Focus on the problems of pastoralists in the south

A traditional clan elder, Golisa Roba, fears for Ethiopia’s 10 million pastoralists. At 73, he believes the threat to their future has never been greater. Drought, conflict and the gradual encroachment of pastoral lands by farmers have eroded the lifestyle of the 500,000-strong Boran pastoralists in the south, he adds. Alcohol and the narcotic khat are also playing havoc. But, he adds, there is an underlying problem that is exacerbating this crisis: the pastoralists are misunderstood and increasingly marginalised from decision-making. Their growing isolation is highlighted by numerous social surveys. Pastoralists are seven times less likely than most Ethiopians to attend school. Access to health care is also limited. Golisa refers to an adage about a sick flea seeking medical help, which, he says, sums up the patoralists' plight. The flea asks for a blood transfusion to save him from certain death, but the doctor says he cannot help him because he is too small and the needle is too large. "The flea says: 'I have told you my problem, now you must help find a solution to aid my sick body,'" adds Golisa, with a resigned smile. "Like the flea, we are often not given the help we need for our problems; sometimes we are given help for problems we don’t even have." Golisa insists that the adage has both poignancy and relevance. For years, development experts have been puzzled by how best to help people who are naturally nomadic. Often, that help had scant relevance to pastoralists' lifestyles or social structures. Invariably, say observers, it was based on a "we-know-best" philosophy. But pastoralists in southern Ethiopia, as well as the government and aid organisations, are currently searching for the right answers to counter the threats the pastoralists face. The World Bank and the government, to support the pastoral way of life, have launched a major initiative. It could amount to some US $200 million over 15 years. A parliamentary committee has been set up as an advocacy lobby for the pastoralists, and a special task force created to consider how best to help the pastoralists. And in an unprecedented meeting, elders from three clans – the Gabra, the Boran and the Guji – recently convened, under the aegis of the Pastoral Community Initiative, in Yabelo in Borana to agree on their own proposed solutions and ways of reversing their isolation. Pastoralists are nomadic by nature, travelling with their livestock between different grazing lands at particular times of the year. Academics argue the pastoralists' ecological know-how is among the best in the world and of critical significance to the future of environmental conservation. Their governance structures are highly sophisticated, egalitarian and contain numerous checks and balances to prevent abuses of power. THE SCOURGE OF INTERNECINE STRIFE But for years, the pastoralists in the Oromiya National Regional State of southern Ethiopia have been ravaged by inter-clan conflict, which they blame largely on ignorance. By coming together, they say, they can learn, avert further clashes, and end the devastating affects of spiralling inter-clan conflict. A key element is to ensure that any killings are treated as individual acts and not as clan warfare, they say. Encouraging mixed-clan schools is a further way to defuse tensions, they add. At the meeting, land issues were also raised and ways of dealing with the increasing numbers of farmers moving into traditionally pastoralist areas and using up land that pastoralists need for their animals. "Change is expected from us, and we realise that," said Nura Dida, a 46-year-old Boran elder who mediated at the inter-clan meeting, being attended by more than 100 clan elders representing hundreds of thousands of people. "But we are talking, and this is an achievement. What we must now do is gain knowledge. The knowledge we are looking for is how to benefit from our wealth," he added. Members of parliament and regional officials joined the unique talks (which will be followed up by more meetings in six months' time), to listen to the pastoralists' concerns and try to shape helpful policies. GOVERNMENT WANTS TO SEE PASTORALISTS SETTLED Yet some nomads and clan elders, who have witnessed numerous projects and interventions in their lives in the last 30 years, are sceptical. There is concern about how much of the World Bank money will actually reach the grass-roots level – with some estimates referring to as little as 5 percent. And whereas the government recognises the plight of many livestock-rearing nomads, it openly promotes channelling them into a settled way of life. The federal affairs ministry, for example, believes that "wandering from place to place" fuels potential conflict and thereby drains limited resources. Dr Sarah Lister of the UK-based Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University argues that the parliamentary committee heralds a new shift in thinking. But she warns that other barriers to political change still remain firmly in place. "The key constraint... of political representation remains the broader political environment, with a lack of political competition and an absence on institutionalised democratic processes," she says. THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST SETTLEMENT Taghi Farvar, the chairman of the international World Conservation Union and an expert in pastoral affairs, warned against imposing ideas. "Having witnessed the precarious nature of rain-fed agriculture in Ethiopia, pastoralists are naturally concerned that they may be forced to take up farming," he told IRIN. "Donors, governments and other settled people’s ways of thinking often do not recognise the different ways of pastoral thinking, and have worked against it rather than with it," he added. "Often, the mentality is that agriculture is best, yet it can be totally unsuitable for some lands. Agriculture can put pastoral land at much greater risk and vulnerability." Farvar argues that without working with what he describes as the customary institutions – the key structures that make up a pastoral clan – development will fail. "People must start with the traditional institutions of pastoralists, use their traditional social structures, and help them face modern challenges. If you start without working within these traditional structures, then, example after example around the world shows that it will fail," said Farvar. Ethiopian MP Kebre Jimera admits that mistakes were made in the past in moves to support pastoralist groups. He also says promoting a sedentary life for them may not be the answer. Kebre, a member of the 13-strong Pastoralist Affairs Standing Committee, told IRIN that it was vital for pastoralists not to be evicted from their grazing lands. "Pastoralists have been struggling for a long time," said Kebre, who is a member of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition. "Some think by making them sedentary the pastoralists will become part of the community and have access to facilities like health and water. But this is not the only way to try and solve the problems of the pastoralists. We have to try and be realistic."