THE ROLE OF REGIONAL STATES IN MAINTAINING PEACE
AND SECURITY IN ETHIOPIA: THE CASE OF OROMIA
NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE
BY
DEREJE BIRU
MAY/2022
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
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Contents
Acronyms and abbreviation ................................................................................................iii
CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Background of the Study ........................................................................................ 1
1.2.
Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................ 3
1.3. Research Questions ………………………………………………………………….5
1.4. Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................. 5
1.4.1.
General Objective ........................................................................................... 5
1.5. Significance of the Study........................................................................................... 6
1.6.Scope of the Study………………………………………………………………….... 6
17.Limitations of the Study……………………………………………………………….6
18. Operational Definition of Terms………………………………………………….......7
1.9. Operational Definition of Terms…………………………………………………......8
CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................ 9
RVIEW OF RELATED LITRATURE ................................................................................ 9
2.1. Theoretical Literature.............................................................................................. 9
2.1.1. The Concept of Peace……………………………………………………………… 9
2.1.2. The concept of security…………………………………………………………... 10
2.1.3. The developmentalism as instrument of peace and security……………………... 12
2.1.4. Democratization as instrument of peace and security …………………………….13
2.1.5. Regional Power …………………………………………………………………...14
2.2. Indigenous Conflict Resolution Systems in Oromiya Regional State……………… 15
2.2.1. Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT): Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver ..... 16
2.2.2. Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT): Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver ……16
2.2.3.
Agents of Peace and Security ...................................................................... 19
2.2.4.
Regional Integration ..................................................................................... 20
2.3.
Framework for Analysis ....................................................................................... 21
2.3.1. Regional complexes………………………………………………….............. 21
2.3.2. Regional societies …………………………………………………………….22
2.3.3. Regional communities ………………………………………………………..22
2.3.4. Regional institutionalized polities ……………………………………….............22
CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................... 23
Research methodology…………………………………………………………………….23
3.1. Research Design…………………………………………………………………….23
3.2. Sources of Data………………………………………………………………………23
3.3. Instruments of Data Collection………………………………………………………24
3.3.1. In-depth Interview………………………………………………………………...24
3.3.2. Telephone Interview………………………………………………………………24
3.3.3. Focus Group Discussion (FGD)…………………………………………………..25
3.3.4. Document Analysis……………………………………………………………….25
3.4. Sampling Technique and Sampling Size……………………………………………25
3.5. Selection of Field Assistants…………………………………………………………26
3.6. Field Work Experience………………………………………………………………26
3.7. Methods and Procedures of Data Analysis…………………………………………..27
3.8. Reliability and Validity……………………………………………………………27
3.9. Ethical Considerations…………………………………………………………….28
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER FOUR .............................................................................................................. 29
Results and discussions………………………………………………………………......29
4.1.Factors are enhancing the role of regional state powers to maintain sustainable
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peace and security …………………………………………………………………….29
4.1.1.
Relevance of Complexity for Peace building Systems…………………………29
4.1.2. Solving the Peace Problem ………………………………………………………..31
4.2. Challenges of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and
security in Oromia National regional state government……………………………..34
4.2.2. Structural problem of Peace and Security Bureau ………………………………...34
4.2.3. Representation……………………………………………………………………. 34
4.2.4. Lack of Sufficient Political Will ………………………………………………….35
4.2.5. Financial Constraints ……………………………………………………………...36
4.2.6. Weaknesses of Oromia National Regional State Peace and Security Bureau ……36
4.2.7. Lack of Sufficient and Appropriate National Commitment of Oromia
National Regional State………………………………………………………….. 37
4.3. The role of local, regional and national actors in the role of Oromia National
Regional state powers to maintain peace and security ……………………………..39
4.1.3. Stabilizing Conflict ............................................................................................... 32
CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................................................................... 41
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................ 42
5.1.Summary of Finding ………………………………………………………………….42
5.2.Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………………44
5.3.Recommendation………………………………………………………………………46
5.3.1. Recommendation for action……………………………………………………… 46
5.3.2. Directions for Further Studies……………………………………………………………………………………….. 46
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 47
Interview Guide..................................................................................................................... i
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ABBREVIATION
CCE
Council of Constitutional Enquiry
CEWARN
Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism
CSAE
Central Statistics Agency of Ethiopia
FGD
Focus Group Discussion
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
GNP
Gross National Product
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ABSTRACT
Ethiopia in the Case of Oromia National Regional State. The study was done based on primary
sources of data were in-depth interviewees (such as key informants and government official
informants), and FGD participants. On the other hand, secondary sources used are peace and
security official reports, thesis/dissertations, journal articles, books, legislations, newspapers
and academic literatures. The researcher utilized qualitative method of data analysis using
Strategic peace, security and Conflict Analysis As a result, a total of 22 in-depth interviewees and
8 telephone interviewees participated in the study. For the sake of data triangulation, the
researcher employed two FGD sessions, which involved six caffe Oromia and seven Peace and
security Bureau participants in each session. Among major findings that the researcher was
identified: It is found that the peace-building processes in Oromia has no clear &comprehensive
strategy (Frame work), the Oromo tradition of peace-building and peaceful coexistence aren’t
yet adequately utilized in current peace-building processes in the region, the issue of the rule of
law has been mentioned as a critical challenge in oromia, which has opened ways for corruption,
bribery, and nepotism. The researcher would like to recommend a well-designed comprehensive
strategy (Framework) with proper spatial and temporal targets, stakeholders, and targets
required to take part in the process, It is high-time (very appropriate time) to revert back to the
Oromo traditions of peace building and peaceful coexistence side-by-side with the existing formal
legal procedures, conventions, and declarations and the sector bureaus in oromia are
recommended to design a clear framework and work on peace-building/peaceful co-existence as a
cross-cutting agenda in line with the bureau’s duties and responsibilities. They must be clear with
what, how, and when it has to be done.
Key words: Peace, Security, oromia Regional State and conflict
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
The Horn of Africa is one of the most unstable, insecure and underdeveloped region. It is
synonymous with abject multiplicity of ethnic groups and internal strife, poverty, recurrent
cycles and prolonged periods of hunger, drought, famine, food insecurity, diseases, huge
population displacement and migration. It is a source of large number of refugees and
internally displaced persons. Illegal cross-border movements, illicit small arms and light
weapons smuggling, livestock raids and theft, tense and increased competition over scare
resources, high rate of population growth and youth unemployment are all manifestations
of the region and they remain impediments for durable peace and sustainable growth,
(Ahmed 2007:92).
Ethiopia, with a total population of about 115 million is the 2nd most populous country in
Africa and the 12th largest in the world. About 43% of the total population is less than 15
years of age, (CSA, 2017). Over the last decade, Ethiopia has created an international
reputation for its astounding double-digit growth. Over the last 3 years, the country
recorded reputation in its reform processes officially known as Oromia National Regional
State (ONRS)
Oromia is the largest region with 353,690 square kilometers of land area and an estimated
population of slightly less than 40 million. Over 33 million people (84.4% of the total
population in the region) are residents of rural areas giving an urbanization rate of only
15.6%, below the national average. Oromia is structured into 21 zones and 336
woredas/city administrations. According to UNICEF’s situation analysis, about 48% of the
total population in Oromia is under 18 years. The Oromo people represent the majority
ethnic group in Oromia (85%), and in the country at large. Oromia accounts for 32% of the
national territory, about 35% of the total population, more than 50% of coffee production,
and about 52% of the country’s total population of livestock (http://www.oromiyaa.gov.et;
World Bank 2020).
As per the federal government constitution, regional governments that have legislative,
executive, and judicial powers and laws that fall into the jurisdiction of the region are
enacted by the regional council (Caffee).The region has adopted the first constitution in
1995, which was amended in October 2001Members of the regional council are directly
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elected by the people, and the highest executive organ is the regional cabinet headed by the
regional president (Oromia Planning Commission cited in World Bank).
If security is attained when different threats are successfully coped with, peace is
achieved when political agents have a significantly high level of wealth and
development. Both concepts feed into each other ( Wæver, 2004). It is the successful
management of threats that leads to a state of welfare, a state of improvement, and
development. In short, it leads towards peace. It is classical the distinction in peace
studies between negative (lack of violence) and positive peace (improvement of life,
the achievement of social justice, freedom and equality) (Galtung, 1996). When we
the term ‘peace’ is used it refers to the latter interpretation. These two interpretations
germinated two schools of thought. The American School focuses firmly on the issue of
preventing and reducing the incidence of war, in the tradition of the Western Roman
theory of pax as absentia bellum. On the contrary, the Scandinavian School focuses
mainly on peace and the structural and cultural conditions of violence by following a
Greco- Arabic-Hebraic pattern (Ferguson, 1986:334).
As security and peace are such intertwined concepts, the idea of regional peace also
originates, first of all, by the intensification of mobility of people, ideas and goods.
The provision and reception of welfare are also a regional phenomenon. As a public
good (non-excludable and non-rival), the capacity to produce it and the people who
can benefit from it does not extend generally further than a region. Regional zones of
peace are indeed a notable feature of international relations (Kacowicz, 1998).
Regional organizations are both subjective and multi-dimensional concepts. The concept
relates to a variety of interpretations, definitions, and theories by numerous scholars.
Kayizzi-Mugerwa et al. (2014) view regional organizations as an enabler of regional
economic and political development. However, Wulf & Debiel (2010) argues that several
challenges prohibit some regional organizations from solving regional crises. Mcarthur &
Werker (2016) reveals that regional organizations are multinational organizations with an
international membership that include geopolitical bodies outside of a single country.
Joseph (2016) mentions that, regional organizations focus on economic, cultural, and
environmental factors that adhere to regional contiguity.
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There are many reasons why some peace processes are not sustainable; some relate to the
role of spoilers (Stedman, 1997; Newman & Richmond, 2006; Gueli, Liebenberg & Van
Huysteen, 2005:11) and the dynamics of post-conflict settlements (Du Toit, 2001 &
2003:105), whilst others are associated with shortcomings in the support provided by the
international community (Stedman, Cousens & Rothchild, 2002; Chesterman 2004b;
Fukuyama, 2004; Paris, 2004; Paris & Sisk, 2009). This research was focused on the role
of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia regional
state government.
1.2.
Statement of the Problem
Peace & security building practice is not an easy task. It needs understanding the
nature of the conflict and the condition of the society in which peace is built
(Mpangala, 2 0 0 4 ) . In line with this, there is a tendency of thinking that conflict
resolution is lasting durable peace. The fact is that conflict resolution cannot be
peace-building, but a preliminary footstep towards peace & security building process.
Given the efforts employed at local, national, and international levels, world peace at
large and nations’ peace, in particular, agonized from several causes of instability.
The United Nations and its members engaged several efforts to retain peace Newman
& Richmond, (2006. Nevertheless, their security forces, laws, and institutions failed to
bring durable and lasting peace to people in pursuit. Modern peace-building
approaches are characterized by the prevalence of methods capable of causing
complementary harms and incapable of providing lasting and sustainable peace.
Moreover, peace-keeping agents typically rely on force and unjustifiable power to
build peace and repair stability Liebenberg & Van Huysteen, (2005).
Peace and security building is characterized by its multidimensionality and the large
number and broad range of internal and external actors engaged in one way or another in
pursuing peace consolidation goals Du Toit, (2001. The internal or local actors include all
levels of government, political parties, civil society and the private sector in a given
conflict setting. The external or international actors include international and regional
institutions and agencies, states, the international private sector and international nongovernmental organizations. Together, the internal and external actors undertake a range of
interrelated programmer and activities that span the security, political, governance,
development and economic dimensions of social transformation. Collectively and
cumulatively, these program and activities are aimed at building momentum towards
sustainable peace in the societies in which they operate. Peace and security building
3
systems are said to be successful when a society can sustain its own peace consolidation
process without external support (De Coning, 2005:89).
Oromia had been where the public outcry for change was high and actually giving rise to
the loss of significant lives of its youth population (the qeerroos) to make the peacebuilding process a true. And yet, unfortunately,Oromia is not free of conflicts both within
and across its administrative borderlines. The qeerros/qarrees had a lingering concern over
the handling of the peace-building process in Oromia.
According to Fukuyama, (2004) the peace-building process and huge public complain outthere over the unfolding conflict and instability in the region. Coupled with this, the
democratization process is so a toddler with no strong CSOs and the media to support the
process. Undeniably, these challenges could have a wider ramification at the country level,
given the region's largest geographical territory, high population size, wider borderlinesharing with all but one of the country's regional states, its encirclement of the country's
capital, and its geographical extension to the international boundaries Paris & Sisk, (2009).
Today, the specific regional instability situations and their possible spillover effects at the
national level look exacerbating daily while urging for an all-inclusive peace-building and
people-to-people dialogue interventions to arrest the looming dangers proactively.
NeCSOO believes that promoting an evidence-based peace-building process to ensuring
peace and stability in the region is crucial Chesterman (2004).
Nevertheless, in order to promote the peace-building processes, having in place a modestly
researched finding on the causes of conflicts and situations of peaceful-coexistence in the
region is essential. In this sense, NeCSOO sought this research as leverage for its
subsequent engagement on the issue.
This study provisionally defines coherence, in the peace and security building context, as
the effort to ensure that the political, security and development dimensions of a peace and
security building system in a particular crisis are directed towards a common objective.
The lack of coherence among the development, governance, political and security spheres
in most peace and security building operations to date have been highlighted in almost all
the major evaluation studies undertaken over recent years (Dahrendorf, 2003; Porter, 2002;
Sommers, 2000; Stockton, 2002).
4
Many of these studies have identified the lack of meaningful coherence and coordination
among the peace and security building agents as a major cause of unsatisfactory
performance and, hence, an important contributing factor to the unsustainability of the
peace processes. For example, the Joint Utstein Study of peace and security building,
which analyses peace and security building projects implemented by Germany, the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway, identified a lack of coherence at the
strategic level
what it terms a strategic deficit
as the most significant obstacle to
sustainable peace and security building (Smith, 2004).
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the Role of Regional States In
maintaining peace and security in Ethiopia the Case of Oromia National Regional State
1.3. Research Questions
Generally, the study attempted to answer the following basic questions:
1. What factors are enhancing the role of regional states in maintaining sustainable
peace and security?
2. How to control challenges of regional states in maintaining sustainable peace and
security?
3. To what extent of the conflicts are handling the role of regional states in
maintaining sustainable peace and security?
4. What are the role of local, regional and national actors in the role of regional states
in maintaining sustainable peace and security?
1.4. Objectives of the Study
1.4.1. General Objective
The general objective of the study was to examine the Role of Regional States In
maintaining peace and security in Ethiopia the Case of Oromia National Regional State
1.4.2. Specific Objectives
The study tried to address the following specific objectives;
1. To identify factors that enhances the role of regional states in maintaining
sustainable peace and security.
2. To identify how regional states controls challenges in maintaining sustainable
peace and security
3. To analyze conflict handling systems in maintaining sustainable peace and security.
5
4. To explore the role of local, regional and national actors in the role of regional state
powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia regional state
government.
1.5.Significance of the Study
The significance of the study lies in an attempt to make contribution to the understanding
of the interfaces across various forms of peace and security. The study is helpful in that it
will shed light on the empirical experiences pertaining to the interplay among conflicts in
post federal Ethiopia and Oromia National Regional State. Therefore the study will provide
significant insight on the causes and intersections exhibited between political and resource
conflicts in Oromia National Regional state and also will be useful for other researchers as
an input for further study and seeking to investigate resembling topics in other area of the
country, by unpacking how resource and political conflicts in Oromia National Regional
sate reinforced each other, the research will be used as a mirror to reflect the source,
nature and dynamics of peace and security given and marked by intermingled settlement
of major and groups, the finding of the study will be used by concerned bodies and
stakeholders as an input to settle the dispute. This particularly of the essence given that
Oromia National Regional State has been a major flashpoint that saw of the most
conspicuous violent identity conflicts and also the result of the study will be added to the
limited literature with regard to specific and empirically grounded studies on the dynamics
and interface of peace and security.
1.6.
Scope of the Study
The study attempted to analyze the role of regional state powers to maintain sustainable
peace and security in Oromia National regional state government in caffe Oromia,
president office, and pace and security bureau. Moreover, the features, dynamics and the
extent of interplay across political and resource conflicts were addressed.
1.7.Limitations of the Study
In addition to financial and time limitations, the study is constrained by the following
limitations absence of prior study to be used as a springboard, specifically on caffe
Oromia, president office, and pace and security bureau, lack of willingness of respondents
to give first hand (primary data) information, unreliability of informants, particularly
officials in due time for the interview.
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Although the researcher had easy access to relevant information as an inhabitant of the
area owing to the sensitivity and controversial nature of the topic there were limitations
to get information particularly from some authorities. Hence, the study relied on a
combination of different primary data collection mechanisms with special emphasis to
in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and personal observation, and of course with
their limitation conceded. However, utmost effort was made to minimize the negative
impact of such constraints on the result of the study.
1.8. Operational Definition of Terms
Sustainable Peace: as drawn from the Advisory Group of Experts report, should be
broadly understood as a goal and a process to build a common vision of a society, ensuring
that the needs of all segments of the population are taken into account, which encompasses
activities aimed at preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of
conflict, addressing root causes, assisting parties to conflict to end hostilities, ensuring
national reconciliation, and moving towards recovery, reconstruction and development,
and emphasizing that sustaining peace is a shared task and responsibility that needs to be
fulfilled by the government and all other national stakeholders (Herath, 2020).
Security: irrespective of any specific conflict and violence, peace psychological research
looks at the psychosocial conditions that hamper or promote sustainable peace (Dewo,
2013).
Regional State Power: is defined as a “state that is powerful (with regard to its material
resources or capabilities) in a certain regional geographic seeing and which tries to exercise
leadership in this regional seeing” (Mamo, 2017).
Conflict Resolution: Conflict resolution is the process by which two or more parties
reach a peaceful resolution to a dispute (Muchie and Bayeh, 2015).
Economic factors: factors affect the economy, including interest rates, tax rates, laws,
policies, wages, and governmental activities. These factors are not directly related to the
business but influence the investment value in the future (Deressa, 2002).
Political Factors: is an external constraint on a company, meaning that the influence
comes from outside the organization’s control. The biggest political factors are related to
government administration and activity Osman Hassen (2006).
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1.9. Organization of the Study
The rest of the paper was organizing as follow: The second chapter is going to deal with
the review of related theoretical, empirical literature and conceptual framework. Under
chapter three, the methodology of the study specifically the approach and design,
population, sampling technique and procedure, source of data, collection tools and
procedures, and data analysis mechanisms used will be described and discussed in detail.
In chapter four contain results and discussion from the study supported with findings from
other research works. Finally, in chapter five focuses on main findings, conclusions and
recommendations of the study.
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CHAPTER TWO
RVIEW OF RELATED LITRATURE
This chapter will discuss the literature and compares the literature from the research of
other scholars in the same field of study. The areas to be covered under literature review
are the theoretical review, conceptual framework and operationalization.
2.1.Theoretical Literature
2.1.1. The Concept of Peace
Peace has been defined in different ways, but all definitions ultimately try to provide the
meaning of human relationships, various types of structures in society, an understanding of
differences, and a sense of tolerance, mutual recognition, agreement and living together
harmoniously. Simply defined, peace is a situation in which there is no war between
countries or in a country (Longman 2000:1041). Peace is a mere absence of war or
hostilities for an absence of conflict are impossible (Miller 2005:55-56)
Peace, according to Aluigba, (2009) a means to an end, i.e., the absence of war serves the
end of social progress and development; and the functionalist interpretation of peace,
where peace is seen as playing a social function, and as the product of the function of other
social structures and institutions Fukuyama ( 2004).
In fact peace is the presence of well-being, social justice and respect for human rights,
gender equity, security and harmony. Peace is the absence of personal and institutional
violence or disputes. The meaning of peace here entails the absence of intolerance, fear,
anxiety, suffering, hostilities, violence, conflict and war. Peace is enhanced by changing
attitudes or behavior that lead to fear, anxiety, suffering, hostilities, violence, conflict and
war into the pursuit of tolerance, patience, dedication, faith, happiness, mutual respect,
love and life. Peace requires, inter alia, creating and maintaining a just order in the entire
society in the sub-region and the resolution of conflicts by non-violent means (Turton,
2006).
Ultimately, peace in the sub-region entails the presence of social well-being and justice,
respect for human rights, gender equity, security and harmony and non-violent and
democratic ways of resolving conflicts. This calls for the institutionalization and
inculcation of the UN’s culture of peace in the minds of individuals, groups, communities,
civil societies, institutions and governments at large in the sub-region Paris,( 2004).
9
To summarize a kind of peace required in the region can be achieved only through the
avoidance of direct violence, structural violence and cultural violence which are causes of
hatred, fear, anxiety, suffering, hostilities, conflict and war. Thus institutional, ideological
and instrumental changes are needed as that of Ethiopia.
2.1.2. The concept of security
Security is a complex term used in international relations and security studies. It is defined as
“the ability of a nation to protect its internal values from external threats” by Oxford
Dictionary (Ayoob, 1995: 5).State security was simply conceptualized as the ability of the
state to survive and promote its national interest in the anarchic international system. State’s
national interest was also conceptualized as power politics specifically defined by military
buildup and capabilities. Moreover, the threats to national security were exclusively from
external to the state sovereignty and are militaristic in their nature. Arnold Walfer as cited in
Wing (2000:3) underlined the importance of “perception” in defining security so that
“security, in an objective sense measures the absence of
threats to acquired values, in a
subjective sense, the absence fear of that such values will be attacked”.
The primary political loyalty that most people have is the nation-state, and the nation state is
the basic unit or building block of the global system .Thus, if there is a political unit whose
security needs to be guaranteed, it is the nation-state. As a result states became the sole and
unitary actors in the anarchic international system whereby all other actors were subscribed
to the jurisdiction of the sovereignty of the state (Ayoob, 2005; Rourke, 1993; Snow, 1991;
Willans, 2004; Wing, 2000).
Diversity, multiplicity of ethnic and religious groups in one country following the end of
Cold War becomes a threat of most nations, most importantly heterogeneous societies like
the Horn of Africa countries. Accordingly, the wideners contend that the conceptualization
of threats needed to be expanded beyond those posed by other states and their militaries,
Wing (2000:8).The wideners, however, mostly deal with the conceptualization of threats
horizontally, i.e. focusing on the diversification of threats without transforming and
redefining the referent object for security. National Security is thus the search for favorable
national and international environments, and the constant attempt to defuse, if possible
eliminates threats from within and outside( Chesterman 2004)
.
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Ullman (1983:129) in his attempt to redefine security threats, first provided an insightful
critique of the narrow, realist view of security, arguing that “although it may be easier and
politically expedient to focus on the salient, external, military issues this may actually be
counterproductive to the overall security, as it ignores legitimate non-military threats and
threats emerging from within the state”. Furthermore, he went on to define national security
threats as An action or sequence of events that (1) threatens drastically and over a relatively
brief span of time to degrade the quality of life for the inhabitants of a state or (2) threatens
significantly to narrow the range of policy choices available to the government of a state or
to private, nongovernmental entities within the state(ibid).
Ullman’s definition of national security also shared by Thomas (1987:10) from the context
of the Third World states security does not simply refer to the military dimension, as is often
assumed in Western discussions of the concept, but to the whole range of dimensions of a
state’s existence…., for example, the search for internal security of the state through nation –
building, the search for secure system of food, health, money and trade, as well as the search
for security through nuclear weapons Newman & Richmond, (2006).
In addition to other factors complicating the national security problem Ayoob criticized the
post-cold war security paradigm (human security) and went on to defend the necessity of the
primacy of national security mainly from the perspective of third world states. The State and
its organizing ideologies, institutional coherence, nation- building and state making, and
societal cohesiveness of the third world states are understood as major national security
challenge, with special emphasis to the African states (Stedman, Cousens & Rothchild,
2002). Human security in its broadest sense embraces far more than the absence of violent
conflict. It encompasses human rights, good governance, access to education and health care
and ensuring that each individual has opportunities and choices to fulfill his or her own
potential Newman & Richmond, (2006).
.The domestic nature of African states, according to many writers (Ayoob, 1995; Deng,
1984; Francis, 2006; Reno, 1998), is conducive to the prevalence of insecurity situations and
its associated features such as political instability, civil wars and inter-state conflicts.
Furthermore, the level of economic development, the state-society relationship ( Arlinghaus,
1984; Deng, 1984) and the role of elites in policy making ( Orwa, 1984) are determinant
factors inhibiting the political stability of African states.
11
As Ayoob(1995) observed, the nature of state formation and nation building explain for the
insecurity of states in Africa. Accordingly, Paris, (2004) the incomplete nature of state
formation and the simultaneous change of international norms with regard to human rights
and democracy complicated the insecurity situations of most African states.
Nevertheless without a doubt the security of individuals, who by necessity form part of a
political community, cannot be guaranteed unless the security of the entire political
community is first ensured. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that where the state has
failed, as has been the case recently in Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Congo, and
Afghanistan, life has become truly “poor, nasty, brutish and short” (Ayoob, 2005). However,
greater prominence has to be provided for newly emerged national security treats and unseen
threat such as deprivation and absence of governance (Turton, 2006).
To summarize the classical definition that gives emphasis of national security threat from the
outside and military intimidation seems outdating and more weight are given for human
security and wellbeing of individuals. Besides, the threat of security of developing nations
and most importantly African nations came from internal instability and turmoil that
emanated from poverty, underdevelopment and lack of governance.
2.1.3. The developmentalism as instrument of peace and security
Development is widely recognized as paramount instrument of peace. A number of
theories agree absence of development and pervasive poverty and impoverishment are
sources of conflict that led to devastating violence. As we analyzed the peace and security
threats to the nations of the region violence is caused most importantly due to economic
and social factors that emanated from social and economic deprivation ( Paris & Sisk,
2009).
Systemic theory of peace provides a socio-structural context (changes in political,
economic, social factors) for the emergence of violent conflicts. Causes of conflict in
systemic theory include: environmental degradation, uncontrolled population growth,
resource scarcity and allocation. Systemic sources of conflict are pervasive in every aspect
of life and affect large numbers of people. In the end, policies that promote political,
economic and social stability and reforms, and that prevent or reduce conflicts between
different individuals interest groups are sought to yield positive results, conclude systemic
theorists ( Paris & Sisk, 2009).
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Similarly Human needs theory assumes that all humans have basic human needs (physical,
psychological, social and spiritual) which they seek to fulfill and that the denial and
frustration of these needs by others could affect them, thereby leading to conflict. Needs
theorists conclude that to resolve a conflict situation, or to prevent it from occurring, the
needs have to be met with appropriate satisfiers, those things that were denied them in the
first instance. Therefore the inter- and intra- state conflicts in the horn can be mitigated
with the rapid economic growth and social improvement (Tadesse & Yonas, 2005).
2.1.4. Democratization as instrument of peace and security
Democracy is a best form of political system in which citizens are encouraged or aspire
and motivates to pour out the best in them and harness their potential. Primarily it
favorable environment for innovation, paramount entrepreneurship and hard work are
guaranteed as well as inculcated under free market and democratic political system. By
implication democracy leads for favorable economic conditions that by implication leads
to fair distribution of resources. As it is clearly indicated fair and equitable distribution of
resources mitigate conflict and harness peace (Grik: 2008).
Secondly democracy guarantees peaceful means of resolving difference and managing
conflict. Internally peaceful transition of power through periodic, fair and free election,
free media, and majority rule minority right, accountability, transparency rule of law and
constitutionalism in addition to other principles of democracy guarantee a better political
system in a given government. Democracy is believed to bring the best of a political
system both rapid economic development and human dignity and freedom of citizens. In
short democracy has a pacifying effect (MoFA, 2006).
Thirdly “Democratic Peace Theory” underlines that the spread of democracy in the world
will help to maintain peace both in the national and international arena. It argues that
democratic countries do not fight each other. The reason for this is that – unlike a
dictatorship rule - a democratic country should consult the people and representatives of
the people before going to war. It presumes that people would not opt for war, preferring a
peaceful solution to conflicts. Similarly domestically pluralist regimes would have the
recognition and consent of their people thus listen the observation and desire of their
people (Jürgen et.al, 2006).
13
Most importantly for countries or a region that has pluralism and heterogeneous society
democracy is success instrument for resolving conflict. According to the explanation of Mr
Collier on the Economist the journal; in ethnically diverse societies only democracy can
work for growth, because autocratic leaders with a narrow support base are otherwise
tempted to siphon off national income. Furthermore democratization has to maintain
property rights and economic freedoms which are fundamental for sustainable
development. In general democracy is one of the instrument of building peace and security
(Dahrendorf et al, 2006).
2.1.5. Regional Power
A regional power is defined as a “state that is powerful (with regard to its material
resources or capabilities) in a certain regional geographic seeing and which tries to
exercise leadership in this regional seeing” (Nolte 2010: 884). Material resources
often refer to preponderance in military and economic capabilities, and in demographic
size. Military power is central to the identification of a state as a regional power. The
possession of sufficient military assets including a large number of military personnel,
consistently high military expenditure, wide experience in warfare and a sufficient
domestic capacity to produce conventional weapons are all important determinants of a
state’s militarycapabilities (Lemke 2008, Vayrynen 1979).
Displaying economic strength reflected in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross
National Product (GNP), purchasing power, technology, and industrial infrastructure is
also important for a state to be classified as a regional power (Prys 2010, Vayrynen 1979).
States possessing both military and economic capabilities can effectively exercise control
and influence regional security matters. However, states with military preponderance
alone
may “create a temporary zone of influence and control” (Vayrynen 1979: 350).
Combining a state’s military and economic power with demographic size and diplomatic
effectiveness further strengthens a candidate’s regional supremacy (Iyob 1993: 264).
States assuming a regional power position have the will or the pretension to take on a
leading position, exert influence, and play a stabilizing role in regional security matters by
engaging in peacekeeping and peacemaking activities. Such states also influence regional
security issues using existing regional governance structures (ibid., Flemes 2007). Some
degree of internal political stability, however, is needed to exercise regional leadership.
14
To be distinguished as a regional power, recognition or acceptance of the potential
candidate’s power and position by other states in the region is an important criterion.
However, the rise and leadership of regional powers is often resented by other regional
states. Triepel argues that “regional powers often face suspicion and, at times, hostility,
and verbal resistance” (quoted in Prys 2010: 14). Such reactions may be due to fear,
vulnerability, jealousy, disagreements, or historical factors. Hence, acceptance by
secondary powers is expected to be based on a cost-benefit analysis; it is “founded much
more upon utility or necessity, but above all, upon the realization of its own weakness”
(ibid.). Recognition by extra regional actors and, especially, by global powers also maters
for regional power projection.
Generally, a preponderance of material capabilities, a claim for leadership, and recognition
are important criteria for a state’s classification as a regional power. From this
perspective, relative rather than absolute preponderance in terms of material resources is
important, as there are “big differences between the material capabilities of regional powers
across the globe, and, second, as it is this relative preponderance over neighboring states
that maters in regional relations’” (Prys 2010: 7). While states can be regional powers within
their geographical proximity, their power could be less visible or insignificant at the global
level (Wight 1978).
2.2.
Indigenous Conflict Resolution Systems in Oromiya Regional State
Resources are the major sources of conflicts between individuals, neighbors ‘clans and
ethnic groups in different parts of Ethiopia (Desalegn et al, 2005). Especially water
resource in the lowland areas of the country become the dominant cause of conflict.
Simultaneously there are also different type‘s mechanisms to settle these conflicts in the
country (Grik: 2008).
There are different types of traditional institutions in the country that have their own
customary methods to settle conflicts. In this regard, the Gadaa system of conflict
resolution is one that deserves attention. This institution is well respected by the Oromo
society at large in the country. If this indigenous knowledge can be controlled, then it is
thought that it can be a means through which sustainable development can be achieved
(Watson, 2001).
15
However, there exists a weak relationship between these statutory and customary
institutions in the management of natural resources and conflict resolution. The Gadaa
leaders play important roles in natural resources management. While the rules and
regulations laid down by the Gadaa tradition must be respected by all councils of elders,
any problem regarding resources use which could not be solved by these elders would be
handled by the higher Gadaa leader (Tadesse & Yonas, 2005).
According to Watson (2001) the abbaa Gadaa is seen as the figurehead of the whole of
Boran, and is often described as the President. As well as performing rituals, matters are
referred to him and his council when a decision cannot be reached at a lower level. When
conflict breaks out between ollas (the smallest unit of settlement consisting of 30 to 100
warraas-households) or araddaas (small group of ollas, usually two or three only, who may
cooperate together on their grazing pattern), or maddaas (area surrounding one water
source), then the abbaa Gadaa will rule on the case. If there is conflict between ethnic
groups, then he will be called in to help make peace. As the abbaa Gadaa is responsible for
dealing with matters of concern to the Boran, and as matters of concern are often related to
access to the resources (water, land, and forests), the abbaa Gadaa is the highest level of
institution of natural resources management in Borana (Dereje, 2006).
Taddesse (2003) also present how the diverse local communities, both Oromo and nonOromo, in the Borana zone of Oromia co-exist under the traditional negotiated systems of
shared management of natural resources. Conflicts, although not unknown, tend to be
relatively minor and rapidly resolved through the traditional conflict resolution
mechanisms. Araaraa is nothing but the process of conflict management involving
individual clans within and outside the community. It is basically handled by the council of
elders in the community and thus associated with the Gadaa system and called Jaarsummaa
in some localities. The term Jaarsa is the Oromo version of elder and thus Jaarsummaa is
the process of reconciliation between conflicting individuals or groups by a group of
Jaarsaas (elders). Similar to Jaarsummaa system, the qaalluu court proceedings are held in
open field under a tree at qaalluu ritual center. But major qaalluus have also halls
constructed for this purpose (Asnake, 2004).
2.2.1. Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT): Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver
Lake and Morgan’s interpretation of externality as the bedrock to understand regional
security is not far from Buzan and Wæver’s assertion that security is a regional
16
phenomenon since “most threats travel more easily over short distances than over long
ones processes of securitization and thus the degree of security interdependence are
more intense between the actors inside such complexes than they are between actors
inside the complex and those outside it” (2003:4). With this focus on ‘security
interdependence’ rather than on ‘externality’ Buzan and Wæver rectified Lake and
Morgan’s camouflaged bilateralism. As can be easily recognized, this paper shares with
Buzan and Wæver the idea that regional security can only be deciphered if we look at the
way threats are generated and handled. Even so, my interpretation of what is ‘regional’
about ‘regional security’, disputes Buzan and Wæver in the following way (Stedman,
Cousens & Rothchild, 2002)
If threats travel more easily over short distances, how does their model
explain/describe international terrorism? Instead of basing regional security on the spatial
idea that the range of a threat is geographically limited to a region, my interpretation
justifies the use of the regional dimension in the sense that most threats are either
originated in, or have an impact on, the regional level (Jürgen et.al, 2006).
Similarly to Lake and Morgan, Buzan and Wæver approach is limited to management
of threats. They do not address the correlation between ‘de-securitization’ and
‘welfare generation’ and how this can be patterned at regional level (ibid).
In 2003, Buzan and Wæver pointed out that, RSCT is useful for three reasons: “First it
tells us something about the appropriate level of analysis in security studies, second it
can organize empirical studies, and third, theory-based scenarios can be established on
the basis of the known possible forms of, and alternatives to, RSCs.” (2003:45). They
also added that, “RSCT might be the only existing theory of regional security” (p.83).
No major theory on regional security has yet emerged that challenges RSCT. Unlike
RSCT, the regional orders (Lake and Morgan, 1997), zones of peace (Kacowitz, 1998;
Singer and Wildavsky, 1993), and security communities’ literature (Adler and Barnett,
1998) are not able to grasp the full spectrum of security dynamics at regional level.
This paper does not aim to challenge RSCT. But it endeavor’s to address its missing
points. My main criticism with the regional security literature is not that it fails in its
explanative and descriptive assumptions or that its implications are not verifiable.
Rather, the central problem is that the literature only addresses incompletely the
17
central goal of understanding regional peace and security. By walking in the forest of
theories no map is provided on whether the process of regionalization - in security
terms - is associated to regional zones of peace and regional zones of conflict, or is
related to the operative capacity of regional agents of peace as, for instance, regional
organizations. Furthermore, all theories are limited in terms of regional agency and
security processes Dahrendorf et al, 2006).
2.2.2. Collective Security
The balance of power arrangement at the beginning of the twentieth century did not work
and the First World War broke out. Shortly after the war, a new discipline called
international relations was developed in the US and UK, in particular. This new discipline
sought to find non-systemic causes of interstate war, looking to such factors as the human
psyche, imperialism, militarism, nationalism, and racism Dahrendorf et al, 2006). Yet other
observers, including leaders of world politics such as Woodrow Wilson and Vladimir
Lenin, focused their diagnoses of the origins of war at the level of states. According to
these thinkers, it is not so much the international system of states that is the source of
conflict and war, but the nature of the individual states. For Lenin, it is the capitalist states
that became imperialist and thus were the driving force for war. He held that communists
are pacifists and that world revolution would be the solution to the war problem. For
Wilson, militarism and autocracy were the culprits. He believed that democracies are
fundamentally peaceful (Jürgen et.al, 2006).
Under the influence of Hobsonian realism, the new discipline of international relations,
Wilsonian liberalism, and Marxist evolutionism, government leaders and academics
developed a full roster of prescriptions and approaches to the problem of interstate war:
disarmament, outlawry of war, judicial settlement of disputes, democratization of states,
peace education, international exchange, international organizations and institutions, world
federalism, world revolution, and collective security. Among the new approaches to
international peace, perhaps the only security arrangement that could replace the
discredited balance of power system was the idea of collective security that was embodied
in the League of Nations (Muchie and Bayeh, 2015).
The system of collective security is one in which all states agree to take action against any
one and unspecified state, which breaks the peace. No country is strong enough to fight
18
against all the other states in the world, and therefore it would not make sense to go to
war. Theoretically, if the collective security worked, the international peace would be
maintained. There were, however, some weaknesses established under the collective
security system under the League of Nations. It was not truly collective in those big powers
such as the US, which did not join the League, and Soviet Union, which was not invited to
join, were not members of the League. Another weakness is that the collective action was
limited to diplomatic and economic sanctions so that the collective security system was not
strong enough to deter Germany, Japan and Italy from breaking the peace (Muchie and
Bayeh, 2015).
Learning a lesson from the failure of the collective security of the League of Nations,the
founders of United Nations provided very clearly in the Charter for collective security. The
Charter required member states to renounce the use of force among them and come
collectively to the aid of any one of them which was attacked. As a collective military
action the United Nations is empowered to organize the United Nations Forces (Stark
2014).
The post-Second World War world posed a new the configuration of international
politics. Due to the emergence of nuclear weapons with an unprecedented capacity of mass
destruction, and the ideology of international politics, the world came to be divided into
two opposing blocs, thus marking the beginning of the Cold War. Because of the Security
Council’s veto system, collective security was never put to the test properly during the
Cold War (Greene 2011).
If collective security had worked as planned and military sanctions had been taken against
any super power that broke peace, it would have led to the third world war. The basis of
Cold War security was mutual nuclear deterrence, which reflected the overriding need to
prevent any crisis from escalating into general war. The no war relations between the East
and West were maintained by the balance of terror. At the same time, during the Cold War
nuclear disarmament held the center stage in the peace process pursued by a variety of
international organizations, visionary politicians and grass-roots peace movements
(Berhanu and Beyene 2015).
2.2.3. Agents of Peace and Security
Agents of peace are actors who may provide a voluntary or involuntary contribution to
19
peace within a region (the region where they originate from or other). Actors are of
three kinds: individual, national and regional. Individual agents are persons who use
their recognition and credibility on behalf of peace (intra-regional peace). National
actors operate within the premises of a state (or the state itself) but their active
capacity spills over national borders. Regional actors transcend the geographic and
political limitations of state-centrism and have regional ‘acetones’ State, (Regional)
Civil Society, Economic Agents and Regional Organizations Riemann, (2007).
2.2.4. Regional Integration
Regional integration is the process that pertains the establishment of linkages and the
surrender of sovereignty of political agents in a contiguous territorial area. In the
ongoing phase of ‘new regionalism’, the process of regional integration is conducted
by a panoply of different agents, which are propelled by distinct objectives. Regional
integration
may
be
experienced
in
different
sectors
(social,
economic,
political/institutional) and be classified in progressive levels of intensity(Wan &
Vanderwerf 2009).
Low Level of Integration: national policies are designed and put in practice with
disregard for neighbor political agents. In a low level of integration states prioritize
self-sufficiency to the detriment of regional cooperation. National sovereignty is
considered a fundamental pillar on which governmental policies are built (ibid).
Medium Level of Integration: national policies are conceived with awareness of the
regional environment and political agents are willing to sacrifice chunks of their
sovereignty on behalf of regional cooperation. Integration is attained in non- sensitive
technical areas (ibid).
High Level of Integration: national governments have lost full control over the
implementation of policies at national level: national goals are believed to be more
effectively attained if a regional body coordinates and manages the policy-making
process. National sovereignty is transported to a higher regional institution (ibid).
20
2.3.Framework for Analysis
These four variables are interrelated and vary in a fairly consistent and symmetrical
fashion. Changes in one of these variables lead to alterations in the value of the other
variables. The fundamental question is, however, how to group all these variables
together in a way that, first, account for the security dynamics of regional
environments, second, may be applied to all regions of the world, and third, are
suitable to historical variations and processes. When using a model structured upon
three variables to comprehend regional peace and security the researcher do not mean to
suggest that the value of the variables changes linearly and deterministically according
to causal laws. Likewise, Riemann, (2007) the descriptive model introduced is a
simplified representation of the real world. Unlike positivist/causal models, it was not
created by speculating about processes that could have caused the observed facts. No
RPSC is similar to other in the level of variation of its defining components (Yuksel,
2006)
However, despite the dynamism and the specificity inherent to RPSCs, four major
descriptive types of regional clusters can be observed in international relations:
‘regional
complex’,
‘regional
society’,
‘regional community’ and ‘regional
institutionalized policy (Ramsbotham et.al, 2005). By conjugating together the three
variables, the regional clusters are described as follows:
2.3.1. Regional complexes
Regional complexes are marked by low levels of regional integration, embroiled by
inter-state and intra-state conflicts. They correspond to regions where the main
international actor the state struggles for security, survival and power. Peace is regarded
as an absence of war and the instruments used to attain it are effective in their
deterrence capacities but inadequate in attempting to spur more equity, welfare and
development. The role of other agents beyond the state is normally downplayed. States
may not be ruled by plural and democratic institutions. As peace and security are
regional public goods that need mechanisms of cooperation to be produced, the
supply of these goods in a regional complex is scarce and deficient. The contemporary
case of South Asia, plagued by ethical and political internal divisions in Sri Lanka,
Nepal, Pakistan and India, and by the longstanding interstate confrontation between
21
India and Pakistan, is a case in point (Ramsbotham et.al, 2005).
2.3.2. Regional societies
Regional societies are the growth of interactions and linkages are portrayed in the
establishment of formal (regional organizations) or informal ties (sharing of common
rules and values) between the state, civil society and market actors. The attainability of
positive peace is still not their main concern, but the region is more discernible by
patterns of amity that enmity. Several regions in the world are currently at this level
such as Southeast Asia or South America (Ramsbotham et.al, 2005).
2.3.3. Regional communities
A regional community at this level the existence of a zone of peace is recognized and
interstate negative peace is taken for granted. Regions gain an international posture
and therefore start serving, for example, as aid donors, peace facilitators or engaging in
peace-keeping initiatives. The member states of the region are plural democracies and
are enmeshed in high levels of regional integration. The EU is so far the only evident
case here Ramsbotham et.al, 2005).
2.3.4. Regional institutionalized polities
Traditional sovereignty is abandoned and the new supranational mechanisms of policymaking not only embrace former independent states but also local communities,
micro-regions and possibly civil society organizations. Political and ethnic groups that
maintained hostile relations with the core power at the state level will have new
avenues to discuss and materialize their demands (Ramsbotham et.al, 2005).
22
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter discussed the methodology that was used in carrying out the study. This chapter covered
the research design and research methodology used to test the theories and variables. The items
discussed includes research design, the population, data collection methods, sampling frame,
sampling methods, instrumentation, procedure of data collection and the data analysis and
presentation.
3.10. Research Design
A research design is a plan, structure and strategy of investigation to obtain answers to research
questions or problems (Kumar, 2005). In this study, the researcher employed qualitative research
method. Qualitative research method is used to identify the characteristics and the significance of
human experiences as described by participants and interpreted by the researcher at various levels
of abstractions. The intent of qualitative research is to understand a particular social situation,
event, role, group or interaction (Creswell, 1994).
Moreover, for this study exploratory (formative) research design is used. Exploratory research
design is important to gain new insights, discover new ideas and/or increase knowledge of
experience of being involved (Burns et.al., 2011). It intends only to explore the basic research
questions and it does not aim to give a final and conclusive solution to the existing problems, but it
helps to have a better understanding of the problem. Therefore, the focus of exploratory research
design is to discover new problems on which little or no previous research has been done (Brown,
2006; Kothari & Garg, 2014).
3.11.
Sources of Data
In this research, most of the data were obtained from primary sources. However, few secondary
sources were used to supplement the primary data. The primary sources of data were in-depth
interviewees (such as key informants and government official informants), and FGD participants.
On the other hand, secondary sources used are peace and security official reports,
thesis/dissertations, journal articles, books, legislations, newspapers and academic literatures.
23
Therefore, the analysis of this research relied on three type of data sources; qualitative
interviewees, FGDs, and documents.
3.12.
Instruments of Data Collection
In undertaking this study, multiple instruments of data collection were employed. The techniques
of data collection used falls in to four categories: In-depth-interview, telephone interview, focus
group discussion, and document analysis.
3.12.1. In-depth Interview
In-depth interview is a repeated face-to-face encounter between the researcher and informants
directed towards understanding the informants’ perspectives on their experiences, or situations as
expressed in their own words (Kumar, 2005). In this study, the researcher conducted semistructured interview. It is more appropriate type of interview because it is conducted with fairly
open frame work, which allowed focused, conversational and two way communication. Moreover,it
is placed between the two continuums: unstructured (closer to observation) and structured
interview (closer to questionnaire) (Denscombe, 2007). A total of 22 in-depth interviewees were
personally conducted. Out of these, 12 interviewees were selected from government officials of
City and Kebele level. In conducting the interview with government officials, the researcher tried
to balance backgrounds of respondents. On the other hand, 10 key interviewees (informants) were
selected from both community members of Suluta city who had better information on the conflict
issue. During the interview, relevant notes were also taken. Moreover, based on their consent, only
few of the interviewees were recorded using audiotape, most importantly, the interviews were
conducted in a setting that the informants feel free and assume that they are in the natural course
of interaction.
3.12.2. Telephone Interview
The researcher conducted three telephone interviews. This was due to the intense insecurity
situation of the study area and the challenges faced the researcher during his fieldwork. As Kothari
& Garg (2014), stated telephone interview is a kind of interview that consists contacting
respondents on telephone itself. It is used at times; access can be gained to respondents who
24
otherwise cannot be contacted for one reason or the other. Among the telephone interviewees, five
of them were from peace and security bureau and another three was from Oromia regional state .
Moreover, field and/telephone assistantsassisted all the telephone interviews.
3.12.3. Focus Group Discussion (FGD)
Focus group discussion is exploring the perceptions, experiences, and understanding of a group of
people who have some experience in common with regard to a situation or event (Kumar, 2005).
For triangulating data obtained from in-depth and telephone interviewees, two FGD sessions were
carried out. The participants of the FGD were selected based on their willingness, sex and ethnic
background since the issue was sensitive. However, the female FGD participants were very limited
in number because of their lack of willingness. Therefore, the Suluta city session was carried out
at Suluta with six participants whereas the peace and security bureau session was held at Finfinne
with seven participants. Like in-depth interviews, the field assistants assisted the FGD.
3.12.4. Document Analysis
In conducting this study (from its inception to finalization) various types of published and
unpublished documents were explored and used, which include: peace, security and conflict
situation official reports or letters, constitutions, MA thesis, newspapers, figures, maps, working
papers and other relevant documents. Before using secondary sources (documents), the researcher
used three basic criteria of evaluating the sources of data namely: Reliability, suitability and
adequacy of data.
3.13. Sampling Technique and Sampling Size
Since the study is qualitative the selection of in-depth and telephone interviewees were based on
non-probability sampling method: purposive sampling technique. Accordingly, the researcher
purposefully selected government official informants and key informants who can provide the best
information. While selecting purposefully the researcher tried to consider their knowledge and
position in the society/ethnic group. According to Kumar (2005), the primary consideration in
purposive sampling is the judgment of the researcher as who can provide the best information to
achieve the objectives of the research. It is extremely useful to construct a historicalreality, describe
a phenomenon or develop something about which only little is known.
25
As far as the sample size is concerned, most scholars like Kumar (2005) agree that qualitative
research does not attempt to either quantify or determine the sample size. Therefore, in qualitative
research, to explore the diversity, the researcher need to reach what is known as saturation point in
terms of the finding investigated. Data saturation involves bringing new participants continually in
to the data set are complete. In other words, saturation is reached when the researcher gathers data
to the point of diminishing returns, when nothing new is being added (Marshal et.al, 2013).
As a result, a total of 22 in-depth and 8 telephone interviewees participated in the study. For the
sake of data triangulation, the researcher employed two FGD sessions, which involved six Sululta
City and seven Peace and security Bureau participants in each session. The participants of FGD
were purposefully selected
based on their knowledge and information on the Peace, security and
conflict issue.
3.14.
Selection of Field Assistants
In undertaking this study, having a field assistant was very vital. The field assistants were selected
based on their willingness, ability to speak the local language and communication skill .There
were several reasons why the researcher used field assistants. The field assistants helped the
researcher to create trust among the interviewees and FGD participants and the larger group of
members. During the fieldwork, there was insecurity in the study area and the movements of
people were highly restricted because of fear of the regional special security forces deployed. At
the time, having a field assistant was mandatory for the researcher to be accepted and be trusted
by the members of the community/ethnic group. In addition, the field assistants involved in
guiding and suggesting the potential in-depth and telephone interviewees to the researcher.
Moreover, the field assistants translated when there was few misunderstanding between the
researcher and the interviewees because of language barrier.
In general, the field assistants who assisted the researcher in facilitating face-to-face and telephone
interviews as well as FGD were seven in number. All the assistants know the local language and
culture of the area.
3.15.
Field Work Experience
Before the researcher went to the field area for data collection, all necessary preparation was made.
The interview and FGD guides were prepared in English language. Then, it was translated in to
26
Afan Oromo (the language of data collection). Then after, the research advisor and other colleagues
ofthe study commented and corrected the guiding instrument.
The field data gathering was conducted mainly for around three weeks from 19th March, 2022 to
14th April, 2022. At the beginning, the researcher went to Suluta and collected all necessary data
with the help of a field assistant. Most of the government official informants were positive in
writing letters to the City and Regional Bureau administrations and giving data about the issue.
However, they were busy in organizing and participating current situation of the city. This made
the researcher a little bit slower in collecting data in the Zone government offices.
The second fieldwork place was Regional security and peace Bureau and regional government
that the researcher was challenged a lot because of the intense security situation. As a result,
accessing the informants was very difficult for the researcher. In general, because of few gaps
created during field data collection, the researcher conducted telephone interviews with the help of
field/telephone assistants.
During data collection the researcher speaks Afan Oromo language. However, there was no such a
serious language barrier that faced the researcher. Because, they were Afan Oromo speaker.
Moreover, all the research field assistants can speak the local language of the study area make the
work of the researcher easier.
3.16.
Methods and Procedures of Data Analysis
For analyzing data collected through in-depth interview, telephone interview, FGD, and document
analysis the researcher utilized qualitative method of data analysis using Strategic peace, security
and Conflict Analysis. Because, it provides a deeper understanding of the peace, security and
conflict situation or context through assessment of structures, causes, actors and conflict dynamics
(Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), 2006). Furthermore, the
researcher made an effort to organize, analyze and interpret data in a sound manner.
3.17.
Reliability and Validity
Reliability and validity are important concepts in research. Many research mistakes occur due to
problems related to research validity and reliability. In order to maintain reliability and validity of
the research the researcher used triangulation (use of multiple methods) of data collected through
27
different instruments: in-depth-interview, telephone interview, FGD, and document analysis. In
addition, the researcher used colleagues and peer reviews of the research project (from the
beginning to the completion). Most importantly, the researcher repeatedly met with his advisor
and this in turn created a chance to minimize errors in conducting the research.
3.18.
Ethical Considerations
Research ethics is the “moral’ principle guiding research from its inception through the completion
and publication of results and beyond. Ethical issues are becoming a crucial element in social
science research. A social science researcher has an obligation to respect the rights, needs and
desires of the informant(s) (Creswell, 1994). Thus, the researcher followed ethical guidelines from
the beginning to completion of this research project. The researcher obtained the in-depth
interviewees, telephone interviewees and FGD participants’ informed consent and informed the
purpose and type of data wanted from them. The anonymity and privacy of the research
participants was respected and the collected data is carefully kept. In addition, an effort was made
to avoid bias and to become objective as possible.
28
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter deals with the discussion of findings obtained from primary and secondary sources of
data. In the process of data presentation and analysis, the results obtained through each data
collection instrument used in a mixed way as necessary. In other words, the results of the interview
are presented together with the results of FGD and document analysis as it is appropriate.
Moreover, under this chapter, the basic research questions are answered, and the objectives of the
study are addressed. The results of the analysis are presented under topics and sub-topics created in
line with the objectives and basic research questions of the study. As a result, a total of 22 (12Male
and 8 female) in-depth and 8(5 Male and 3 Female) telephone interviewees participated in the study.
For the sake of data triangulation,
4.1.Factors are enhancing the role of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and
security
According to finding factors are enhancing the role of regional state in Oromia regional state
government for powers to maintain sustainable peace and security will be discussed under four
different themes. The first looks at the implications of a complex systems approach for approaching
peace and security from a problem-solving perspective. The second considers the implications of
approaching conflict with a stabilization bias. The third looks at considerations of time, pace and
positioning from a Complexity perspective, and the fourth looks at the implications of a complex
systems approach.
4.1.1. Relevance of Complexity for Peace building Systems
The dominant peace and security building among the contemporary peace building policy
community is the liberal peace theory that posits that societies achieve sustainable peace once they
have arrived at a level of development where their norms and institutions reflect and maintain
multipartydemocracy (Key Informant Interview).
Liberal-peace policy makers are confident in their agency to diagnose the problems affecting a
society emerging from conflict, and currently it is popular for that diagnosis to essentially boil down
to finding that states are fragile because their institutions are weak (Interview with Regional Bureau
Peace and Security). The international aid community had by this time developed significant
29
confidence in its ability to assist state building in post-war situations Key Informant Interview).
In fact, the very concept of peace ‘building’ suggest an engineering model it suggests that peace is
something that can be ‘built’, which implies that it can be designed, engineered and planned. The
assumption is that such a plan can then be executed with a reasonable expectation that the end
product will look like the original design, in the same way that an architect can design a building
and oversee its construction according to the design Key Informant Interview). The creativity
resides in the design; the rest is just logistics the process of matching resources and capacities: The
national community is assumed to be highly likely to succeed, provided only that it has the right
strategy, resources, and confidence (FGD).
The following quote support (Telephone Interview with Region Government) is illustrative of this
approach: The literature on intervention from the outside often focus on the constraints on strategy
or implementation, be they the lack of political will, the under-financing of missions, insufficient
force, poor logistics, coordination problems between actors, or the dilemma of civil and military
forces interacting, which in turn lead to legitimacy and authority problems, and undesirable
outcomes. Good outcomes, it is assumed, follow from getting the technical or operational side of
things right…. By focusing on cases, typologies or mission-specific operational and institutional
constrains, the analysis is rarely embedded in the local and national context and rarely considers
those intervened upon as acting subjects. The aims are to explain what went well or less well and to
improve the instruments for intervention (Interview with Regional Peace and Security Bureau).
The complex-systems approach rejects the notion that a peace and security building intervention can
set in motion and control to any degree of certainty a causal sequence of events that will result in a
predetermined outcome. A complex system continuously evolves in response to both external
interferences and feedback generated by the system itself (Interview with Regional Peace and
Security Bureau). The way the system will respond to external interference can thus not be
predetermined with any certainty beyond a very short horizon. The creativity of the system, i.e. the
ability of the system to respond in ways that cannot be predicted or controlled, resides in the ability
of the system to self-organize. It is therefore able to adapt and evolve on its own in response to
changes elsewhere in the system and its environment (FGD).
Using the term ‘interference’ also reminds us of the moral and ethical dimensions of peace and
30
security building. Peace building is about purposefully interfering in the social system of a society
emerging out of conflict. It takes place in an international system that values sovereignty and the
right to self-determination, and such interventions thus need to be recognized as extraordinary
(Telephone Interview with Region Government).
4.1.2.
Solving the Peace Problem
According to phone Interview with Regional Peace and Security Bureau, problems can be
understood in the peace & security building context follows:
1. There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem. The problem is not understood until
after it has been resolved, if ever. Wicked problems have no stopping rule. A stopping rule
refers to a specified limit of options in probability theory. In this case, since there is no
definitive ‘problem’ there can be no definitive ‘solution’. Thus the problem solving never stops.
Some analysts have, however, suggested what amounts to a new stopping rule for wicked
problems, namely ‘good enough’ outcomes.
2. Solutions to wicked problems are not right or wrong, but they may have better or worse
outcomes. It is difficult to objectively determine what is better or worse, as these are judgments
made in a social context and differences in values and goals will lead to different choices.
3. There is no immediate, and no ultimate, test of a solution to a wicked problem.
4. Every wicked problem is novel and unique, and every solution to a wicked problem is a oneshot operation’, i.e. it only works in that particular context and there is thus no opportunity to
learn by trial and error. That is commonly followed in the peace and security building
community
5. Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.
6. A wicked problem can be explained (analyzed) in numerous ways there is no one correct way
of explaining or assessing it. The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem.
Specifically the concept of wicked problems to fragile states. For him the opposite of ‘wicked’
problems are ‘tame’ problems, and his description of what constitutes a ‘tame’ problem also serves
as a good description of what is referred to as the ‘deterministic-design’ model (Interview with
Regional Bureau Peace and Security) Contrast this (wicked problem) inventory with a portrait of a
tame problem, which possesses a well-defined and stable problem statement.
For enhancing the role of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia
National regional state (Interview with Regional peace and Security Breau).
31
According to Interview with Regional peace and Security Bureau for the problem-solving
assumption in peace and security has been explored and four implications for peace building were
identified:
1.
The highly dynamic and nonlinear nature of complex systems constrains our ability to fully
understand complex peace building systems, and thus we are inherently limited in the role of
regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia regional state
government
2.
One cannot have a definitive ‘problem’ or ‘solution’ in a complex peace and security building
system. Peace, in fact, is not a ‘problem’ to be ‘solved’. Peace is an emergent property of a
complex system that is able to self-organize without lapsing into violent conflict.
3.
The highly dynamic and nonlinear nature of complex systems results in the reductionist
approach being limited in its application. It needs to be complemented and augmented with a
complex systems approach that seeks to understand the patterns, trends and processes that
provide clues as to how the system works as a whole.
4.
The focus of a peace building intervention has to be on the internal political dynamics of the
system experiencing change, not on the technical aspects of the external intervention.
4.1.3. Stabilizing Conflict
To maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia National regional state government assume
that the world is inherently orderly, but the region actually never arrive at this ‘stable’ state. Under
the influence of the determined design approach (FGD) the region tend to train and educate people
by providing them with ideal models, standards and specifications, and instill in them the belief that
they have the agency to design and execute program that will result in these models and standards
being achieved (Interview with key informants). Then pursue these models in their careers with the
expectation that they will actually arrive at these ideal states at some point in the future (Telephone
interview with Oromia National Regional state).
Its promise of peace and security, human rights and representative government, relief assistance and
economic reconstruction had a powerful legitimizing effect in Oromia National Regional state
(Interview with key informants and government official informants).
Hence peace and security building is used as a tool to restore societies to their ‘normal’ peaceful and
orderly state (Interview with key informants and government official informants). The value of
32
Complexity is that it offers an alternative perspective through which can view the same conflictpeace phenomenon, and this alternative view helps us to see aspects of it that we would not
otherwise have considered (FGD).
From community perspective, order is the steady state, and peace and harmony suggest the ideal.
For any system to be in harmony, i.e. perfectly balanced it would have to be locked into a
completely predictable order, which implies that it has to be an externally controlled mechanism. It
would have to be externally designed and manufactured, and it would have to depend on an
externally supplied source of energy, like a battery. Even then entropy implies that it would be
necessary to intervene from time to time to replace or repair parts of the system. It would thus, per
definition, exclude any living organism or complex system. For peace and security building, the
implication from Complexity is that a harmonious stable or orderly state is an ideal model that
cannot exist in real or material terms. It is an idea that cannot be operationalized (Telephone
interview with Oromia National Regional state).
The region
may thus look at a ‘peaceful’ society, or at what appears to be a well-balanced
ecosystem in nature, and we may get a sense of peace and harmony (FGD). But if we consider how
such a ‘peaceful’ society functions from a complex systems perspective, we will recognize that the
‘peace’ and ‘harmony’ that are observed are not a ‘solid’ or ‘final’ state that can be arrived at, and
which then remains in that ‘static’ state forever (Interview with Regional peace and Security
Breau).
In our common-sense view we tend to think of democracies as stable, and in the relatively short
period of human history in which we have been able to observe democratic political systems, they
do seem to be more lasting than comparable political systems, because they, in macro terms, appear
to settle into more lasting pockets of stability. However, whilst they may appear stable at the
surface, i.e. whilst their overall effect may create a sense of enduring and predictable stability, they
are in fact highly-dynamic and nonlinear complex systems that are self-regulating a large number of
simultaneous and interlinked change processes, such as the economy (nationally and
internationally), politics (domestic and international relations), rule of law, security, social-cultural,
and so forth (Interview with Regional Peace and Security Bureau).
In this second section the relevance of Complexity for the stabilizing conflict assumption in peace
33
and security building has been explored and a further eight implications of Complexity
identified(phone Interview with Regional Peace and Security Bureau). (phone Interview with
Regional Peace and Security Bureau):
1. Change and conflict are normal and necessary, and peace building should thus not only be about
restoring order and stability, but also about stimulating change and facilitating constructive
conflict.
2. Peace building is about peace consolidation, and whilst avoiding a lapse into violent conflict is
important, it should be recognized that a preoccupation with controlling the political and social
space in order to ensure security and stability is likely to constrain the space and pace for the
emergence of self-organization. The best way to ensure sustainable peace consolidation is to
encourage and facilitate the capacity of a society to organize itself (Telephone Interview with
Region Government).
3. A harmonious stable or orderly state is a conceptual construct, i.e. it is an ideal model that
cannot exist in real or material terms. It is an idea that cannot be operationalized.
4. The ‘normal’, and in fact optimal, state of states and societies is to be complex, i.e. highly
dynamic, nonlinear and inherently conflictual.
4.2.Challenges of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia
National regional state government
4.2.1. Structural problem of Peace and Security Bureau
The regional cabins of Oromia National regional state government differ in their approach to
addressing the Oromia conflict related to peace and security. There is a fundamental difference,
particularly on the use of either federal or a unitary system. According to Ethiopia and its allies
federalism promotes a more useful political settlement with regards to existing regional entities. As
Ethiopia itself is a federal state, it may have a political interest to see another federal state as a
neighbor (Interview with FGD).
4.2.2. Representation
Peace ma-king approach was the selection of local actors as a foundation for establishing a viable
state. The peace initiatives endorsed by City Administrative selected different actors at different
34
peace conferences. As a result of selecting different actors at different peace conferences, regional
government has suffered from inclusivity problems. In theory, Regional peace and security Bureau
says that its processes are inclusive, but in reality they are not (Interview with regional government).
The talks could not involve all City Administrative from region to kebeles. They were not well
recognized as important actors in the peace processes until now.
The other criticism related to the lack of inclusivity of the peace conferences deals with absence of a
mechanism to actively engage the Oromia population with other regions. As the peace processes
were held regional government should have developed a mechanism of reaching out to the Somali
population.
There was no organized and effective effort to make the larger population the owner of the peace
processes. This has exposed the people to be victims of the discontented groups (Interview with key
informants and government official informants). Although Administrative level of peace processes
tried to bring groups together like elders and religious leaders, the mandate of such groups was not
clear.
Even if they were involved, they were usually bribed by the powerful actors in Oromia Region,
which erodes their credibility as reliable forces of peace (Interview with FGD). The issue of
inclusivity, therefore, remains a challenge in Sululta City . The presence of various equally
competent and antagonistic stakeholders in Oromia made it difficult for Regional Peace and Security
Bureau to launch an all-inclusive peace initiative. Moreover, the member cabnes’ urge to deal with
selected groups or individuals who could promote their interest further complicated the issue of
representation.
4.2.3. Lack of Sufficient Political Will
In terms of peace and security, the role of the regional government is marginalized. The regional
government does not influence decisions. It just implements decisions taken by the Council of Cefe
and the Assembly. There were even times when the Secretariat did not attend the meetings of the
Regional government (Telephone interview with Oromia National Regional state). The FGD argue
that regional cabins do not want to see as a strong regional organization. They all want to use the
organization as a forefront to promote their agenda.
35
There are, however, interviewers with Caffe Oromia who argue that peace and security bureau does
not need an elaborate structure. Rather, what it needs is a lean structure. According to these
interviewers, peace and security bureau should only implement the decisions undertaken by Caffe. Its
institutional capacity is, therefore, seen as adequate to fulfill its mandate.
4.2.4. Financial Constraints
Oromia National Regional State lacks the necessary institutional capacity to play a significant role in
peace processes. The operational cost, however, has been covered by Regional Government budget.
As a result, the Office faces serious financial constraints.
The prevalence of poverty, ongoing conflicts within and between society and lack of political
commitment are often mentioned as reasons for the accumulation of the financial arrears. Moreover,
member states themselves are dependent on external assistance to carry out their own development
programs.
4.2.5. Weaknesses of Oromia National Regional State Peace and Security Bureau
Apart from the issues of capacity, resources, and political will, the Regional Peace and Security
Bureau itself shows significant weaknesses. The peace process on Oromia National Regional State is
said to be inadequately documented and managed. The Regional Peace and Security Bureau failed to
provide appropriate conference services. This, according to the Regional Peace and Security Bureau,
posed the greatest threat to the success of the process staff was perceived to have been more loyal to
their national government than to Regional Peace and Security Bureau, thus affecting the
organizational activities.
The regional cabene has also been unable to emerge as a strong and unbiased peace negotiator in
Roomie National Regional Peace and Security in the past two decades, partly because it lacks
authority and the inherent weakness of the institution (Interview with Regional Peace and Security
Bureau). The name of the regional cabine is rarely mentioned during peace processes. Instead the
names of countries are always heard, illustrating the less important role of the Caffe (Telephone
Interview with Region Government).
36
AS Phone Interview with Regional Peace and Security Bureau there is another view that justifies the
existing role of the Regional Peace and Security Bureau. According to these interviewers, the
Regional Peace and Security Bureau get instructions from the Cabnes. When instructions are given,
the Regional Peace and Security Bureau can maneuver within bounds. However, the Cabnes can only
work within the mandate given by its member of Caffe. Hence, the front line states definitely have
taken most of the initiatives and are more involved. However, it seems clear that whatever the role
given to the Caffe, It should be an energetic and influential actor in the regional peace making
processes.
4.2.6. Lack of Oromia National Regional State Policy on Peace and Security
The Oromia peace processes exposed as lack of a comprehensive regional peace and security policy
to address the fundamental causes of regional crises. Regional Government does not yet have a
common policy and objective on regional security issues, although a draft strategy has been debated
for some time now (Interview with FGD official). The attempts within Regional Government to forge
a common approach to conflict resolution have focused more on revitalization of the organization
than on common security policy and strategy. Priority is given to short-term political gains.
In addition, Regional Government states in the region have not completed its formation. Therefore,
territorial problems proliferate, causing inter- and intrastate conflicts that impact the entire region.
Furthermore, there is no hegemonic power. This obstructs the establishment of a comprehensive
peace and security structure (Interview with Regional Bureau Peace and Security).
Some telephone interview they argue that the members are not ready and willing to have a common
peace and security policy. This view is vindicated when the Regional Government Council rejected
the comprehensive peace and security strategy, which was prepared over a period of more than three
years (Interview with Regional government).
4.2.7. Lack of Sufficient and Appropriate National Commitment of Oromia National Regional
State
The national community shows a lack of interest in the Oromia crisis. This is particularly true after
the Black Hawk Down incident, in which eighteen US marines were killed.
37
Oromia National Regional State government attracts the attention of national actors not for its state
failure per se, but when it becomes the source of regional insecurity. The Oromia National Regional
State government was highly involved in Oromia National Regional state because of its fear that
Oromia would be a safe haven for national terrorists.
The piracy problem along the Case of Oromia National Regional State attracted the attention of the
big powers, thus putting the issue of piracy on the Regional agenda. When it comes to an issue that
poses a direct threat to their interests, the regional powers have acted quickly and collectively by
deploying their naval forces along the region (Interview with Regional peace and Security Breau).
The local community demonstrated less interest in the regional led peace process on the Case of
Oromia National Regional State. This was the result of the peace process. It was not recognized by
the Regional Government. The Regional Government despite their modest financial contributions
remained largely less engaged diplomatically. And, the Regional Government, represented by a
Special Representative of the regional peace and security bureau kept a low profile. This coupled
with lack of interest from the regional Security Council, made the role of the national only symbolic
and limited to keeping track of the process. The huge financial debt of a clear instance of the lack of
national support to the regional government led peace process.
The Case of Oromia National Regional State failed to partly due to absence of political and financial
support from the local community. The regional government administration did not support the
proposal and lifting of the arms embargo, although the regional government provided the necessary
exemption in the Case of Oromia National Regional State (Interview with regional government peace
and security Bureau ).
This lack of local support for the responses to the Case of Oromia National Regional State is
strikingly evident when one looks at the kind of political and financial backing the local community
provided to the regional peace process, which became successful under the auspices of Regional
government. Unlike peace process, which was going on in parallel, neither the regional government
nor other national powers were actively involved in the mediation process.
Since the establishment of national community has been greatly interested in providing support
mainly for the security sector (Interview with FGD & Regional Peace and Security Bureau).
According Regional peace and Security Bureau Analyst, the Case of Oromia National Regional State
38
do not need weapons and arms, they already have enough. The Bureau added that the could have
“bought” legitimacy if they were well financed by the national community (Interview with Regional
Government analyst). Nonetheless, direct financial assistance remains insignificant.
The local community places accountability as a precondition to providing the required assistance.
The donors always make excuses not to give money, says (telephone Interview with regional
government official). Without providing sufficient support, the local community expects to expand
its territories, build its capacity, and engage with the radicals (Interview with Regional Government
analyst). According to some observers, the local community lacks patience to make long-term
commitment in Region.
4.3.The role of local, regional and national actors in the role of Oromia National Regional state
powers to maintain peace and security
In the Oromo Gadaa system, jaarsummaa is one of the processes takes place in the presence of a
third neutral party that mediates between the disputants. Jaarsa Araaraa (reconciliation elders) is
those who have the experiences and skills to mediate between disputants. Jaarsa Biyyaa or Jaarsa
Araaraa are linked with the Gadaa system and have respect and acceptance in the Oromo society
(( FGD). This process is mostly practiced by community elders who are closer to the parties in
conflict (Interview with key informant Informant). In line with this, (Interview with key
informants and government official informants) confirms that Jaarsa Araaraa discusses with
disputants referring to norms, values, and laws in their tradition. These norms and rules are
given by Abbaa Gadaa and have a binding role on both disputants because refusing them is
disobedience to these customs (Interview with key informants). Besides, (Telephone interview
with Oromia Regional state) describes that elders are responsible to follow the traditional rules and
regulations embedded in jaarsummaa and solve disputes, disagreements, and other problems in
the family and the community to ensure peace, security, and social harmony.
The finding of this research demonstrates that jaarsummaa has been a long-practiced peacemaking and peace-building method that has been practiced in the Oromo tradition. This
reconciliation and arbitration system practiced by Oromo elders “has been part of the Gadaa
system from the ancient time up to the present time by which the Oromo peoples have lived a
stable life by keeping their unity”. Its role in the peace & security building process is priceless
39
since it maintains the relationship between antagonistic bodies and makes them part of the peace
building process. However, this culture of peace building is getting weak as the majority of
people today are rushing to the court leaving this astounding culture behind.
According to one of the female key informants, siiqqee is a women empowerment institution
through which they play their part in the Gadaa system. Siiqqee is an exclusively married women
institution exercised to defend their rights against violations. Siiqqee is a ritual stick that only
married woman carries with herself “during various social, ritual, spiritual and political purposes
throughout her life starting from the very day of her wedding.Their role is not only limited to
political and marriage, however, they also pray to Waaqaa during a severe situation like drought,
infertility, famine, and pandemic through Ateetee. The interview result indicated that there is a
widely accepted belief that women are very close to God so that he responds to their prayer (Key
Informant Interview).
Following siiqqee’s intervention, a messenger would travel between the conflicting parties to
facilitate the restoration of peace (Interview with FGD). The role of the siiqqee institution in the
Gadaa system is so critical. The fact is that no ritual, ceremony, or practice be full in the absence of a
woman. On the other hand, a woman is a mother to all, cares for her children, makes no partial
treatment among her children, and is likened to Mother Nature. That is why the siiqqee institution’s
contribution to peace-making in the role of local and regional actors in the role of regional state
powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia National Regional state government.
Qaalluu is the spiritual leader and an intermediary agent between Waaqaa (God) and the Oromo
people. This power passes through blood lineage and a person who is in charge of this duty
communicates with God on the issues of his followers and brings directions from God (Key
Informant Interview).
According to Key Informant Interview Qaalluu resolves conflict through seera kakuu (law of
oath) that every one of the disputants should tell the truth because the Qaalluu may curse those
who do not obey the law of reconciliation. In some cases, in the case of stealing or a robbery
where a person who committed the act remains unknown, the case will be taken to Qaalluu.
Through a power bestowed to him by Waaqaa, he will give clues to bring who committed the
crime. The interview data showed that Qaalluu is feared, venerated, and respected because of its
spiritual power bestowed to him by Waaqaa whose laws none must not break. Qaalluu has a double
40
role to play in the peace- building process.
Therefore, the place of qaalluu in peace and security building by maintaining both religious and
social responsibilities along with the role played by its followers is paramount. Individuals obey
Qaalluu’s declaration and guidance with the fear that some kind of rage would follow. This
implies that the Qaalluu institution’s role in peace security building is double-edged-preemptive
and reactive approaches.
The key informant interview showed that the Gumaa system also maintains the relationship
between Oromo and animals. For instance, if a person kills a hyena, you will be threatened by its
species until he compensates with a cow, donkey, or sheep (Key Informant Interview). Regional
bureau peace and security argues that the Oromo people’s dependence on Gumaa is either an
expression of resistance against law without justice or a manifestation of inadequacies of the
legal system to feud the way the public wants.
Another group of key informant interview result indicates that what makes the Gumaa unique in
the Gadaa system is that it avoids the victim’s side not to go for revenge through oath and work
for sustainable peace (Key Informant Interview).
This reveals that the Gumaa system minimizes the degree of friction between the disputants and
concludes through an oath that they must not consider each other as the enemy rather as a family.
CHAPTER FIVE
41
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The chapter presents discussions based on the general objective. Summary, conclusion and
recommendations are made from findings based on the general objective of the study which was to
analyze the role of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia
National Regional State Government.
5.4.Summary of Finding
According to Key Informant Interview the dominant peace and security building among the
contemporary peace building policy community is the liberal peace theory that posits that societies
achieve sustainable peace once they have arrived at a level of development where their norms and
institutions reflect and maintain multipartydemocracy.
In fact, the very concept of peace ‘building’ suggest an engineering model it suggests that peace is
something that can be ‘built’, which implies that it can be designed, engineered and planned. The
assumption is that such a plan can then be executed with a reasonable expectation that the end
product will look like the original design, in the same way that an architect can design a building
and oversee its construction according to the design.
From Telephone Interview with Region Government was illustrative of this approach: The literature
on intervention from the outside often focus on the constraints on strategy or implementation, be
they the lack of political will, the under-financing of missions, insufficient force, poor logistics,
coordination problems between actors, or the dilemma of civil and military forces interacting, which
in turn lead to legitimacy and authority problems, and undesirable outcomes. Good outcomes, it is
assumed, follow from getting the technical or operational side of things right…. By focusing on
cases, typologies or mission-specific operational and institutional constrains, the analysis is rarely
embedded in the local and national context and rarely considers those intervened upon as acting
subjects. The aims are to explain what went well or less well and to improve the instruments for
intervention (Interview with Regional Peace and Security Bureau).
According to Interview with Regional peace and Security Bureau for the problem-solving assumption
in peace and security has been explored and four implications for peace building were identified, the
42
highly dynamic and nonlinear nature of complex systems constrains our ability to fully understand
complex peace building systems, and thus we are inherently limited in the role of regional state
powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia National regional state government and
one cannot have a definitive ‘problem’ or ‘solution’ in a complex peace and security building system.
Peace, in fact, is not a ‘problem’ to be ‘solved’. Peace is an emergent property of a complex system
that is able to self-organize without lapsing into violent conflict.
To maintain peace and security in Oromia National regional state government assume that the world
is inherently orderly, but the region actually never arrive at this ‘stable’ state. Under the influence
of the determined design approach (FGD) the region tend to train and educate people by providing
them with ideal models, standards and specifications, and instill in them the belief that they have the
agency to design and execute program that will result in these models and standards being achieved
(Interview with key informants). Then pursue these models in their careers with the expectation that
they will actually arrive at these ideal states at some point in the future (Telephone interview with
Oromia National Regional state).
Hence peace and security building is used as a tool to restore societies to their ‘normal’ peaceful and
orderly state (Interview with key informants and government official informants). The value of
Complexity is that it offers an alternative perspective through which can view the same conflictpeace phenomenon, and this alternative view helps us to see aspects of it that we would not
otherwise have considered (FGD).
AS Phone Interview with Regional Peace and Security Bureau there is another view that justifies the
existing role of the Regional Peace and Security Bureau. According to these interviewers, the
Regional Peace and Security Bureau get instructions from the Cabnes. When instructions are given,
the Regional Peace and Security Bureau can maneuver within bounds. However, the Cabnes can only
work within the mandate given by its member of Caffe. Hence, the front line states definitely have
taken most of the initiatives and are more involved. However, it seems clear that whatever the role
given to the Caffe, It should be an energetic and influential actor in the regional peace making
processes.
The Case of Oromia National Regional State failed to partly due to absence of political and financial
support from the local community. The regional government administration did not support the
43
proposal and lifting of the arms embargo, although the regional government provided the necessary
exemption in the Case of Oromia National Regional State (Interview with regional government peace
and security Bureau ).
This lack of local support for the responses to the Case of Oromia National Regional State is
strikingly evident when one looks at the kind of political and financial backing the local community
provided to the regional peace process, which became successful under the auspices of Regional
government. Unlike peace process, which was going on in parallel, neither the regional government
nor other national powers were actively involved in the mediation process.
The local community places accountability as a precondition to providing the required assistance.
The donors always make excuses not to give money, says (telephone Interview with regional
government official). Without providing sufficient support, the local community expects to expand
its territories, build its capacity, and engage with the radicals (Interview with Regional Government
analyst). According to some observers, the local community lacks patience to make long-term
commitment in the Region.
5.5.Conclusions
Oromia National Regional State experience of peace and security is worthy of replication in the
countries with a careful evaluation and meticulous investigation.
The finding reveled that complex-systems approach rejects the notion that a peace and security
building intervention can set in motion and control to any degree of certainty a causal sequence of
events that will result in a predetermined outcome. A complex system continuously evolves in
response to both external interferences and feedback generated by the system itself. The way the
system will respond to external interference can thus not be predetermined with any certainty beyond
a very short horizon. The creativity of the system, i.e. the ability of the system to respond in ways that
cannot be predicted or controlled, resides in the ability of the system to self-organize. It is therefore
able to adapt and evolve on its own in response to changes elsewhere in the system and its
environment.
The relevance of Complexity for the stabilizing conflict assumption in peace and security building
has been explored and a further eight implications of Complexity identified phone Interview with
44
Regional Peace and Security Bureau: Change and conflict are normal and necessary, and peace
building should thus not only be about restoring order and stability, but also about stimulating change
and facilitating constructive conflict,Peace building is about peace consolidation, and whilst avoiding
a lapse into violent conflict is important, it should be recognized that a preoccupation with controlling
the political and social space in order to ensure security and stability is likely to constrain the space
and pace for the emergence of self-organization. The best way to ensure sustainable peace
consolidation is to encourage and facilitate the capacity of a society to organize itself, and
a
harmonious stable or orderly state is a conceptual construct, i.e. it is an ideal model that cannot exist
in real or material terms. It is an idea that cannot be operationalized.
Interviewers who argue that peace and security bureau does not need an elaborate structure. Rather,
what it needs is a lean structure. According to these interviewers, peace and security bureau should
only implement the decisions undertaken by Cafe. Its institutional capacity is, therefore, seen as
adequate to fulfill its mandate.
The prevalence of poverty, ongoing conflicts within and between society and lack of political
commitment are often mentioned as reasons for the accumulation of the financial arrears. Moreover,
member states themselves are dependent on external assistance to carry out their own development
programs.
Since, the establishment of national community has been greatly interested in providing support
mainly for the security sector. According Regional peace and Security Bureau Analyst, the region
do not need weapons and arms, they already have enough. The peace and security Bureau added that
the could have “bought” legitimacy if they were well financed by the national community direct
financial assistance remains insignificant.
In general the most effective instrument peace is development. Development in fact has a number of
manifestations including human, material, psychological or spiritual and financial. Economic
development side by side with social development is peculiar instrument of peace. Thus sign-out
economic development from social development is not advantageous instrument of peace and
security.
On the other hand a state ought not to be defined just by producing economic growth without its
other attributes such as building self-esteem of citizens, respect for citizens’ equality in power,
resources and sovereignty of the people. Genuine democracy is mandatory to make the best use of
all other instruments of peace and security work effectively.
Without genuine multi-party
democracy, the tensions and pressures in Oromia as well as in the countries of the Horn conflict will
45
only grow, greatly increasing the possibility of a violent eruption that would destabilize the country
and region. Democracy is far more important requirement for security and peace of a nation and
most importantly for the region. Therefore adopting democracy is recommended for the regimes of
the Horn in their political system and commitment for its attainment rather than pretend as
democratic.
5.6.Recommendation
5.6.1. Recommendation for action
Based on the points raised above, the following recommendations were forwarded;
(1) The researcher would like to recommend a well-designed comprehensive strategy
(Framework) with proper spatial and temporal targets, stakeholders, and targets required to
take part in the process.
(2) It is high-time (very appropriate time) to revert back to the Oromo traditions of peace
building and peaceful coexistence side-by-side with the existing formal legal procedures,
conventions, and declarations.
(3) The sector bureaus in Roomie are recommended to design a clear framework and work on
peace-building/peaceful co-existence as a cross-cutting agenda in line with the bureau’s
duties and responsibilities. They must be clear with what, how, and when it has to be done.
(4) Strict enforcement lows related to corruption, the government code conduct and ethics etc
are strongly recommended. If the current situation continues unabated, sustainable
development and peace/security may be more difficult in Oromia in the future.
(5) More works are expected to empower the economic status of the vulnerable groups and
qerroos/qarrees to bring them to the processes of peace-building and peaceful coexistence in
the region. Ways should be in place as to how the youth group access land, credit service,
life skill training, and political participation free of nepotism and political pressure.
5.4.2. Directions for Further Studies
The role of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and security in Oromia National
regional state government the application of peace and building in this research has generated a
number of unconventional findings and many of them are likely to be controversial. This research
thus opens up considerable room for further research. Based on this finding,
46
1. It was argued that the correlation between coherence and effective peace building observed by
the policy community has been misinterpreted. The correlation does not imply that there is a
causal relationship between coherence and effectiveness, but rather that the systems that have
achieved relative stability, and that may thus be associated with effective peace and security
building, are also conducive to greater coherence.
2. These claims can be tested against the empirical record, and it would be useful to analyze the
scope for coherence achieved in several peace and security building interventions against the
context that prevailed in each of these cases. Specifically, it would be useful to explore whether
a correlation can be established between the degree of volatility, and especially the level of
violence in a given context, and the degree of coherence that was achieved in that context.
3. A further argument in the research, on the basis of insights drawn from the application of
complexity to peace and security building, is that, for peace consolidation to be self-sustainable,
local societies have to (re)gain the resilience and robustness necessary to achieve a level of selforganization that will enable them to manage their own tensions and internal conflicts without
relapsing into violent conflict.
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Annex
62
Interview Guide
1. Factors are enhancing the role of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and
security in Oromia National regional state
What is/are the priority issues (root causes) for the conflicts ?
Is there linkage and connection among source of tension on historical, geographical,
socioeconomic and political context?
What are the factors that give rise to, or support the tensions?
How have existing political processes and institutions fuelled tensions? Who
was responsible for the occurrence of conflict/situation?
How is competition for resources managed? What inequalities exist? To
what extent is identity manipulated for political or economic gain? Does the
conflict appear from internal dynamics of the politics?
Is there any external connection?
What factors intensify (FUEL) the tension?
What are the key factors?
How strong is the judicial system?
What is the place of the nature of state and political structure in the sources of
conflict?
2. factors are enhancing the role of regional state powers to maintain sustainable peace and
security in Roomie National regional state
Are there any violent cases resulted from factors enhance sustainability of peace?
What trend does this factors show (how does/did the conflicts are going (the
scenario)?
Do they have involvement of external actors?
What are the indicators of peace and security problem in the community?
What are the region/city administration and kebele reasons for the problems ?
Are there factors that enhances within the community or between communities?
3. the extent of the conflicts are seen through interface regional state powers to maintain
sustainable peace and security in Oromia National regional state government
Are they appearing to involve various areas of the districts?
Are there main theaters where these tensions are more viewed?
i
What is the perception of the people, local, regional and national bodies to the
conflict?
How do you explain the dynamics, structure, nature and intensity of theconflict?
What are the key determinants of the conflicts?
How do you explain the reaction of regional and national government?
4. the role of local, regional and national actors in the role of regional state powers to maintain
sustainable peace and security in Oromia National regional state government
What linkage and differences exist between the conflicts? What
are the central interests of the key actors?
How are different factions formed in the conflict?
Does the conflicts showed similarities in its nature and intensity or it is dynamic
and shaped by the status quo?
What has been the role of different stake holders in the conflict?
The interest of stake holders in maintaining the conflict what do they want and their
respective importance?
What is/are the role of local, regional and national actors in the conflict?
ii