Lessons From The Daroor Clashes

EDITORIAL

The clashes of earlier this week between two fraternal tribes in Daroor, a valley in Ethiopia ’s Somali region, have already caused the death of close to 40 people with an equal number receiving injuries.

Before these skirmishes, the two neighboring tribes were known to have peacefully coexisted in the area for a long time. The eruption of the hostilities and the intense nature of the fighting actually came as a shock to everybody else on either side of the Somaliland-Ethiopian border.

Involved in the fighting were two pastoralist communities whose lifestyle required them to cross the border in either direction on at least several times in every season. The fighting broke out as a result of a dispute over whether to allow the digging of Berkad (water reservoir) in what has been traditionally a grazing area. Though the clashes were taking place in an Ethiopian territory, however their security and social implications for both Ethiopia and Somaliland were not lost on the mind of anyone on either side of the border.

The Ethiopian authorities moved quickly at both the regional and federal levels to stop the bloodshed. Officials from the zone 5 regional Somali state were on the scene to push for cessation of hostilities and federal security forces were deployed to create a buffer zone between the two warring groups. Somaliland's most respected elders and many other concerned individuals, also went their to help en brokering a cease fire agreement

But there are at least 3 crucial lessons to be drawn from this tragedy. First, if the serious deterioration in the kind of environment that used to sustain pastoralists is not urgently addressed, we are likely to see more violent clashes as the type that occurred at Daroor between desperate nomads trying to survive. There is a scope for cross border collaboration between Somaliland and Ethiopia in checking environmental degradation, revival of traditional systems for management of natural resources, and introduction of vital veterinary services as well as common policies that support sustainable pastrolism.

Second, it is essential that the two countries install an early warning system for prevention of similar conflicts in the future. Since the pastoralist tribes that inhabit along both sides of the border are staunch supporters of Ethiopia and Somaliland as well, any inter communal hostilities in those areas will have repercussions for the security interests of the two countries.

Third, due to the serious escalation of the terrorist threat in the region and the possibility of the current fighting in Mogadishu spilling over into Somaliland and Ethiopia, it is imperative that the two countries put in place a more effective mechanism for cooperation in countering terror.

Source: Somaliland Times

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