Earlier on this is worded as ‘Prevent and resolve disputes sustainably on the basis of pastoral community’s custom and knowledge’ (p.32).

This sectoral strategy is justified on the basis of the following premises:

1. ‘indigenous knowledge and customary management practices in pastoral areas have not been recognized and as [a] result they are weakened’;
2. ‘there has not been activity towards mobilizing the community to participate in development activities’;
3. ‘activities in identifying causes of conflict and prevention have also not been done satisfactorily’;
4. ‘it has not been possible to coordinate the customary management with the formal government administration and solve disputes and conflicts in pastoral areas sustainably and create a conducive environment for development and good governance’;
5. ‘ensuring sustainable and reliable peace in pastoral areas is one of the key issues that is dealt with in the pastoral policy’;
6. ‘pastoral areas are wide and open and pastoralists are moving in this vast land from place to place under the customary administration system’;
7. ‘rangelands are taken for various purposes. This creates discontent in resource utilization and due to other additional causes, conflict has been ensued between pastoralists and local and neighboring communities’.

The strategy is described as designed to act on these premises in the following directions:

1. ‘strengthening the customary administration; and conduct continuous consultative meetings on peace at all levels’;
2. strengthening ‘peace forums at schools and higher education institutions’;
3. establishing and strengthening ‘conflict related pre-warning and quick response systems and coordinate with government administrations to abort disputes before they are transformed into conflict’;
4. identifying and resolving ‘potential dispute areas … to strengthen people to people cooperation’;
5. studying ‘the way disputes have been resolved in pastoral areas and neighboring woredas and kebeles’, analyzing and correcting mistakes so that such ‘experiences could be adopted for the future’;
6. strengthening ‘the attitude of settling disputes under the law’;
7. conducting ‘activities that focus on the culture of peace building’;
8. ‘customary institutions shall be given roles in preventing and settling disputes’ (p.76);
9. establishing ‘land administration and land use systems … to solve conflicts sustainably in pastoral areas which most of the times is caused by shortage of grazing lands and water. It would be important to recognize communal land holdings which ensure access to resources’ (p.76).

COMMENTARY

Recognizing the communal land-holding system. The description of this sectoral strategy starts by acknowledging that ‘indigenous knowledge and customary management practices in pastoral areas have not been recognized and as result they are weakened’ (p.75). Amongst these customary management practices are the systems of communal land holding that are functional to the productivity and sustainability of pastoralism. Indeed, elsewhere the policy acknowledges that ‘the livelihood of the people [in pastoral systems] depends on their resilient social/communal customary organization and administration; and the equilibrium between their natural environment and livestock resources’ (p.15), and that ‘undermining and failure to recognize customary and communal management systems by government has resulted in degradation of natural resources and decrease in productivity that exposed pastoralists to conflict and other problems’ (p.16). Therefore, it is crucial that amongst the measures this sectoral strategy intends to take is ‘recogniz[ing] communal land holdings which ensure access to resources’ (p.76). Although this is claimed in the description of the strategy, this appears to have been overlooked in its implementation activities. Thus, recognizing the communal system of land holding to ensure that pastoral systems can access key resources in the way and at the time they need would seem to require a central place at the level of regional states. And this is not only in connection with conflict management and prevention but also for completing and adapting other land-related policy sections, especially under Policy Issue 1 (Strategy 1.2, Implementation Activities [c] and [d]; Strategy 1.3, Implementation Activities [a] and [i]; and Strategy 1.4, Implementation Activity [a]) and under Policy Issue 2 (Strategy 2.3, Implementation Activities [a] and [f]; and Strategy 2.4, Implementation Activities [c] and [d]).

a. Establish a system that enables pastoralists to solve disagreements peacefully and on their own on the basis of pastoral woreda customary rangeland management; and by strengthening customary dispute settlement mechanisms and community peace organizational structures and procedures (p.77) »