Country: Ethiopia

Group: Somali

Date Finalized:

Team: Kelly Hashiro (lead), Jhanz Marco Garcia, Jacob Kebe, Likith Munigala, Zaida Arellano Reyes, Madison Schulz

Content Warning: forced away, violence

Approximate Time Period: 2007-2018

In 1955, the British government ceded the Ogaden region to Ethiopia due to rising protests from the Somali people (Minority Rights, 2018). In 1994, the country’s constitution renamed the area the Somali region, due to the high population of Somalis (Minority Rights, 2018). In 1984, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, ONLF, formed to fight for liberation of the area, resulting in conflict with the government (Reuters, 2009).

In mid-2007, the conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Somali rebel movement intensified (Human Rights Watch, 2008). The Ethiopian government committed widespread military attacks on civilians and burned villages, forcing thousands to flee to Somalia and Kenya (Human Rights Watch, 2008). In 2010, the Ethiopian government launched a “villagization” program that forcibly relocated 1.5 million people from four Ethiopian regions, including the Somali region (Human Rights Watch, 2012). While the government stated that the program was voluntary and to bring people closer to natural resources, it often put peoples’ livelihoods and food security in jeopardy (Human Rights Watch, 2012). State security forces threatened, assaulted, and arrested those who refused to move (Human Rights Watch, 2012). It is speculated that the Ethiopian government forced the relocation to use the land for commercial agriculture, but the government denied this claim (Human Rights Watch, 2012). Though the Ethiopian government declared the Ogaden conflict over, there is no formal peace agreement in place (Minority Rights, 2018). Militia groups and the Ogaden National Liberation Front, ONLF, still fight in the area (Minority Rights, 2018). These are cases of forced away because substantial numbers of Somalis moved away to avoid persecution.

Data Quality: Data quality for the Somali forced away is considered a 3/3 for the ample amount of evidence collected from credible sources.

Sources

  1. Human Rights Watch. (2008, June 12). Collective Punishment. https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/06/13/collective-punishment/war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity-ogaden-area.
  2. Human Rights Watch. (2012, January 16). Ethiopia: Forced relocations bring hunger, hardship. https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/16/ethiopia-forced-relocations-bring-hunger-hardship.
  3. Minority Rights. (2018, January). Somalis. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/somalis/.
  4. Reuters. (2009, December 11). FACTBOX-Who are Ethiopia’s ONLF rebels? https://www.reuters.com/article/ethiopia-rebels/factbox-who-are-ethiopias-onlf-rebels-idUKGEE5BA11M20091211.