understanding political disorder in Ethiopia's Somali Region

[Ahmed_Guree]

Beyond clannishness and colonialism: understanding political disorder in Ethiopia's Somali Region, 1991-2004

 

 

Abstract In this article I propose an alternative interpretation of political disorder in Ethiopia's Somali Regional State since the rise to power of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1991. Some observers have perceived contemporary politics in the former ****** as an example of 'internal colonization' by highland Ethiopians. Others attribute political instability to the 'nomadic culture' inherent in the Somali clan structure and the ineptness of its political leaders.

 

This study argues that neither of these two politicised narratives grasp the contradictory interactions between the federal Ethiopian government and its Somali periphery nor the recursive relations between state and society. With reference to the literature on neo-patrimonialism I elucidate political disorder in the Somali Region by empirically describing hybrid political domination, institutional instability, and patronage relations. I demonstrate how neo-patrimonial rule translates into contested statehood in the region and political devices ranging from military coercion to subtle co-optation. Rather than unilateral domination, a complex web of power and manipulation between parts of the federal and regional authorities animates political disorder in Ethiopia's Somali Region.

 

Introduction

The year 1991 marked a turning point for Somali nationalism in general and for Somali-Ethiopians2 in particular. Resulting from the downfall of the Derg regime and the total disintegration of neighbouring Somalia, new institutions and political manoeuvres emerged within the Somali-inhabited territory of Ethiopia. The former ****** and today's Somali Regional State (SRS) or Region 5 became one of nine member states within the decentralized, ethnically structured Ethiopian polity established under the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) (Aalen 2002; Pausewang et al. 2002).

 

Ever since incorporation of the ****** into the Ethiopian Empire, politics in the Ethiopian Somali Region have been fashioned by the region's double identity, first as a peripheral part of the Ethiopian nation-state and second as a division within the larger Somali political economy consisting of the former Somali Democratic Republic, Djibouti, north-east Kenya, and the Ethiopian Somali Region. The EPRDF's granting of national self-determination to Somali-Ethiopians significantly altered political interactions between the Ethiopian highland and its Somali periphery. While it did not lead to effective pacification of the region, new political dynamics were unleashed.

 

Young's (1999:322) observation of how governments, development agencies, and political analysts ignored Ethiopia's western regions of Gambella and Benishangul applies equally to the Somali Region. Due to a decades-long history of conflict and inaccessibility, the Somali Region is characterized by an astonishing data gap. Consequently, 'the usual geographical and anthropological literature prevalent in other pastoral situations is lacking' (Abdi N. Umar 2004:4). Neglect of the region by Ethiopianists, Somali studies specialists, and other foreign scholars working on Ethiopian issues has been lamented before (Mohamud H. Khalif & Doornbos 2002:88). Chronic insecurity in large parts of the Somali Region - mainly due to fighting between the ****** National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Ethiopian federal army as well as sporadic intrusions by armed groups from Somalia - have rendered data collection in the 250,000-km2 wide territory an unpredictable and cumbersome undertaking. Apart from selected field reports by Ahmed Y. Farah (1995, 1997), Hogg (1996, 1997), and van Brabant (1994) as well as short briefings by Markakis (1994, 1996), contributions on political developments in the Somali Region since 1991 have been rare and meagre in empirical information. Many contributions focus on the pre-EPRDF period or have a rather general outlook on the region (for example, Brons et al. 1995; Escher 1994; Mohamud H. Khalif & Doornbos 2002). Notable exceptions are Schröder's (1998) unpublished manuscript and, more recently, Abdi I. Samatar's (2004) instructive political analysis since the EPRDF's rise to power.

 

In this study, I offer an explanation of political and institutional disorder in the Somali Region since the Somalis' integration into the 'new political order' (Markakis 1994) of federal Ethiopia in 1991. I propose an alternative interpretation to the prevailing discourse imputing political turmoil in the Somali Region to either the federal Ethiopian government or the Somali-Ethiopian polity. I demonstrate that neither of these politicised narratives fully captures the rationality of political disorder within the area.4 Drawing upon first-hand empirical material, this study argues that political disorder in the Somali Region is embedded in characteristic patterns of the post-Derg period that result from recursive relations between centre and periphery, state and pastoral communities. My goal is to provide a coherent explanation of seemingly contradictory political phenomena in the Somali Region from an interpretative viewpoint. I draw upon the literature on neo-patrimonialism in Africa to conceptually explicate and empirically illustrate these phenomena. Hence this study neither aims at an exhaustive chronology of political developments in the Somali Region since 1991 (see Abdi I. Samatar 2004) nor does it assess politics primarily in light of the flourishing literature on Ethiopian federalism and state-building (Alemseged Abbay 2004; Vaughan and Tronvoll 2003; Young 1996, 1998). Although the region's nine zones enjoy varying degrees of state presence, stability, and political freedom, an analysis of nuanced intra-regional developments is beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice is to say that all of the Somali Region's nine zones have witnessed at one point or another large-scale inter-group conflicts within the past 15 years.

 

The empirical data presented in this article stems from open and semi-structured interviews and participant observation conducted in Jigjiga, Harshin, Godey, Qalafo, and other localities within Somali Region between May and July 2003 and between May and July 2004. During these periods I regularly discussed administrative and political matters with civil servants of different regional ministries. Names of all sources are withheld to guarantee personal safety of the informants. This study is divided into five sections. The first section introduces existing narratives or supposedly 'explanatory hypotheses' of political and institutional disorder in the Somali Region. Section two construes the concept of neo-patrimonial rule and presents its relevance for the Somali Region. In section three I describe hybrid political domination, institutional instability, and patronage relations as characteristic features of past politics in region 5. The forth section depicts variegated actors' strategies that contradict the two narratives I seek to refute. Finally, I conclude by critically discussing the strengths and limits of the neo-patrimonial model for understanding politics in the Somali Region.

 

 

http://www.wardheernews.com/Articles_06/August_06/SRSE_Hagmann.pdf