Country: Ethiopia

Group: Kaffa, Keffa, Kefficho, Kafa

Date Finalized: November 20, 2020

Team: Colleen Clauss (lead), Michael Demangone

Content Warning: slavery, war, food shortage

Approximate Time Period: 1894-1942

There is strong evidence that the members of the Kaffa ethnic group were subject to forced labor throughout the history of the Ethiopian Empire.

The Kaffa, also known as the Kefficho, Kafficho or Kafa, are an ethnic group within Ethiopia that make up 1.2% of the total population, living in Ethiopia’s Keffa Zone. The Kaffa people were part of the four Oromo Gibe states and were subject to the slave trade perpetuated in this area during the 1880s under emperor Menilek (Pankhurst, 1968). Kaffa slaves were kidnapped during raids and wars and were sold in nearby slave markets in the Jimma Kingdom (Mohammed, 2007). The Kaffa were specifically subjected to forced labor in war as the emperor Menilek started war in 1894 and 1897 against southern territories in Africa (Pankhurst, 1968). Compared to other ethnic Ethiopian slaves, the Kaffa fetched some of the worst prices for slaves and were regarded as worse than other ethnic slaves (Pankhurst, 1964). There were efforts to abolish slavery and destroy the slave trade since the 1850s. However, slavery was not fully abolished until the 1940s after the signing of the Convention of St. Germain and the appointment of the Temporary Slavery Commission in 1924 (Ethiopia). In the 1960s, coffee demand increased, increasing the demand for indigenous coffee farmers as well as migrant laborers (Duressa, 2018). Many laborers, including the Keffa, were subjected to different sources of forced labor for food crops and coffee production (Duressa, 2018). In 1974 when the Dergue seized power, a wave of corruption under the rule of Haile Selassie occurred (Economic War, n.d.). Before the land reform of 1975, there was a food problem and farms used agricultural forced labor to keep up with their crops (Economic War, n.d.). In addition, many poor farmers were forced to grow and sell crops as well as go into debt to meet tax payments (Economic War, n.d.).

The data quality is rated as a 3, because reliable and consistent accounts of slave labor and slave trade were found in many sources, including scholarly articles.

Source

  1. Campbell, G., Miers, S., & Miller, J. C. (2007). Women and Slavery: Africa, the Indian Ocean world, and the medieval north Atlantic. Ohio University Press.
  2. Duressa, E. (2018). Land Tenure, Labor Allocation and Life of Coffee Farmers in Coffee Producing Areas: The Case of Jimma and Limmu Awrajas since 20th c. Retrieved November 13, 2020 from file:///Users/natashachandra/Downloads/41967-45221-1-PB.pdf.
  3. Ethiopia : the land, its people, history and culture. [S.l.]: New Africa Press. ISBN 9987160247.
  4. “Economic War” on the Peasants and Famine. (n.d.). Retrieved 2020, from https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/Ethiopia/Ethiopia.919/c9amc.pdf.
  5. Mohammed SA (2007). “A Historical Survey of Dawro (Up to 1974).” (MA Thesis, AAU: Department of History, 2007), pp: 12 –15, 19-23, 42-46
  6. Pankhurst R (1964). “The Ethiopian slave trade in the 19th and 20th centuries: A statistical inquiry.”. J. Semitic Stud. 9:1.
  7. Pankhurst R (1968a). Economic history of Ethiopia.1800-1935. (Addis Ababa: HSIU Press, 1968), pp: 14-88, 108-120.
  8. Wikipedia (n.d.). Slavery in Ethiopia. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Ethiopia#cite_note-Smith-41
  9. Wikipedia (n.d.). Kafficho people. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafficho_people