The Cause and Consequence of Conflict between Silte and Gurage Ethnic Groups: The Case of adjacent Kebeles of Gumer and Alicho Wiriro Weredas

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the “cause and consequence of conflict between Silte and Gurage ethnic groups”. The researcher used qualitative research methods and exploratory design. Based on both primary data from fieldwork and secondary data, the thesis examines the main causes, aggravating actors, consequences of the conflict and the dynamics of the conflict. The study utilized semi-structured interview and in-depth key-informant interviews, the researcher used sixty eight informants by using purposive sampling technique. Two focus group discussions from each ethnic group and from field observation were used as a tool of data collection. The researcher used primary and secondary sources of data. The study found out that the main causes of this inter-ethnic conflict were competition over the ownership of Wenabo grazing land, the Silte referendum, ethnicization of politics, and the competition between the two group’s to forest on communal land and the interest of using it for personal cultivation. The involvement of internal and external actors aggravated the conflict. Human life lost and material costs, breakdown of law and order in the area were some of the effects of this conflict. In conclusion, the best option to avoid hostility between the two ethnic groups is enhancing socio-economic development of peoples in the area. This would bring both communities together and develop the feeling of sharing economic resource co-operatively and solidarity between the two sides.