tigray regional boundary

Abstract

The role of post-1991 ethnic-based federalism on conflicts along regional boundaries has been a topic of great dispute in Ethiopianist literature. This article sheds new light on the on-going debate based on original ethnographic material from the Afar-Tigray regional border zone. Contrary to other studies, conflicts appear to have reduced in that area. Two key questions are addressed: how do different groups lay future claims to land; and which role does the post-1991 government play in those claims to land and in reducing conflicts? The case study reveals that people materialise religion to lay future claims to land and that conflicts have reduced with increased involvement of the state over the past two decades, but that this reduction has come at a high cost and may therefore not be sustainable in the long term.

Transhumance as a driving force of landscape change in the marginal grabens of northern Ethiopia

“…Officials from both regions admitted that the boundaries are not demarcated on the ground but are drawn on provisional maps, which result in conflicts between the two communities. Lenaerts et al (2014) confirm the presence of conflicts when the livestock cross the boundaries (mental boundaries in this case) of a given area. Similarly, the findings of the interviews and focus group discussions reveal that the transhumant people, who cross boundaries in search for pastures and water, mostly trigger conflicts.…”

“…Lenaerts et al . () confirm the presence of conflicts when the livestock cross the boundaries (mental boundaries in this case) of a given area. Similarly, the findings of the interviews and focus group discussions reveal that the transhumant people, who cross boundaries in search for pastures and water, mostly trigger conflicts.…”

Institutions and Pastoralist Conflicts in Africa: A Conceptual Framework

“…Therefore, in the contexts where conflict protagonists are used to and prefer customary institutions for the management of everyday conflict, the advent of neoliberally decentralised institutions (e.g., law courts) could increase the avenues for forum shopping. For instance, in Ethiopia, there are various but usually incongruent means for conflict actors to renegotiate institutional rules to lay claims to land (Lenaerts et al, 2014). Where different rules govern access to the same resources, forum shopping leads to conflicts about legitimacy.…”