Somali and Afar regional special forces will no longer be in the parts of the two regions where there was recurring violence
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In what seems to be a show of determination to end recurring ethnic based violence, Afar and Somali regional states of Ethiopia have reportedly reached an agreement to remove their special forces in the areas where there has been recurring violence in their boundary areas.
Federal Security Forces are to be deployed in the areas.
Gedamaytu, Andufo, and Gerbeisie kebeles in the areas between the two regions have seen several clashes that led to the death and displacement of civilians.
According to a report by DW Amharic, the two regions have agreed to resolve the recurring violence in a durable manner. The replacement of regional forces with Federal forces is part of the arrangement for achieving that goal.
Ibrahim Osman, Deputy head of the Somali regional state, confirmed to DW Amharic service that special forces from the two regions will be removed from the area.
Awol Arba, president of the regional state, was in Jijiga this week where he met with Mustafa Mohammed, president of the Somali regional state.
Binalf Andualem, Minister for Peace, was part of the conversation during the meeting between the two regional states’ leaders.
A series of community discussions and meetings are to happen as part of the effort to restore durable peace in the areas that were affected by the conflict.
Another key development from the conversation is that both regions are to support the return of displaced people.
Following the agreement, Afar regional state donated 10 million Ethiopian birr to the Somali region of Ethiopia to help ease the impacts of the drought in the region.
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This is how our glorious and harmonious people have been. I was born in the midst of such conflicts. The cause was all the same then as it is now, violence triggered by hatred for one another. It could have been for grazing rights which explodes into bloody conflicts then and now. Instead of spirit of sharing it became/becomes ‘No, this is mine and you have not right to be here’. What makes it deadlier now is the stupid and reckless pissing contest around ‘border demarcation’. When I was a young boy places like Afdem/Aware and area leading to Gewane were considered Afar domiciles. Before that my Oromos were the majority for a brief moment until they withdrew to the highlands east and northwest of Afdem/Aware. But over time Afars withdrew from Afdem/Aware to the Gewane areas. At one time Afdem/Aware was the seat of the regional government with a huge market day on Thursdays(my memory might have failed me if that was a different day). I was there on one of those market days with my auntie who was a peddling merchant. I remember that town having Afars living there in their majority. Most of the student at the elementary school there used to be Afars. A friend had told me decades later that some of those Afar students had turned out to be renowned artists, business people and bureaucrats in the Republic of Djibouti. But overtime the demography of that town has changed. Demography is made to change. Just look around and you see it everywhere. The Almighty Our Creator always loves and blesses diversity. My hats off to H.E. Obbo Mustafa Mohammed and H.E. Obbo Awol Arba for this blessed agreement. No Afar and Somali youth should lose his/her priceless life in a manmade senseless conflict. Not one!!!