Ethiopia’s Somali Region is undergoing a gradual but important transition that has multiple implications concerning violent grassroots conflict (defined, in this context, as conflict largely driven by local factors, as opposed to macro-political factors). Home to more than four million people, the vast majority of whom are ethnically Somali and Somali-speaking, the region’s inhabitants are undergoing a fundamental shift in their livelihoods, started about two decades
ago, that affects many facets of life. This shift is driven by multiple factors and results in a measured move away from the traditional nomadic pastoralist way of life towards a foundation of agro-pastoralist activities and sedentary farming. There are many implications of this shift at multiple levels of society; this report focuses on the implications for community-based conflict and argues that the shift brings with it new drivers of conflict in addition to conventional drivers. Aggravating the situation is the recent drought professed by some to be the worst in the region’s history.
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