This paper offers an analysis of conflict trends in Ethiopia’s Benishangul–Gumuz Regional State, focusing on the period since the 2018 national political transition. As well as providing a historical overview, it examines the drivers of contemporary violence, the role of external actors and the remaining obstacles to achieve sustained peace in the region.

Summary

• Central authorities have long marginalized and exploited indigenous people in the area. During the imperial era, Gumuz were enslaved, subjugated and forcefully displaced from Gojjam, Gondar, Shewa and Wollega provinces.
• Slave raiding and the collection of tribute from the Gumuz by Amhara and Agew rulers in Metekel continued until the 1974 revolution.
• The Derg regime that consolidated power following the revolution further complicated the situation for the Gumuz through a large-scale resettlement program, which brought many more settlers from the highlands.
• The post-Derg governing system, ethnic federalism, created Benishangu–Gumuz region and formally protected the rights of indigenous communities. For the first time, the political system granted the Gumuz and others substantial political and economic autonomy. Benishangul– Gumuz, however, has been one of Ethiopia’s most conflict-affected regions with its politics featuring a complex set of disputes.
• Since the 2018 national leadership change, tensions between Amhara and Benishangul–Gumuz regions have heightened, in part due to ownership claims over Metekel by Amhara nationalist groups.
• The post-2018 transition has been accompanied by serious violence in the region, partly because of concerns from some indigenous people over a loss of autonomy and political power.
• A deadly ambush in 2018 sparked inter-communal violence in Kamashi between Gumuz and non-Gumuz, mainly Oromos and Amharas, which lasted for more than four years.
• In Metekel, there has been serious violence from April 2019 with the involvement of Amhara Fano militia and the Oromo Liberation Army.
• After three and half years of violence, much of it against civilians, since the second half of 2022 there have been peace and a de-escalation, although security conditions vary across the region.
• Despite this progress, tit-for-tat violence and occasional massacres have continued with a lower intensity, particularly in Metekel, while Kamashi and Assosa have been more stable.

This conflict trends analysis was produced by the Ethiopia Peace Research Facility (PRF). The PRF is an independent facility combining timely analysis on peace and conflict from Ethiopian experts with support for conflict sensitive programming in the country. It is managed by the Rift Valley Institute and funded by the UK government.