(00:19) Southern Somali and Oromia regions... (00:23) a hub of Ethiopia's pastoralist economy. (00:31) Today, many different clan communities peacefully share... (00:34) the area's natural resources. (00:41) Communities travel freely to markets and trade openly. (00:47) Negotiation, cooperation, and mutual aid systems... (00:50) support their prosperity. (00:55) But, just three years ago, the need to ensure survival... (00:58) was manifested in conflict rather than cooperation. (01:03) Intimidation and violence were common. (01:06) Markets and key resources were blocked. (01:09) Lives and livelihoods were devastated. (01:16) What changed? (01:18) How did an area of their insecurity... (01:21) become a place of harmony and cooperation? (01:24) This is a story of the Negelle peace process. (01:27) A story of transformation of community divisions... (01:30) into community collaboration. (01:33) An example to others of how peace and prosperity can be achieved. (01:55) The southern territories... (01:57) of Somali and Oromia regions. (02:03) Home to four major clans: (02:05) the Borana, the Geri, the Gebra, and the Guji. (02:12) Despite their diversity, the clans share a dependency... (02:16) on the pastoralist livelihood system and the natural environment. (02:21) Pastoralism is an important part of the Ethiopian economy. (02:28) Over sixty percent of the country is arid... (02:30) and semi-arid grassland, appropriate for livestock rearing. (02:36) Natural resources are scarce and market centers sparse. (02:43) In the dry season, herders can travel... (02:45) more than a hundred kilometers to seek... (02:47) water and pasture for their cattle. (02:52) At distant towns, they trade their livestock... (02:54) and livestock products and purchase grains. (03:00) Survival here is based on mobility: a mobility that requires... (03:04) freedom of movement, security, and inter-clan collaboration. (03:09) But, if livelihood pressures get too extreme,... (03:12) tensions between communities can rise,... (03:15) threatening this mobility. (03:18) In recent years, these pressures have increased dramatically. (03:30) Over the last 25 years, the number of people... (03:33) living in Ethiopia has almost doubled. (03:46) Climate change adds to the problem. (03:53) Droughts are more common and more severe,... (03:55) their effects further degrading already... (03:59) heavily grazed pasture and water holes. (04:05) Dadacha Boru is from the Borana village of Wachile. (04:09) He has witnessed great changes over his lifetime. (04:14) We are seeing now that pasture is decreasing (04:18) We see that the livestock cannot sustain us. (04:24) In the past, when the cattle gave birth (04:28) they had a lot of milk. (04:31) When we killed them they had a lot of meat. (04:35) Now they have little milk and the meat is lean. (04:40) We are worried for the future. (04:44) Pastoralist Shabain Ibrahim, from the Geri village of Hudet,... (04:48) shares his concern. (04:50) In the past, there were good rains but now (04:55) the rains are sporadic. (04:58) In the past, there were so many cows (05:00) worked together to form a peace agreement based on customary law. (05:03) we could live off their milk. (05:07) But now there are not enough cattle. (05:12) There is less rain now than in our fathers’ time. (05:21) As pressure on the environment grows,... (05:25) ownership of pasture and water points that were once... (05:27) shared or negotiated, are becoming contested. (05:35) In 2009, pressures mounted beyond the community's abilities to cope. (05:48) They then met again to work through the next draft. (05:48) As a result of the conflict, many lives were lost. (05:51) Many fled their homes. (05:55) But, the insecurity that followed,... (05:57) became a greater challenge to communities. (06:01) Insecurity reduced mobility. (06:06) This had a major effect on herd health. (06:10) Cattle had restricted access to pasture and water and suffered badly. (06:18) And as travel was no longer safe,... (06:19) every aspect of life was affected. (06:25) Aleke Hasen lives in Wachille, one of the communities... (06:27) at the center of the 2009 conflict. (06:32) She is responsible for caring for the family's dairy cows... (06:34) and for collecting firewood and water for the household. (06:41) During the conflict, she feared leaving the village. (06:46) When we went to collect firewood we faced (06:49) two types of conflict. (06:51) The first was direct fighting. (06:54) The other was ambush. (06:59) We feared ambush greatly. (07:04) Because of this danger we were too frightened (07:08) to collect wood or water from the local well. (07:18) The problem didn’t stop there. (07:22) Aleke earns crucial extra money for the family... (07:25) by selling milk or homegrown vegetables in the local market. (07:31) But, in times of conflict, this was not an option. (07:36) We feared going to market. (07:40) We feared that the gunmen may attack us (07:43) and we’d never return to our children. (07:48) By blocking access to markets,… (07:51) reduced mobility made a bad situation much worse. (08:01) We buy most of our food from the market. (08:05) If we cannot trade there we cannot survive. (08:10) We go hungry, we can’t buy clothes. (08:14) Even if we have money, we cannot spend it. (08:22) And without traders, markets wither. (08:25) Following the conflict in 2009,... (08:27) the area's markets stopped functioning. (08:33) During the conflict cattle were not coming here. (08:38) People wanted to trade their animals (08:41) but they were afraid to come. (08:45) In 2009, whole communities lost their wealth. (08:49) Unable to care for their cattle or sell them in markets,... (08:53) they were forced to adopt extreme survival strategies,... (08:57) culling their herds or selling their cows at a loss through third parties. (09:02) Because they could not travel safely,... (09:04) they lost wealth accumulated over generations. (09:09) I lost a huge number of cattle. (09:13) I lost twelve through raiding (09:16) and many more through other causes. (09:20) I lost all the cattle I had. (09:26) Because of this I lost all hope. (09:30) I became depressed and sat at home. (09:36) Despite plenty of grass and water, cattle died. (09:39) Despite food in the market, people died. (09:42) There was water but people died of thirst. (09:46) Everywhere there was conflict. (09:49) Everyone was frightened. (09:50) It was a terrible situation. (09:55) Addressing both the causes and consequences... (09:58) of this problem was not simple. (09:59) Over the last few decades, modernization and the improved reach of state justice... (10:04) had worked systematically to tackle clan disputes. (10:09) But, there were challenges when the new system had to integrate with the old. (10:15) When this crisis occurred, the government (10:19) intervened directly, rather than using (10:25) the cultural clan system. (10:30) In parallel, clan leaders and elders attempted (10:35) to resolve some issues by calling for the return (10:41) of looted cattle to try to calm tensions. (10:47) But it was not working. (10:52) When the government came in to settle (10:57) the dispute, some of the guilty were still free. (11:02) Hidden and unpunished by their clans. (11:05) What could we do about this? (11:08) The government set up temporary courts. (11:12) to dispense state justice. (11:16) But after one or two months (11:21) the conflict erupted again. (11:25) There was no sustainable peace. (11:28) The events of 2009 demonstrated the challenges of establishing peace in the area. (11:34) A new approach was needed. (11:40) In May 2009, work began on what became known as the Negelle peace process. (11:47) The process started with the support of the regional governments. (11:52) Our government wanted to solve this conflict. (11:55) and strengthen relationships (11:59) between bordering communities. (12:03) As Ethiopia has a federal style of government, (12:07) bordering communities must respect each other (12:11) and live together peacefully. (12:15) This government is committed to this. (12:21) The government saw clearly that the inter-relationships of the clans... (12:24) were not just the source of the problem,... (12:26) but the keys to the solution. (12:32) It was clear this surface violence was (12:35) a manifestation of many deep rooted disputes. (12:38) To solve the conflict it would be necessary to (12:42) discover and uproot these underlying causes. (12:45) Within months, with the help of government,... (12:48) local and regional clan leaders initiated a peace process. (12:53) The project was funded by USAID... (12:55) and all parties were assisted by the international NGO, Mercy Corps. (13:01) I think we have to say from the beginning that it was very much... (13:04) a government-led and a community-run process. (13:08) However, our role was critical in, I think,... (13:11) supporting those actors to actually achieve the goals... (13:16) that they wanted from that process. (13:20) The objective was to reinvigorate existing customary law. (13:24) These agreements would cover major inter-clan issues,... (13:27) punishments for criminal acts,... (13:29) how to deal with cattle rustling, and crucially... (13:32) how to manage and share access to limited natural resources. (13:37) These agreements would have to be ones that everyone could accept,... (13:41) and that could be implemented successfully at the local level. (13:46) But, if this process was to work, it would require the buy-in... (13:49) of the local clan elders. (13:53) Elders are the decisive voices (13:55) in pastoral communities. (13:57) The keys to minimizing, preventing (13:58) and resolving conflicts. (14:01) Without their consent, no progress can be made. (14:06) But engaging elders would mean overcoming grievance and prejudice. (14:12) Before dialogue could begin, the parties... (14:14) were introduced to new methods of negotiation and engagement. (14:18) Mercy Corps has very good experience... (14:22) in providing negotiation mediation training and skills internationally. (14:27) However, I think the added value that we were able to bring... (14:31) is to be able to contextualize that training package... (14:34) and those skills so they were most effectively used and applied... (14:38) to the context of these pastoralist communities... (14:40) who were facing those challenges at that time. (14:45) The approach used a set of internationally successful techniques... (14:48) for training and facilitating dialogue and negotiation. (14:52) One of the key objectives was to change perceptions about the conflict. (14:56) For this, Mercy Corps utilized visual aids to spread the message clearly. (15:01) An example was the problem tree. (15:05) The image of a tree represents a conflict. (15:07) The trunk is the core problem of conflict, the leaves and branches its effects. (15:12) But the hidden roots are the underlying causes. (15:15) Only by finding and examining the causes,... (15:19) can the growth of the conflict be understood. (15:23) They called us to a meeting. (15:26) They explained to us the benefits of peace. (15:29) They told us how conflict starts, and where its (15:30) roots lie. They gave examples. (15:33) They showed us the problem tree picture and (15:35) taught us the causes and effects of the conflict. (15:38) The major problems and the minor problems (15:41) and how they could be solved. (15:44) We learned a great amount from this. (15:50) When the time was right, a series of meetings were organized... (15:52) where members of opposing clans were brought together. (16:15) It is not easy at the beginning. (16:16) It needs, you know, a careful design of decision itself. (16:21) You can see the anger on the face of everyone in that room. (16:26) To help overcome this animosity, (16:28) the facilitators brought communities together in group activities... (16:31) to encourage face to face interaction. (16:36) The elders learned a lot. The more they interact, the more they listen to each other,... (16:41) the more they avoid fearing each other. (16:46) Then, during tea break and during the discussion,... (16:49) they will start having side corner discussion there. (16:54) Well, yesterday we are fighting. (16:59) When you make people to interact, interaction itself is teaching. (17:04) But, it was recognized the opinions of elders alone... (17:10) could not change attitudes and behavior toward other clans. (17:13) The input and acceptance by the wider community... (17:16) would be crucial to the success of the peace. (17:20) Two community groups were seen as particularly important. (17:24) The first was youth. (17:29) Youth are, they are on the front line. (17:33) They are the one who clashes with you and with the other group. (17:36) They are the one who exercise the actual fight. (17:44) They feel is is something they need to do for their clan. (17:48) So including them, changing that mentality attitude (17:51) toward fighting was important. (17:58) Youth groups were formed and they were given education... (17:59) on the consequences of fighting. (18:06) I learned that killing has terrible consequences. (18:12) I learned how destructive conflict can be (18:17) and how constructive peace can be. (18:22) I learned that war is very damaging (18:27) and it only brings death.