by Staff Writer
The Somali community from the town of Garbo-Isse in western Sitti Region on the road between Ethiopia and Djibouti woke up to an attack by Afar militia on the morning of 25th July. Somalis have long been contested by the Afars in the areas of Andhuufa, Adheeyti, Garbo-Isse among other towns and villages. This attack has seen sacking of the town, murder, looting and pillaging on a mass scale.
The tide of war has since changed with volunteers all across Sitti Region joining in the recapturing of Garbo-Isse and vowing to march onto their lands. It is important to mention that the Afar have newly allied with the ousted and embattled tplf junta, which has ruled for decades either directly or indirectly large swathes of the Horn of Africa albeit violently. The region under attack is inhabited predominantly by Isse clan of Somalis, who run most of the Djibouti mainland affairs.
The Somali Regional Administration was rather unresponsive and unavailable to come to the aid of besieged and displaced people of Garbo-Isse announcing it would protect the Somali people living in the area and its environs. The residents protested the inability and unwillingness of both Ethiopian and local administrations in coming to their defense, until they had to take up arms and fight the invading militia.
Ethiopia as a country of 117 Million has a diverse pool of people mostly kept together by sheer violence and heavy handed tactics, this is proving harder since at the moment the country is embroiled in a bitter communal struggle; Amhara strongly backing the central Ethiopian state against rebel group Tigray, Oromo fighting the Ethiopian state, Afar fighting Somalis- hard to explain who isn’t fighting who!
It all started in last March with repeated conflict ongoing between the two peoples (Somalis and Afars) due to disagreements over land claims, the situation was considerably worsened by the Ethiopian Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) which stated that eight villages along the border shall not be polling stations by moving voters residents to cast their ballots in nearby villages. The decision by the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) was vehemently rejected by the Somali Regional Administration, writing a protest letter stating “they will never accept the gifting of Somali lands to other peoples” while the Afar welcomed this move- proving true the Solomonic wisdom that “whoever truly owns something would not advocate for its dismemberment.”
