The Negative Impact of Ethiopian and Sudanese Civil Wars on the Anyuak by O'Kono

The impact of warfare on the Anyuak/Anywaa of the Ethiopian-Sudanese was enormous. The over 30 years of civil wars and famine have devastated the Anywaa country and traditional institutions. The Anywaa traditional way of life was completely interrupted by the Ethiopian civil war and South-North Sudanese civil war. Those phenomena have resulted in major implications on the Anywaa people who live between the two countries. This paper focuses on Ethiopian regime known as Dreg from 1974-1991 revolution negative and positive impact on the Anywaa people and Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) from 1983-1991 human rights abuses of the Anyuak and environmental degradation.  The focus of the paper is to partially examine the negative effect of forced military conscription “quota” system, the conflict between refugee and host community.   

Phenomenological Theory

The impact of warfare on the Anyuak/Anywaa of Ethiopia-Sudan in this paper can mostly be understood through the phenomenological theory. I once lived and experienced the situations which I discussed in this paper. I came to realization that it’s time to tell the story which I once lived and suffer from. I feel obligated to document the phenomena and share it with interested readers, community members who have once experience the same situations. The younger generations too need to know this information.  Merleau-Ponty (1956) stated that in a phenomenology, the researcher transcends or suspends past knowledge and experience to understand a phenomenon at a deeper level. It’s an effort to approach a lived experience with a sense of newness to elicit rich and descriptive data (Merleau-Ponty, 1956). Although this paper is about recollection of past memory instead of conducting actual qualitative research, I still believe that conceptualizing it through phenomenological lenses is the best way.

Mengistu Haile Mariam  

When the Dreg under the leadership of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam regime took power in 1974 from Emperor Haile Selassie, he inherited a civil war that has been engulfing the northernmost region of Ethiopia presently a country of Eritrea. In the same year Mengistu came to power, another northern region of Tigray formed a liberation front and started waging guerrilla warfare against the Mengistu regime. Mengistu government embroiled by two civil wars. He did not have enough military power to encounter those two fronts. Three years later Somalia invaded part of Ethiopia with intention to march to the Ethiopia’s Capital Addis Ababa. However, Somalian forces experienced a surprised and humiliated defeat in the hands of Ethiopian armed forces backed by Cuban elite forces. The civil war from north continued with high intensity. Therefore, Mengistu regime had to search for methods to win the war in the northern two regions. The military was encountering fatigue and exhaustion from the fierce battle. The numbers of new recruits were presumed fewer than expected. Thus, he had to start conscription.

Origin of Forced Conscription

As a consequence of unwinnable wars, Mengistu or Dreg regime had to look for other options to increase the numbers of new recruits. He first, introduced voluntary national service but it failed to work. Then he introduced forced conscription in order to boost military power hopefully to the defeat the enemies. This is where the Anywaa land of Gambella Region became a coffer for forced conscription.

Ethiopia is not the only country in the world that had once practiced conscription during wartime or at the time of peace. There are many other countries who practice conscription. Thomas W. Ross (1994) studied 78 countries 55% of which have conscription by 1983. During that time United States and Sudan were relying mainly on volunteers but Germany and France were using conscription. United States applied conscription policy post WWII. However, the United States and Australia ended conscription in 1970s following the footstep of the United Kingdoms. On the opposite hand, Zimbabwe started conscription in early 1980s. In Europe though, conscription was not that at large scale but it was during French Revolution in the 18th Century and WWI.

Ross main thesis was to conceptualize relative cost of the two practices voluntary vs conscription which differ from one country to another. Feedings, arming, and sheltering soldiers are another major cost that determine sustainable army. None the less, Ethiopian government at the time had sustainability problem of the conscripted army, low moral and high ineffectiveness.

The Dreg government introduced conscription at height of the civil war because the military was stretched so thinned and overwhelmed by the war. Military members were deserting their posts in high numbers. Those who were given leave do not go back. Volunteers were few and cannot find enough to join the army so the only solution was forced conscription. Military lost moral. It was brother killing brother and the outcome was far from understanding. Interestingly, the military moral was so high during Ethiopian-Somali war but not the civil war. They became ineffective unlike that past participation Ethiopian military had in wars against Somalia invasion. They were losing in most battles so because of that frustration grew out of proportion. The rebels had their hands in the government armed forces as well as security apparatus. Because their fellow tribesmen were holder of high ranking positions in the government.

The worse part of the forced conscription took place in the Gambella region of the Anyuak land. When conscription law was enacted by the Dreg, it supposed to follow certain criteria at a time of seizures or detention of potential recruits. Recruits supposed to be between the ages of 18-40, at least at a level they can read and write in the national language, healthy, is a citizen of the country among other. Surprisingly, none of the above criteria were followed in the Gambella region.

In Gambella underage men, old, illiterates, unhealthy were captured and sent to the north. People were captured in farms, in classrooms, on roads, markets, restaurants, at wedding you named it. Some parents lost more than one children who have never returned home. It was a terribly bad. Forced conscription went on for about 4-5 years until the government was toppled by the rebels. During these years, school age left  schools and Gambella only high school was deserted for gold mining places in order to avoid conscription. Schools were deserted left only those under the age of 13 and girls.

The quota system made conscription policy worse in regions with less populations like Gambella. During that time the government required that each region contribute equal number unfortunately Gambella population was way below half a million and the Anyuak were the only target since the other Gambella natives like Majang, Komo, and Opo were treated as uncivilized, too primitive to recruit. Nuer people who claimed to be the majority in the Gambella region today were in refugee camps in 1980s with Sudanese status so they cannot be conscripted. Each year more men from Anywaa Community of Gambella region were conscripted and sent to front-line than any other region. It got depleted.

The impact of forced conscription on Anywaa community to this day is quite palpable. It resulted in high illiteracy rate, alcoholism, economic crisis among other. Numbers of youth fled the country to avoid conscription.  

Dreg intention was to recruit highest military it can in order to overwhelm the enemy. Mengistu mixed Ethiopian traditional doctrines of massed armies with that of Soviet belief in the power of number (International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1988-1989). The numbers of armed forces during that time reached to 400,000 with aimed to conquer territory meter by meter, mile by mile sort of speaking.  It was compared to the Somme and the North Koreans. Foot soldiers were regarded as expendable: Mengistu believed that with forty million Ethiopian (as against 6 million Somalis and 3 million Eritreans) he had demography on his side. (History proved otherwise.) The aim was to control territory, not to win the willing support of the people (International Institute for Strategic Studies. The Military Balance 1988-89, London, Brassey’s, 1988; 1992 edition as well.)  

Forced conscription had also contributed to low population because when the Anyuak men left villages for gold mining they left women behind. Many women became single mothers and numbers of children were born fatherless. Food shortages became a part of live since able to farm men were not at home. It was a terrible misery of the highest.

Conclusion

Inclusion, the Anyuak people had contributed a lot of good things in the Ethiopian civil war unfortunately they were not appreciated or rewarded for their good deed. Instead they were abused even forced to exile. Ethiopian government failed to live up her obligation to protect her citizens from gross human rights abuses in the hands of refugees.

References

Perner, C. (1993). “The reward of life is death’: warfare and the Anyuak of the Ethiopian-

Sudanese border.” Nomadic Peoples, 32, 39-54.

International Institute for Strategic Studies, The military balance 1988-1989, London, Brassey’s,

1988.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1956). What is phenomenology? Cross Currents, 6, 59-70.

Ross, T. W. (1994). Raising an army: A positive theory of military recruitment. Journal of Law

and Economics, 1, 109-131.