SUGARCOATING ‘HOMEGROWN’ DEVELOPMENT IN THE PERIPHERY

SUMMARY • Since the Prosperity Party (PP) came to power in Ethiopia in 2018, expectations have grown that its government will revitalize Ethiopia’s sugar industry through the privatization of eight sugar factories, including plantations of several thousand hectares in peripheral areas of the country. This comes in the context of the country’s sugar estates—a central […]

BUILDING A NEW ETHIOPIAN POLITICAL SETTLEMENT

Ethiopia’s transition under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is the latest attempt to build a stable political settlement – an agreement over how power will be distributed and wielded – between key actors. In its efforts to do this, Abiy’s government set out to redefine the state, polity and citizenship, and reorganize state-society relations under the […]

AFAR’S SALTY POLITICS: MONOPOLIZATION AND MARGINALIZATION IN AFDERA’S SALT BUSINESS

SUMMARY • Ethiopia’s Afar region, especially around Lake Afdera, is the country’s main source of salt, accounting for 80 per cent of the national market. The salt sector in the region has been dominated by non-Afar investors from neighbouring regions—so-called ‘highlanders’ from the country’s political and economic centre—since extraction started in 1998, with the Afar […]

RELIGION AND THE 2018/2019 CONFLICT IN HAWASSA

SUMMARY • In June 2018 and July 2019 violent clashes erupted in Hawassa, an important commercial hub in southern Ethiopian and the capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region. While the first attack appeared relatively spontaneous, the second was apparently well planned, with allegations that Sidama youth, known as Ejeto, received direction from […]

ኃይማኖት እና ግጭቶች በድሬ ዳዋ፡ በይነ ማኅበራዊ ውጥረቶችና የሰላም አማራጮች

ማጠቃለያ • ድሬ ዳዋ የኢትዮጵያ ሁለተኛ ትልቅ ከተማ ስትሆን በሀገሪቱ ምስራቃዊ ክፍል – በኦሮሚያ እና በሶማሊያ ክልል አዋሳኝ ድንበር ላይ የምትገኝ የብዝሃ-ብሔር እና የኃይማኖቶች የኢኮኖሚ ማዕከል ነች። ምንም እንኳን የከተማዋ ታሪካዊ ሥርዓት በኃይማኖቶች እና በብሔሮች መካከል ባለ ወዳጅነትና መተሳሰብ የሚታወቅ ቢሆንም ድሬ ዳዋ ከ2010 ጀምሮ በተከታታይ በተከሰቱ የማኅበረሰባዊ ግጭቶች ስትታመስ ቆይታለች። • ቀደም ብለው በከተማዋ […]

RELIGION AND CONFLICT IN DIRE DAWA: INTERCOMMUNAL TENSIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR PEACE

SUMMARY • Dire Dawa, Ethiopia’s second largest city, is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious economic hub in the country’s eastern region, sitting on the contested boundary between the Oromia and Somali regions. Despite an overarching sense that the city’s historical norm is one of inter-religious and inter-ethnic conviviality, Dire Dawa has since 2018 been afflicted by […]