A history of cooperation and conflict

Historically, Tigray and Afar men have been trading salt from the Dalol Lake in Afar region to the Tigray towns Agula and Mekelle (see Figure 1b). They have built up business relations and passed each other's settlements along the route. Some of those settlements originated or expanded when Tigray women started to sell food, drinks and sexual services to traders. Furthermore, as mobility of Afar pastoralists and Tigray transhumant agro-pastoralists gave way to interactions on pastures, they engaged in relations of friendship and mutual cooperation, and exchanged complementary goods or sold those on markets. Intermarriages between Afar, Christian Tigray and Muslim Tigray resulted in kinship relations. In Tigray region, 96% of the people are Orthodox Christians, while 95% of the population in Afar region are Muslim (CSA, 2007). In Agoro village, however, the two religions are almost equally represented, signifying a high degree of interaction. Muslims living in Agoro are mostly called ‘Afar’, while the Christians are referred to as Kistan (local pronunciation of Christian), which might pull analysts' attention towards Islam as a major factor in the construction of Afar ethnicity. Nonetheless, the ‘Afar’ living in the highlands and those living in the lowlands claim to be different from each other, a statement that the Christians also subscribe to. That distinction is, among others and with a myriad of exceptions, based on lifestyle, dressing and hair style, house construction and food preparation. For clarity and in line with the political delineation of 1991, the term ‘ethnic group’ will be used in this case study for both the Muslim, pastoralist ‘Afar’ and for the agro-pastoralist ‘Tigray’ of either Muslim or Christian faith.

Despite apparent peaceful relations across the ethnic boundary, raids and political struggle marked life in the research area in previous decades. Several stories narrate that kinship relationships between the Afar and the Christian Tigray originated because a girl of one group was abducted by a man of the other group and became his wife. Before the reign of emperor Haile Selassie (1930–1974), men of both ethnic groups could gain the prestigious title Hanta after having killed a man of the other ethnic group and having brought his intimate parts back home as proof.Footnote ^5, Footnote ⁶ The prevalence of raids and conflicts diminished under the rule of emperor Haile Selassie because the Afar were politically and socially marginalised at that time while the Tigray were supported by parliamentarians, all highlanders with farming or urban backgrounds who regarded pastoralist livelihoods as ‘backward’ and unworthy of governmental support (Hundie Reference Hundie2008). Nevertheless, skirmishes between Tigray and Afar shepherds continued over places used for pasturing and watering their animals. Relations worsened again under the Derg rule (1974–1991). Like many other parts of Tigray region, the area was cut off from food aid in order to weaken the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)Footnote ⁷ that recruited new fighters from the villages, resided there and hid in the surrounding Desa´a forest. Many people fled the area in 1984/1985 because of the severe drought and consequent famine. All the more, Tigray villages were raided frequently by Ugugumo – a group of Afar soldiers supported by the Derg – which forced even more people to flee the area. Nevertheless, it was during Derg rule that meetings were organised to solve conflicts and settle compensations for the relatives of murdered persons. Shemagele,Footnote ⁸ men known for their ability to discuss and solve conflicts,Footnote ⁹ from both ethnic groups gathered in those meetings. They mediated in interpersonal disputes and conflicts over pastures, but not in conflicts with the Ugugumo, as those were initiated at a higher, political level. When the TPLF overthrew the Derg government in 1991, the raids stopped and a comparatively peaceful era began. However, interpersonal relationships and cooperation between Tigray and Afar people have reduced since then, with changes in livelihood. At the same time, labour migration to Arab countries has increased tremendously over the past decade, and remittances now make up a big part of local income and thus influence local relations, by allowing many local people more economic interdependence. Changing livelihoods, together with a very strong increase in population, have also changed interactions in pasture management. Access to pasture remains important for both groups, and both Afar and Tigray people claim pasture as theirs if it was grazed by their parents' or ancestors' cattle. This is worded as ‘This pasture is ours since ancient times’. In view of past and present transhumant migration, this perception yields overlapping claims over pastures. Many households of both ethnic groups used to, or currently have, more than one house and thus claim several pastures.

Conflicts between the two groups today mostly concern pastures which Tigray people claim as hezati be'eray. These hezati be'eray are open for grazing in a rotational system and guards are paid by oxen-owners. When loose animals are caught in a hezati, the guard will only give them back to the owner after the latter has paid a fine. This protective system is one of the major reasons why Afar people prefer to stay in the lowlands. But when rains are failing and feed in the lowlands gets scarce, Afar people negotiate agreements with Tigray people and mostly gain access to the hezati after the oxen have grazed. In addition to these agreements, through cross-boundary Muslim intermarriages, families can gain access to each other's pastures. But people are careful to spell that out loudly and say that ‘it is always good to have a place to stay everywhere’ (several interviews). Nevertheless, Muslim Tigray do not favour the presence of the cattle of their Afar relatives on the hezati be'eray, or as one of them stated: ‘Even if I would have a son living with the Afar in the lowlands, I would have to fight against him together with the Christians because I live here’ (elder Muslim Tigray man living in Agoro, 2008 int.).

Delalisho, where a church is burnt and rebuilt

Delalisho is a pasture situated on the boundary between ´Era and Wumberta, on the escarpment that connects the Tigray highlands with the Afar lowlands (see Figure 1b). ´Era has tight relations with Lugda (of which Agoro is part), although the two villages belong administratively to two different sub-districts. Together with Desa´a village, they have locally always been called Seleste ´Addi Desa´a (the three villages of Desa´a).Footnote ¹⁰

In 1984 an Afar family settled on Delalisho. Shortly after, Christians from ´Era went to the new settlement at night, killed the father and one daughter and set the houses on fire. The conflict that followed lasted several days and was joined by many. One Afar and two Tigray men were killed and Afar people set the church located on Delalisho on fire. Shemagele gathered and signed an agreement on compensations (in money or in kind) for the homicides and other violations to avoid a blood feud. The agreement stated that when Afar people would come to the highlands, the Tigray people were responsible for their property and lives, and vice versa. This rule would only be in force when people would come to the other area with permission and would not try to occupy the places that belonged to the people of the area. Additionally, nobody was allowed to construct either permanent or temporary houses in the borderlands. Although the conflict was settled accordingly, over the following years Afar people set fire to the church in Delalisho two more times, and the Christians from ´Era rebuilt it every time. However, Christians from the other villages of Seleste ´Addi Desa´a declared the church as ‘unwarranted’ because nobody was living nearby, and the Muslims stated that it was built and rebuilt only to claim Delalisho. These statements were in line with the customary rule saying ‘once there is a church, there has to be a village’. Another such rule is that ‘once there is a village, its people should get farmland’. Connection of these two customary rules turned the church into an asset for laying claims to the surrounding area, not only for pasture but also for farmland.

In the rainy season of 2008, conflict flared up again when people from Seleste ´Addi Desa´a told shepherds from Wumberta and Afar to leave Delalisho, claiming that it was their hezati be'eray. They asserted that when all land was declared state property during the Derg Land Reform of 1975, people from Wumberta and Afar had come to graze their animals on Delalisho, thus provoking them and creating a major reason for conflict since. A Tigray family that had settled in Delalisho was asked to leave as well to prevent a big conflict like the one in 1984. The shemagele again settled the conflict, albeit only after they had obtained official permission from the district officials to do so. They were granted permission under the condition that mediation would not take longer than half a day. The shemagele arranged for the necessary compensations, and the district officials assigned Delalisho to Wumberta but stated that ‘it should be grazed peacefully by all people from then onwards’. Although the people from Seleste ´Addi Desa´a agreed with the governmental decision only reluctantly, in September 2010 shepherds from ´Era, Wumberta and Afar region all grazed their animals in Delalisho peacefully. Nevertheless, local people stated that conflict could flare up any moment, initiated by disputes over Muleyto, another pasture located nearby.

Muleyto, where plans for a mosque led to gunshots

Muleyto, a shared pasture area, is situated in the borderland between Atsbi-Wumberta and Berhale district (see Figure 1b). People from Seleste ´Addi Desa´a close Muleyto off from mid-August (mid-rainy season) until mid-January (mid-dry season) as hezati be'eray. This practice regularly leads to conflicts with Afar people, especially in years when there is not enough grass in the lowlands at the moment that Tigray people want to close off Muleyto. But even when Afar and Tigray shepherds share pasture in Muleyto, they often have disputes over access to water. Conflicts between villages mostly start from fights between shepherds. Shemagele often manage to settle such disputes before all men of the respective groups get involved. Nevertheless, many adult men got involved in a conflict over Muleyto in the summer of 2008 when Afar people living on and near to Muleyto intended to construct a mosque there. Tigray people strongly opposed that plan, stating that Muleyto was hezati be'eray and that the Afar people only wanted to construct a mosque to lay claim to the pasture. They took the animals belonging to Afar people to their own village and requested a fine per animal, claiming that the rules of the hezati be'eray had been violated. When Afar people refused to pay, tension rose and Tigray men lined up armed with sticks, guns and axes and chased the Afar away (only using the sticks). The Afar men then lined up as well and a severe conflict was about to start. When a shot was fired, the soldiers of the army camp in Lugda intervened and threatened that whoever would fire again, would be shot by them. After this intervention, shemagele from both sides settled the conflict, together with the conflict over Delalisho mentioned earlier. But in 2010, people still feared that conflict could easily flare up again if Tigray people would close off Muleyto whenever rains stay out in Afar region. All the more, shemagele by then had stopped mediating in conflicts because government officials had taken the lead, despite people agreeing that conflicts were solved more smoothly when shemagele were mediating because they were better acquainted with the full context. Government officials were attempting to balance acknowledgement of the shemagele's contextual knowledge and their own duty to intervene in conflicts over land. When trying to settle the conflict about Muleyto, district officials looked for elderly people who would know where the border used to be in ancient times and how pastures were previously divided. But they were told that all persons with that knowledge had died. Nevertheless, during interviews, shemagele could list the access rights of all surrounding villages for every pasture in the borderland. When a district official went to a well-known shemagele, the latter refused to participate in conflict mediation, saying ‘I see the government officials always running here and there, but they cannot solve the conflict’ (elder Christian Tigray shemagele, 2009 int.). When the government official insisted, the shemagele went with him to Korha, the place where shemagele usually meet to settle conflicts between Tigray and Afar (Figure 1b). However, he commented that ‘the discussion was not like a discussion. […] It was like an assignment of peacekeeping: to say something and to go back.’ (elder Christian Tigray shemagele, 2009 int.). In addition, the government officials had not invited the shemagele from ´Era. As all shemagele of Seleste ´Addi Desa´a had always taken major decisions together, the shemagele of Lugda and Desa´a did not want to start mediation without those of ´Era, while the government officials regarded the latter as belonging to another administrative district. In the heat of the debate over the boundary, a district official shouted: ‘The land doesn't belong to the Afar; it doesn't belong to the Christians; it belongs to the government. So if you don't stop this, I will just put the border here!’ From then onwards, this statement was often quoted, by both Afar and Tigray people, and the place he had indicated was referred to as being ‘the real border’.

Korha, place of interplay

Korha, situated near to Muleyto, is part of Lugda village and is the last hamlet inhabited by Christian people along the way that goes down to Berhale (see Figure 1b). People living in Korha interact daily with Afar people from nearby settlements. The hamlet originated as a trade settlement along the salt trade route and at the start of the research, the sale of firewood, charcoal and wooden utensils flourished. But in 2010, nearly all people from Korha had left for Saudi Arabia because they were frustrated in their attempts to make a living in Korha.

Before, in 2008, the conflict about Muleyto and the expansion of wood and charcoal sale had led district officials to order the removal of all houses in Korha except for the ones that were constructed during the reign of emperor Haile Selassie. Tigray people had then started to demolish their houses, but had rebuilt them after they had noticed that Afar people were building a mosque and school in Adodaba, the next settlement along the road (see Figure 1b). In Kusurto, the village of which Adodaba is part, Afar people had replied to the officials' order: ‘When you ask us to remove our mosque, it is as if you ask us to change our religion. We can't do that’ (several interviews with both Tigray and Afar people). As a consequence, houses in Kusurto were not removed and the Christians complained that the Afar people used their mosque to claim the area, including Muleyto.

When another governmental order to remove houses came in 2010, frustrations of most people living in Korha reached a threshold and they left for Saudi Arabia. They were upset because they had only just rebuilt their houses and because of the news that the road would be asphalted, which would increase the number of customers for their businesses if only they were allowed to stay. The government's reasons for ordering removal and thus keeping the borderland free from settlements were twofold: to halt conflict between Afar and Tigray people and to prevent further destruction of the surrounding forest. The area around Korha had long been part of disputes and with the increasing sale of forest products, the hamlet started to play a major part in the degradation of Desa´a National Forest Priority Area (NFPA).Footnote ¹¹ Confronted with people's frustrations and confusion, district officials wanted to establish the ‘real’ regional boundary. They brought the case to the regional administration from where it was passed on to the federal level because it concerned intra-state borders. Nevertheless, the head of the Peace and Security Office of Atsbi-Wumberta district stated that their previous orders of house removal had been based on a written agreement between Afar and Tigray districts dating back to 1988. According to that agreement, no houses could be constructed in the borderlands that stretched ‘from Raya up to IrobFootnote ¹², every place where the border with the Afar region is.’ (Head of the Peace and Security Office of Atsbi-Wumberta district, 2009 int.). This agreement of 1988 appears to be similar to the agreement signed by the shemagele of Ala sub-district (Afar) and Desa´a sub-district (Tigray) after the conflict over Delalisho in 1984, mentioned earlier. The well-known shemagele mentioned earlier stated that the shemagele could easily refer to that contract to solve conflicts over pastures or construction in Korha if the government officials would give them the opportunity to mediate in conflicts properly.