Customary laws, in line with official state laws, are based on age-old community customs and norms in Ethiopia. They are noticeable in regional states and become influential in the life of people more than the formal legal system. [1] For example, in Amhara Region, they are called "Shemagelle", in Tigray "Bayito" and "Abo Gereb", and "Luba Basa" in Oromia. [2]
In Oromo culture, the gadaa system is portrayed as egalitarian system of governance in which every eight years one generation set (Luuba), consisting of a segment of one-fifth of the men of the same generation. It is therefore centerpiece for Borana society welfare through prayer and sacrifice. The Gadaa system has series of disciplinary rules where Gadaa officials are appointed in every eight years to act as arbitrators, lawmakers and ritual leaders. [3] [4]
It is "key word" and "social ideology" of Oromo society. There is controversy about the system that it follows political institutions rather than primarily a cultural and spiritual one. However, there is agreement that it plays a fundamental role of integrating clans, promoting peace, and mediating between human and divine worlds. The gumi gaayo (meeting of the multitude) held in every eight years and provides promulgations, adaptation or repealing the seera law and aadaa customs. [3] [5]
Clansmen are expected to settle issues friendly at meetings, and household headset involve arbitrate their views, with speaking experience are respected. Decisions are made after consensus, and references constantly made of the body of customary law called Aadaa Borena. Decisions and fines are made by councils or assemblies. If parties decision failed to reach consensus, it then passed to a clan assembly named Kora Gossa. If matter are still no resolve there, it would transfer to highest level. [3]
The ultimate assembly is all Boran ("Gumi Gaayo"), which is held in every eight years at Gayu. However most matters in this level are generally resolved by councils based on locality (kora, olaa, kora deeda) or kinship (kora gossa). Inter-clan matters are resolved by the gadaa and qallu councils (yaa'a, gadaa, yaa'a qallu). The council rely on largely persuasion and the rhetorical threat of sanctions including fines and corporal punishments, which is not often implemented. The final sanction would be Nagaa Boran ("the peace of the Boran"), in which the person quarantined and bless, and not interact with social and ritual support. This might be "cursed" (abarsa). [3]
Customary laws in Amhara society is generally written orally, while some laws embodies in codified law of Ethiopia. For instance, the institution of family arbitration, equal sharing of property in inheritance by female descendants etc. [6]
Local administration and judicial functions are both discharged by institution that is known as abat. Abat used when justice was found to be insufficient for community and the government inability to counter crime and insecurity prevailed in the region. It consists of a combination of respected elders elected to office at the general meeting of community. [7] [8]
Depending on the area and population, the community elect seven abats acting as lawmakers, arbitrary and executive powers. In general, abats are entrusted and useful tool for maintenance of laws, both criminal and civil laws based on customary tradition. [9]
The community decide to elect Yegobez Aleqa for maintenance of revolt because of the burden imposed by the government found incapable. Yegobez Aleqa empowered to lead elders in the community, and maintains peace and order, reinstitute property to those dispossessed or forcibly grabbed by special power. [10] [11]
Chiqa Shum is another established administrative institution in the Amhara community that presides the locality. Chiqa Shum also empowered to adjudicate cases involving battering, divorce, trespass and other minor cases. Furthermore, chiqa shum also responsible to communicate with the government and collecting taxes. The office of chiqa shum is hereditary title in Wello, while it has privilege rotating in every year among all rest holders in the Gojjam and Gondar region, and in northern Shewa. [12] [13]
Yezemed Dagna is another important institution in the Amhara community, acting as a family arbitrator. The family arbitrator is useful for settling issues by bringing opposing parties together for mediation before they are heard by regular courts that probably lack cautious measures and potentially damage relationships. [6]
The Amhara community regarded Yezemed Dagna as first instance courts. [6]
Somalis in Ethiopia are herding people, keeping cattle, camel, and small livestock, as well as predominant traders in eastern Ethiopia. [14] The Somalis have a clan-based political and social system, although clans do not necessarily represent permanent and homogeneous unit. Clans are organized into higher level units, usually called (by outsiders) clan families. [15]
Somali society is patrilineal; most social relations are based on kinship links. [16] [17] [18]
Each clan has famed and authoritative leader who is known in various regions as ugaz, garad or bagar. The reference to the clan leader does not mean that the Somali people have a single administrative authority, nor does each class have its own ugaz. [19]
Some clans have ugaz who have the same functions and status, while others do not have anything. [20]
Lineage leader is classed in the next level. The word "lineage" refers to relations of its members and every person knows to which lineage the person belongs. The lineage leader governs the affairs of his lineage and represents them in administrative organs. [20] [21]
The dia-paying group consists of person with at most, in fourth and fifth generation. [22] [23] Therefore, the person in this position is liable to compensation such as blood money and able to discharge people obligation. Despite lacking a formal leader, it enforces law and order through its elders. As a result, the bond of blood relations can be constitute as dia-paying groups under political and territorial units. [20]
The assembly of the people is the highest lawmaking organ. The basic principle in Somali society is "Life is redressed by life". [24] The primary duty of the institution is to track down the offender who committed a crime and impose retributive action against the person or a close relative. If the crime is committed among the warring lineages, the issue is considered a family problem and passed to a higher level. This is called an inter-clan feud. [20]
The Tigrayan society has laws similar to those of the Amharas, based on oral tradition. [25] According to Irob and other districts of Tigray Region, compensation is not made for crimes of other types. [26]
The Oromo are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya. They speak the Oromo language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia. According to the last Ethiopian census of 2007, the Oromo numbered 25,488,344 people or 34.5% of the Ethiopian population. Recent estimates have the Oromo compromising 35.8% of the estimated 116,000,000 Ethiopian population placing Oromos at a population of 41,000,000
A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law".
Jijiga is the capital city of Somali Region, Ethiopia. It became the capital of the Somali Region in 1995 after it was moved from Gode. Located in the Fafan Zone with 70 km (37 mi) west of the border with Somalia, the city has an elevation of 1,634 metres above sea level. Jigjiga is traditionally the seat of the Bartire Garad Wiil-Waal of the Jidwaaq Absame. The International airport is named after him.
Debre Markos is a city, separate woreda, and administrative seat of the East Gojjam Zone in Amhara Region, Ethiopia.
The Gadabuursi, also known as Samaroon, is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family.
The Marehan is a Somali clan, which is part of one of the largest Somali clan families, the Darod. The clan is one of the largest constituent sub-clans of the Darod. The majority of the Marehan comprise the majority clan of the Jubaland state in southern Somalia, as well as the Galguduud and Mudug regions in central Somalia, the Somali region of Ethiopia and the North Eastern Province of Kenya. The primarly dominate the Wajir County county and neighbor the Degodia at the road, the clan also has a huge presence in Garissa county and live as far as Isiolo County. The largest contingent of the tribe live in the northern half the Liben Zone in southern Ethiopia, many Marehan can also be found in Fafan Zone, living from Jigjiga to Dire Dawa and Harar. The majority of Marehan live in Northern Frontier District of Kenya and Lower Juba primarily in their capital city Kismayo.
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of the Horn of Africa.
The Oromo Liberation Front is an Oromo nationalist political party formed in 1973 to promote self-determination for the Oromo people inhabiting today's Oromia Region and Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. The OLF has offices in Addis Ababa, Washington, D.C. and Berlin from where it operates Amharic and Oromo radio stations.
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Ethiopian studies or Ethiopian and Eritrean studies refers to a multidisciplinary academic cluster dedicated to research on Ethiopia and Eritrea within the cultural and historical context of the Horn of Africa.
The Argobba are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia. A Muslim community, they are spread out through isolated village networks and towns in the north-eastern and eastern parts of the country. Group members have typically been astute traders and merchants, and have adjusted to the economic trends in their area. These factors have led to a decline in usage of the Argobba language. Argobba are considered endangered today due to exogamy and destitution as well as ethnic cleansing by the Abyssinian state over the centuries.
The Harla, also known as Harala, Haralla are an ethnic group that once inhabited Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia. They spoke the now-extinct Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic or Semitic branches of the Afroasiatic family.
The Oromo expansions, also known as the Oromo migrations or the Oromo invasions, were a series of expansions in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Oromo. Prior to their great expansion in the 16th century, the Oromo inhabited only the area of what is now modern-day southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Over the centuries due to many factors, mostly the wars between Adal Sultanate and Ethiopia would further encourage the numerous Oromo tribes to expand towards central and eastern modern Ethiopia.
Waaqeffanna is an ethnic religion indigenous to the Oromo people in the Horn of Africa. The word Waaqeffanna derives from the word Waaqa, is the ancient name for the Creator in the Cushitic languages of both the Oromo people and Somali people in the Horn of Africa. The followers of the Waaqeffanna religion are called Waaqeffataa and they believe in the supreme being Waaqa Tokkicha. It is estimated that about 3% of the Oromo population, which is 1,095,000 Oromos, in present day Ethiopia actively practice this religion. Some put the number around 300,000 depending on how many subsets of the religion one includes. This number is still up for debate by many African religious scholars.
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The Transitional Government of Tigray was a caretaker administration that was formally declared by the House of Federation of Ethiopia on 7 November 2020, in the context of a conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in power in the Tigray Regional State and the federal government of Ethiopia. In late November 2020, the administration, headed by Mulu Nega, planned public consultation and participation in choosing new leaders at the regional and zonal level and preservation of woreda and kebele administrations. The Transitional Government left Tigray in late June 2021 during Operation Alula.
Following the 2018 dissolution of the ethnic federalist, dominant party political coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, there was an increase in tensions within the country, with newly resurgent regional and ethnically based factions carrying out armed attacks on military and civilians in multiple conflicts throughout Ethiopia.
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.
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Somalis in Ethiopia refers to ethnic Somalis residing in Ethiopia, particularly in the Somali Region. Their language is primarily Somali and are majority Islam adhering. According to 2008 census based on Central Statistical Authority, Somali was the third largest ethnic group in Ethiopia with 4,560,000 population, accounting 6.2% after Oromo (34.4%) and Amhara (27%).