By Gatkek Kuajien Chuol
Ethiopia is country wrestling with insecurity, and despite the efforts being made both by the regional and national gov’ts plus international communities, it seems like none is working so far and as such, the country every now and then find herself with a new security challenge as soon as it contains the old one.
Security of the nation is very important because; it’s through the existence of the security – that, a country can move forward economically, politically and socially. It’s the existence of security that people exercise all rights entitled to them by international and well as national laws like constitution and that is why it is important for everyone to join hands in making sure there is security wherever they find themselves.
Gambella regional state has been known for insecurity since its inception. This is due to a number of factors, including its location on the border with South Sudan, which has been a war-torn country for many years. The border between Gambella and South Sudan is demarcated using natural barriers, such as rivers, which makes it difficult to control illegal activities due to its openness with case in point, the recurrent attacks, cattle rustling, abduction of children and women by the Murle tribe of South Sudan. The Nuer and Anwuak, who make up most of the population in the region, have their communities split by the border. This is because of the colonial-era border demarcation that separated many Ethiopian ethnic groups, such as the Afar, Somali, Tigrayan, and Gumuz, among others and those two ethnics also happen to be the same people hosted in the region in those various refugee’s Camps due to their proximity with Gambella region.
Gambella is one of the least developed regions (emerging regions) in Ethiopia, because it has been struggling with insecurity for a long time. Instead of focusing on development projects, it has been dealing with conflicts and violence. The identity politics that have plagued Ethiopia for a long time have also affected Gambella, as the regional leaders have exploited the ethnic divisions for their own interests. There is a saying that “when two brothers fight, their land/properties are taken by strangers”. This is the sad reality that Gambella faces.
With the fact being that the region is underdeveloped, which as a result made much of its population to remain in rural areas and under achieving educationally plus constants un-employment; these shortcomings had made much of the population, especially the uneducated youths to be an easy target for indoctrinations and to become enablers for the politicians and tribal minded leaders’ mischiefs.
Another one known fact that is worth mentioning about Gambella is that, Gambella have been hosting various refugee camps (six refugee camps) to this day since the Derg regime of Mengistu Haile Marriam. That is something the region had been known for. But hosting refugee has been a long tradition of Ethiopia as whole not just Gambella since we hosted our first refugees in the 7th century AD, something we continue to do so to this day. In every corner of Ethiopia, you can find refugee camps from the neighboring countries being hosted who are of the same ethnicity with the host communities. In fact, Ethiopia is second largest refugee host country next to Uganda in the whole of Africa.
It is wrong and uninformed to blame the refugees for the insecurity problems that Gambella face. I have heard some regional officials trying to cover up their own failures by accusing the refugees, while others admitting that the problem lies within their own administration and its lack of accountability. Some of their children and relatives act with impunity because they know they have connections in high places. This shows that everyone is looking for a scapegoat, and the refugees are the easiest target for Gambella. This has been going on for a long time, even though there is little to no evidence supporting such claims.
We should understand that hosting refugees is not a choice that a country can make at its convenience, but a duty that it has to fulfill. Ethiopia is part of the international community and has to respect the UN and AU conventions on refugees. These conventions are also reflected in our national laws, especially in our constitution and other legislations. I will not go into the legal details, but anyone who is interested can look them up and learn more about Ethiopia’s international obligations as a host country.
In addition, the history of Ethiopia hosting refugees from various countries in Africa is not only based on humanitarian principles, but also on the spirit of reciprocity and solidarity. Ethiopia knows what it means to be displaced by conflict and violence, as many Ethiopians have sought refuge in neighboring countries such as Sudan in recent years. Ethiopia also knows what it means to be a leader and a partner in the African continent, as it hosts the headquarters of the African Union and supports the motto of “African solutions for African problems.” Therefore, Ethiopia’s hospitality is not just a matter of tradition, culture or heritage, but also a matter of responsibility and mutual respect.
Ethiopia is not immune from the conflicts that plague the Eastern Africa region. If it were, it would not have to offer sanctuary to its neighboring countries. We do so because we understand that we may need the same help from others in the future.
In 2003, many people from Gambella region were massacred by the then regime based on their ethnicity. Many of them had to flee the country and seek refuge in neighboring countries like Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan. Some of those people displaced then even managed to reach the USA, Australia and Europe, where they were granted refugee status and citizenship. These people did not choose to leave their homeland, but they had to escape from persecution. Such people should be grateful for the freedom and protection they received in other countries, and they should support the rights of other refugees instead of criticizing them.
With Ethiopia being a country that have been hosting refugees under the grace of goodwill for far too long, its only befitting if not fortunate for the whole international community to come to terms and design a new program that seek to find a lasting solution for those refugee who have been hosted for a long time and for the host to be also made a beneficiaries of the same refugee program and that is why CRRF program had become so popular during the signing of New York Declaration for Refugee and Migrants Workers that has devised various durable solutions (Repatriation, Resettlement and Local Integration) program for the hosted refugees. Countries individually have an obligation but international communities have even more obligation to provide humanitarian assistants and if a certain country like ours have accepted the risk that come with hosting refugees, it should be given the support it needed to continue with the work started.
It’s true that, Ethiopia’s refugee program is not the best in Africa but it could be now that we have signed up on CRRF which led to the passing of the new refugee proclamation in 2019 that has more favorable provisions and rights to be enjoyed by refugee in it. Some refugees are tilling land and growing crops plus carrying out businesses not far away from our border which as a result end up by injecting more money into that country’s economy.
I would like to mention some of the positive aspect of hosting refugee since it seems like everyone have been focusing on the negative aspect. With various refugee camps that are located in Gambella, I would mention that, of course, they have better facilities when compared to their host. Schools, hospitals and cleans waters provision is far better than the one being run by the region and its local administrations. If anyone speculated as to where animosity is coming, it is possible that some of the animosity towards refugees is due to this perceived inequality.
The presence of the refugee camps in some of the Weredas, like Gog, Dimma, and Itang Special Wereda have made those Wereda far better off when compared to the one that are not hosting refugee because, both refugee and the hosts are allowed to use the same services and facilities like learning at the same schools, accessing the same hospital and getting the running water that are being provided to the refugees in their camps not to mention the money the refugee bring to the local Wereda’s economy through daily trading they made with the host.
One of the sensitive issues that often mentioned went the name of the refugee come to forefront has to do with land ownership and settlement. It has to be made clear that, Gambella is inhabited by five ethnic native group. The FDRE Constitution as well as the regional constitution clearly state as to whose ownership land is. Since the toppling of the Monarchy in 1974, land was nationalized and remained so to this day. Which mean, people only have use right and as such, no one have the right to sell or purchase land but the property build on it. What that mean is that, urban and rural land policies and legislations are there informing the urban and rural communities how best they can utilize the land and what are their rights and limitations to the use of the land not ownership. We are leasing when it comes to land contrary to the tunes some of us been dancing to just to make our points appealing and relevant to uninformed audiences. We need to revisit our national land policies and laws for common and far better understanding.
If my memory serves me well, there is no single national policy or legislation that dare to extend citizenship to the hosted refugees throughout the country instead, the topic being discussed is how best the local integration could be done. It has been implemented long ago in Afar region with the Eritrean Refugees and it’s now being implemented in Somali region. This has its own benefit as mentioned somewhere due to the arrangement made under CRRF. Plus, these durable solutions are the best possible solution because, what good do we get by hosting refugee if we are not capitalizing on it even though the protection, we give to them is dully made on humanitarian purpose?
International communities have recognized the struggle of many of the host states and they wanted to extend a helping hand. Since we are not in a position of closing the camps anytime soon, we should as well just accept the gesture like we did and utilize the financial support and manpower that the arrangement bring because eventually, those that are seeking our hospitality will go back once the threat of persecution that led them to run away from their home countries goes away on their own volition since our hand are tie and we couldn’t force them to return back even if we wanted to due to the principle of ‘non-refoulement’ obligation.
In conclusion, it is true that the problems facing Gambella region are complex and multifaceted not just due to the presence and hosting of refugees. However, it is also clear that the federal government has a responsibility to address these problems. The federal government cannot continue to ignore the needs of the people of Gambella. The people of Gambella deserve the same level of attention and support as the people of any other region in Ethiopia.
In addition to the above, I would like to add that the federal government should also work to address the issue of segregation settlement especially in big urban area like Gambella City. The current system of segregated settlements is not sustainable and since it shows that it always led to more conflicts. The federal government should work to promote integration between different ethnic groups in Gambella. This will help to build a more cohesive and peaceful society in the region and put an end to inter-tribal and ethnic conflict that had been going on for far too long.
About the Author:
Gatkek Kuajien Chuol is a Human Rights Lawyer and Advocate based in Gambella Region of Ethiopia.
