CONFLICT RESOLUTION THROUGH CULTURAL TOLERANCE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE MICHU INSTITUTION IN METEKKEL REGION, ETHIOPIA
Tsega Endalew
Abstract: Metekkel, a large territory on the northwestern part of Ethiopia's border with the Sudan, has been inhabited by the Nilotic Gumuz, the Shinasha, the Agew as well as the Amhara. Since the eighteenth century, these communities have further been enriched by the addition of the Oromo people.
The Nilotic groups in Ethiopia were marginalized politically and socially by the relatively organized communities in the highlands. They were dominated by the neighbouring communities, the Christian kingdoms of Ethiopia and the Sudan. They were considered as people with low social, economic, political and cultural development; they were given the derogatory name of Shanqilla, meaning dark skinned lowlanders, with the connotation of inferiority and slavery. Therefore, they had been subjected to various forms of aggressions and conflicts in Metekkel region. In the struggle for survival, the Gumuz lost their lives and they were displaced, limited to unhealthy spots from which they took refuge elsewhere. Since the Oromo settlement in the region, a traditional system of conflict resolution, known as Michu (literally friendship) has been instituted. It is a bond of friendship by which the Gumuz and the highlanders (Oromo, Shinasha, Agaw and Amhara) solve conflicts and establish cultural tolerance. Socio-economic conflicts and psychological as well as colour prejudices have been traditionally solved through the Michu institution. The study is an attempt to examine this traditional system of conflict resolution, mainly based on the living traditions of the people.