Pastoralist News
Peace and Conflict among the Nuer |
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7 years ago several thousand Jikany Nuer and a smaller number of Anywaa were forced to leave Akobo (Tiergol) Woreda in the far west of Ethiopia’s Gambella Region under pressure from invading Lou Nuer moving in from Akobo County in Sudan. The Jikany mostly went and settled in Itang, a hundred kilometres to the north east, others went to Matar, Lari and other places, whereas the Anywaa moved less far, into a neighbouring area.
Prior to this move there had been several years of conflict between the two different sections of the Nuer, (Jikany and Lou) which had started in 1991. These two sections were not known to have fought before 1991, but in 1991 they started fighting as a consequence of the wider political conflict situation in Southern Sudan . The result was very bitter and bloody fighting for a number of years across south-western Sudan.
Thus, with the politics of that split and with the wartime availability of small arms, the dispute between the two sections of Nuer rapidly entrenched itself beyond any of the intermittent and superficial efforts by politicians and administrations to create peace. Eventually things settled down, with Sudanese Lou inhabiting Akobo/Tiergol woreda and the government of Ethiopia absent from the woreda, and the majority of the Jikany Nuer population of the woreda displaced to settlements in Itang where they cultivated, raised animals and sent their children to school.
In 2006/7 there was an escalation in raiding by another Sudanese group, the Murle, which affected both Lou and Jikany Nuer and reached deep into Ethiopian territory, displacing Jikany Nuer further northwards, into the area of Sudan that lies to the north of Gambella region and along the Sobat/Baro river basin. The raids also pushed Lou northwards into Jikany areas of Sudan. The severity and impact of their raids was very much worsened by the fact that the Lou and the Jikany had been disarmed (not completely) by the SPLA in their attempts to gain control of armed forces in Southern Sudan , but the Murle have remained a well armed militia. The Murle raiding puts pressure on any attempts to create peace between the Lou and the Jikany because it forces them together in difficult circumstances and tensions can easily intensify.
In 2006 some 14 chiefs (customary leaders) from Lou and Jikany Nuer took part in a large pastoralist meeting in Oromia attended by pastoralists from all over the Greater Horn of Africa, organised by UN OCHA-PCI. With Borana pastoralist leaders providing a mediation service, the two Nuer sections came together for the first time in peace talks and agreed a desire for reconciliation. Shortly after they met again in Addis Ababa, in the presence of members of the Ethiopian and Sudanese governments and the United Nations and made statements to one another about the desire of the Lou to move back into Sudan and return the land to the original inhabitants. These agreements would be cemented in a big meeting of communities, officials and supporting organisations that would take place in Tiergol, in Akobo woreda itself in the winter 2006/7 dry season with facilitation from UN OCHA PCI.
The move of the Lou back into Sudan was dependent on brokering a community peace deal. It was put under pressure by the continuing Murle threat to the Lou. There were also numerous agreements and reconciliations needed. There are numerous disputes to be clarified and grievances to be calmed. The move would be dependent on agreements that sorted out which Lou actually did have prior claim to land inside Ethiopia, as some of them have been resident there for much longer than 7 years and there has been intermarriage between Lou and Jikany and all sorts of local agreements in the past.
As both areas are unstable and poorly governed, there is much political manoeuvring by administrators and leaders of local factions and some local NGOs relating to who has what populations under their wing. This was been exacerbated by the announcement of censuses on both the Ethiopian side (the Ethiopian National Census is to take place in June 2007) and on the Sudan side. In Akobo County, , there are struggles going on with regard to who controls the Akobo county administration, who controls what tracts of land and which leaders of local NGOs predominate in local decisions about aid and services.
The big peace meeting at Tiergol has been delayed and most of the Lou did not leave for Sudan, instead they cleared fields and started planting at the beginning of the rains in May 2007. The underlying reasons relate to politics, resources and power in an area of both Ethiopia and Sudan.
None of these delays had been cause for deep concern until the Regional Government of Gambella decided to move around 21,000 Nuer back to Akobo woreda from Itang. Despite the lack of a finalised peace and a clear agreement between the communities for Lou to move and for the Jikany to come back from Itang and the Anywaa from their temporary places, the government started a process in April 2007 of moving Jikany families by truck out of Itang towards Akobo woreda.
As of the first week of May some 5-7,000 people had been transported to a place called Burabiey. The road stops at Burabiey and from there the rest of the journey is by foot or by river. But the river is not navigable until the rains have set in, meaning that the people must wait there until it becomes so, perhaps a month or two. It is not clear that the government have boats to transport people. It was suggested that the men continue on foot and the women and children wait for boats, but apparently the men were unwilling to do this. Eye witnesses say that the people have no shelter, there are no trees, there is little food and the land is swampy and will be almost completely flooded once the rains have set in. We are told that a number of families have moved along the Sobat into Sudan, some as far as Nasir, seeking help from relatives. The Gambella government says that they have registered 21,000 Nuer from Itang to go back to Akobo and that they will continue to transport them to Burabiey by truck without delay.
Nuer children in Itang used to attend a school called the Akobo school which was closed as the people were moving out. There is, as yet no school, or any other basic facilities in Tiergol, the woreda capital and Jikany say they are worried that their children will lose out. Tiergol woreda at present consists of one old government building and 13 large and 18 small wood and thatch buildings, put up by UN OCHA-PCI for the peace meeting. There is a woreda administrator and a woreda council. No other services are yet functional.
Peace has not yet been fully achieved in the woreda. There are strong tensions between the Lou and the Jikany and clearly much need for reconciliation if the two groups are to live side by side. As such UN OCHA-PCI agreed with the Gambella Regional President that, alongside an initiative for government to government talks that is ongoing, UN OCHA-PCI would support a process of community to community talks. It is generally agreed that people are also going to need humanitarian and basic needs support.
In terms of actual immediate needs the details will have to come from a proper assessment on the side. It is likely that needs include food for the returnees, shelter and emergency health care for people on both sides of the border. In the new woreda there is a need for support to government to build up the basic services of education and health. The situation in Akobo county may be gleaned from the UN assessment that was done there in March this year. Most important is that that there is a balanced and coordinated response so that different communities are not treated differently in different places. Any variation in support will exacerbate tensions and make the political situation worse. It also has to be recognised that any assistance provided from outside may be made use of by political leaders to entrench certain interest.
One very important impediment is the complete lack of roads in the area. To provide assistance to Burabiey in the rainy season may not be possible by truck. To provide assistance to both Burabiey and Tiergol means boats.