CONFLICT RESOLUTION THROUGH CULTURAL TOLERANCE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE MICHU INSTITUTION IN METEKKEL REGION, ETHIOPIA
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.
Metekkel region is a vast territory in northwest Ethiopia bordering the Republic of the Sudan to the north of the Abbay River (Blue Nile). It is bounded to the north by Gondar, to the south by Wallaga and Asosa, to the east by Gojjam, and to the west by the Sudan (Berihun 1999, 73). Although the word Metekkel is derived from one of the seven Agew clans (Taddesse 1988b, 11), it is also the name of a 7000-foot mountain in Mandura District (Abdussamad 1995, 54). In the pre-1991 state structure, the Metekkel region, known as Metekkel Awraja, included Mandura, Dibati, Dangur, Guangua, Guba and Wanbara waradas within the Gojjam Administrative Region. At present, however, although it kept its former waradas with some rearrangements, it has become a zone within the Benishangul Gumuz National Regional State. Some parts of the former waradas mainly Guangua and a portion of Dibati waradas, however, were included within the Region Three Administration. The name Metekkel, therefore, is used in the study to designate all the former six waradas before the area was upgraded to a zone in 1991.
The region is a hot lowland with undulating plains and a thick tropical forest that receives heavy rainfall. The altitude ranges from below 600m to 2,731m above sea level. Much of it is lowland (54%) and temperate (43%), while highland is only 3% (Abdussamad 1995, 54). Surrounded on its eastern and southern rim by spectacular mountains and to the south by the Abbay River (Blue Nile), Metekkel forms a huge circular depression. It can be described as a hot, humid, flat and desolate region (Desalegn 1988, 3). It is broken here and there by numerous rivers, the most important of which are Alaltu, Ardi, Beles, Dinder, Durra, Dondor, Qarsa, Shar, all tributaries of the Abbay River. The region also consists of various high mountains such as Belaya, Dimtu, Gumgum, Metekkel and Sanki, while Dora forms the major depression.
Much of the land is fertile, which makes the region attractive for different settler communities. The people practise shifting cultivation producing tef, nug, sorghum, maize, wheat and barley. Root crops such as onion, potato, yam and cassava are widely grown, which helped the highlanders to be self sufficient for most of their needs (Taye 1963, 28). Cattle, mules and horses comprise the most important animals kept by the highlanders while sheep and goats are largely produced by the Nilotic groups mainly the Gumuz (Tsega 1997, 98). The Gumuz live in the lowlands with primitive agricultural tools, which forces them to experience chronic food shortages. Most of the time they depend on hunting and fishing to supplement the wild berries, roots and the like that they collect from the bushes (Tsega 1997, 98; Desalegn 1988, 20).
Metekkel region is also rich in various natural resources such as gold, coffee, ivory, civet, animal skins and minerals. Marble is the most abundant mineral in the region. However, due to some inaccessible mountains and rugged geographical features, this wealth has not been effectively exploited. As the region is hot lowland, tropical malaria poses a great problem for the communities mainly in the Guba, Mandura and Pawi areas. Wanbara, Dangab and Berber areas are relatively free from malaria and thus they are very attractive settlement areas. Another important characteristic of the region is the absence of a well-defined infrastructure. As the region is remote and on the periphery, the scattered settler communities had little or no access to roads, schools, clinics, and so on, which greatly contributed to their low level of development. Even the most important towns are not joined together with roads mainly in the western part. Although there had been some progress to introduce facilities mainly after the Resettlement Programs of the 1984, it was confined largely to Pawi area. Because of famine, war and pestilence that swept the country in 1984 - 85, many settlers from Shewa and Wallo were hastily relocated to Pawi area, where some infrastructures were eventually established. There are all weather roads and electricity from Chagni to Pawi and other towns in that direction up to the Sudanese border. The route from Chagni to Bulan town, on the other hand, is very difficult and is only a dry weather road. There are no modern transportation facilities from Bulan to Wanbara, Berber, and Galessa particularly in the rainy seasons; there are no telecommunication and electricity services.
Metekkel is a large territory making up nearly half the size of Gojjam with less than a quarter of a million people. It is sparsely populated with various ethnic groups (Desalegn 1988, 3). Most traditions suggest that Metekkel was originally inhabited by the Gumuz and other members of the Nilotic groups as well as the Shinasha. The Gumuz are one of the Koman branches of the Nilo-Saharan speaking peoples located generally along the Blue Nile River and its tributaries (Ehret 1995, 108). Originally, they used to live in the Metekkel region up to the shores of Lake Tana. Apparently pushed further westwards by the Agew - a Cushitic speaking society in north central Ethiopia - they came to be limited to the hot lowland parts of Metekkel, which they presently inhabit (Taddesse 1988a, 11; 1994, 957).
Another Nilotic group, the Gebeto are also said to have occupied the Gumgum Mountain area. However, they were gradually limited to the Sudanese border both for economic and defensive reasons. Today they are largely situated in areas south of the Abbay River in the Benishangul region (Tsega 1997, 28).
The Shinasha or Gonga are another important community in Metekkel; they claim their original homeland to be the Biblical Canaan. They are said to have left their country in search of pasture and fertile lands and thus moved to Ethiopia. Through northwest Ethiopia, they reached Shewa where they settled; and again due to demographic factors they were forced to move into Gojjam and adjacent territories south of the Abbay River. They claim their founding father to be one Shao, who begot Ashinao, Assibo, Boro and Gongo. These descendants of Shao are said to have divided Gojjam among themselves with Ashinao taking Shashina; Assibo taking Assi; Boro occupying Bure and Gongo settling in Gwangua. Later some of these groups moved further west reaching as far as Guba, which they called Dogro (informants: Assege, Atomsa and Ayeru).
The Shinasha reference to Canaan and Shewa may only be indications of very early contacts with the Christian kingdom. What is very clear about their identity is that they are one of the several peoples of the Ethiopian interior speaking Omotic languages. Most probably, they are part of the Gonga population, which in earlier years used to live on both sides of the Abbay River. Because of the dynamic Oromo expansions and the political and demographic changes that swept the country in the sixteenth century, the Shinasha /Gonga living north of the river seem to have been cut off from the main body of the Gonga kingdom, which stretched up to the kingdom of Kafa in the south (Beckingham and Huntingford 1954, 75; Lange 1982, 12; Beke 1845, 94; informants: Ayeru and Deressa). Due to the Oromo settlement south of the Abbay River, other Gonga populations moved to Gojjam to take refuge and they increased the population of the Shinasha communities living north of the river up to Metekkel.
By the early seventeenth century, the Gonga population south of the Abbay River was already dominated by the Oromo, while the other cluster groups living to the north of the river were regular victims of slave-raiding expeditions of the Christian rulers and their local representatives. Therefore, pressed both by the Oromo and the continuous raids, the Shinasha/Gonga people living on both sides of the river had lost their independence by the early eighteenth century (Lange 1982, 12). Most of them moved to the remote lowland parts of Metekkel and further augmented the Shinasha population there. Indeed, the Shinasha of Metekkel today trace their origin to places like Bure, Gomer, Zigem, Shashina in Gojjam, and Horro Guduru and Limmu in Wallaga (informants: Ayeru, Morca and Deressa).
The Agew are the other major population group in Metekkel who, according to tradition, are said to have come from Seqota Lasta in the north. The Seven House Agew, named after the seven brothers: Ankasha, Azena, Banja, Chara, Kwakwra, Metekkel, and Zigem, are said to have come down to settle in Gojjam, Agewmidir and Metekkel regions from Lasta. These names including those for the other minor groups such as the Bil (Belaya) and Gwagwsa are still applied to the places where these groups originally settled. Metekkel, however, is applied to the whole region including the Gumuz, Shinasha and Oromo settlement areas (Taddesse 1988b, 11). Although their tradition indicates that these settlements took place in the thirteenth century, Agew presence mainly in eastern Gojjam and Metekkel seems to have been earlier than that (Ibid.). Today, they occupy the fertile lands of Dangur, Belaya, Gwangwa, Mandura, Dibati and Wanbara woredas (Abdussamad 1995, 55).
In the continuous processes of raids, the Amhara - a Semitic speaking Christian society - gradually settled in various parts of Metekkel. Due to the rich natural resources of the region, a number of Amhara communities eventually moved in and settled. With the incorporation of the region in the last decade of the nineteenth century, they took control of western Metekkel as settlers, tax supervisors, administrators and religious preachers. In the twentieth century, their number increased remarkably as people from south Gondar, Gojjam and Wallo flocked there due to various reasons such as shortage of land and chronic famine. Due to landlessness because of the land tenure system and the inability of the Muslims to own rist lands in these provinces, they were forced to move and settle in Metekkel. Population pressure and environmental degradation were equally pushing factors. Other Amhara families flocked to Metekkel in search of fertile lands (Berihun 1999, 75). Other than the Emergency Resettlement Program of the 1980s, there were significant Amhara (largely Muslim) populations in Guangua, Mandura and Dibati waradas of Metekkel. Today, there are various places named after their settlements, such as safara Wallo, that is, Wallo (people from there) settlement area (informants: Ayyana and Mange; see also Berihun 1996).
The last but very significant population group that transformed the peopling of Metekkel are the Oromo, who since the eighteenth century have increasingly settled in Wanbara, Dibati and gradually in other areas. They moved to Metekkel from south of the Abbay River. Traditions indicate that the earliest movements were related to feelings of adventure among the youth. They continued the ancient customs of hunting big game and killing, which brought them honour in the society and special admiration from the women. After these feats of courage, they at first returned home. Such temporary visits gradually led to permanent settlements. There were two major routes for the Oromo expansion into Metekkel region. The first, which can be called the eastern route, started from the present day Limmu and Hebantu areas in Wallaga to Dangab and Dibati parts, while the second route started from western districts of Wallaga and targeted Wanbara (informants: Dukkan, Bultum, Dibaba and Dirirsa).
Basing themselves in an area immediately south of the Abbay River, the Oromo of Limmu and Hebantu continued their campaigns into eastern Metekkel, which eventually helped them to occupy Dimtu, Galesa, Berber, Mora and Qorqa districts. The Shinasha settlers of these areas offered little or no resistance and they were gradually incorporated by the Oromo. The Oromo expansion beyond the Durra River to the Agew territory, however, met with resistance. A certain Agew chief, Azaj Jangua is mentioned as having tried to check the Oromo advances into Agewmidir (Agew land) (Abdussamad 1988, 237; informants: Dukkan and Ayeru).
The second route and the largest settlement of the Oromo came from the west from Gidami, Mendi, Bojji, and Nejjo areas of Wallaga. Led by their respective clan leaders, they crossed the Abbay River at fordable sites and settled in the rich parts of Wanbara. The fertility of the soil and the suitable climatic conditions of Wanbara attracted more and more families from Wallaga. As the Gumuz and the Shinasha had long been limited to the lowland areas, highland Wanbara remained safe for the Oromo, who swiftly took control of it in the eighteenth century. In the next centuries, they gradually augmented their number and set up a formidable Oromo community in Metekkel (informants: Bultum, Dibaba, Atomsa, Dirirsa and Oljira).
In the late nineteenth century in particular, some external factors pushed the Oromo south of the Abbay River into Metekkel. Following the Shewan conquest of Wallaga in 1882, the Gabbar system was set up in various districts. The Gabbar system and the very oppressive nature of the settlers made life unbearable mainly in eastern Wallaga. Consequently, the people were forced to evacuate their localities and move to relatively safer areas elsewhere in Wallaga and largely to Dangab and Wanbara Districts of Metekkel. The Metekkel region was free from such type of exploitation until its final conquest in 1898. Even after its annexation, Wanbara and Dibati (Dangab) Districts continued to be ruled by a local Oromo chief, Biftu Anno, who was christened Gebresellasie and appointed governor of the region by Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam. This further increased Oromo settlements there. Due to the severity of the neffteñña administration and the heavy taxation, the Oromo continued to increasingly settle in Metekkel (informants: Galata, Abebe, Atomsa and Dibaba). In the two major directions (see Fig. 1), therefore, the Oromo settled in various parts of Metekkel and thus enriched the ethnic composition of the region. These major population groups briefly stated above interacted to have a greater control over the natural products of the region.
