We don’t chat. We are too hungry. If someone comes we just say, “Where did you come from?” and they just say “I came from Mi” [the plains east of the Omo].  And then they go off. That’s all. The big rains haven’t come for three years.  And now, when we come here to the Omo, there’s no water – where did it go?’ 

Linasi, a Mursi man, 28 December 2009

Reports of a very serious food shortage continue to come from northern Mursiland. The Omo flood last year (August 2009) was exceptionally low, so low that many local people  are answering Linasi’s question by pointing to the hydro-electric dam, known as Gibe III,  which is under construction in the upper Omo Basin.  Whatever the real explanation - and low rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands must be an important part of it - the result has been that large areas of riverside land have not been cultivated this year because the flood waters did not reach them. 

Such places as Kuduma, Alaka and Golati which, in  normal years, produce good crops of sorghum and maize in January and February, now lie overgrown and virtually abandoned. Children are showing unmistakable signs of malnutrition “Now the stomachs of our children are swollen’ said one man. ‘Some sorghum has just ripened, but when they eat it their stomachs do not become normal again. They have diarrhoea. Will they recover or die? We don’t know.’

Other groups who depend on the flood, living along the Omo all the way down to Lake Turkana (Bodi, Kwegu, Nyangatom, Muguji, Kara and Daasanach), have been at least as badly affected. Those with no cattle to exchange for grain with highland traders, have been the hardest hit. This applies to the Kwegu, who live mainly by fishing and cultivation and amongst whom six people, including two children, are said to have died of starvation in recent months. 

With virtually no harvest this year at the Omo, the Mursi have now experienced three successive crop failures. According to local reports, the relief food delivered so far, although obviously welcome, has been far from adequate. All the signs are that,  unless these supplies can be stepped up considerably, the Mursi and their neighbours will face a famine of catastrophic proportions over the next six months.


David Turton
23 February 2010

According to information recently received from Mursiland, the people of the Lower Omo are amongst those who have been badly affected  by these events and prospects for the next harvest, due in January/February, are extremely poor.

The main rains this year (March/April) lasted only about three and a half weeks in Mursiland and the crops were destroyed by drought. Those who have cattle are selling them in the nearest town, Jinka, to obtain grain. Jinka is about one and a half days walk from northern Mursiland and three days from southern Mursiland.  Traders are also taking grain to the Mursi to exchange it for cattle.

The price of a large ox has more than halved over the last six months, falling from around 240 USD (3000 Birr) to around 112 USD (1,400 Birr). The cost of 100 kg. of maize is now between 28 and 32 USD (350 to 400Birr).

Approximately one month ago, a very welcome delivery of relief food, totaling 26,500 kg. of wheat, was delivered by the government to three locations in northern Mursiland (Maganto, Dargush and Mirolu) which are accessible by truck. ‘Large’ families received 200 kg. and ‘small’ families received 100 kg.

According to Mursi tradition and custom, however, those families which received grain have been obliged to share it with relatives and friends from other parts of Mursiland which the food distribution could not reach.  Total relief grain distributed so far to the Mursi amounts, at most, to 4kg. per head of population.

The Omo flood level this year was unusually low - so low that the cultivation plots of many people received no flood water at all. These people will not be able to plant and the overall size of the next flood-retreat harvest, due in February, will therefore be much smaller than usual.The next rain-fed harvest is not due until June 2010.

Other groups in the Lower Omo who are at least as badly affected as the Mursi include the Bodi, Surma, Kwegu, Nyangatom, Muguji and Kara. One report suggests that, amongst the Surma, many people have only wild leaves to eat and another that symptoms of severe malnutrition (kwashiorkor), have been observed amongst Nyangatom.

David Turton

5 November 2009

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Chinese loan for the Gibe III hydroelectric dam

_{Last modified 1 June 2011}

7th December 2007
Summary

African Parks Network has decided to terminate its management activities in Nech Sar National Park and Omo National Park in Southern Ethiopia. Both parks face considerable challenges arising from the unsustainable use by one or more ethnic groups, often in competition and conflict with each other. In order for a sustainable solution to be achieved, formal agreements on the limits of resource utilisation need to be discussed and agreed with the various ethnic groups, paving the way for a land use plan recognised and respected by all stakeholders. African Parks attempted to achieve such a situation in Nech Sar but the outcome was not sanctioned by the authorities. In the case of Omo the situation is more complicated and a similar result is inevitable. Compromises will be necessary and therefore such a process needs to be fully sanctioned by Government and supported by human rights organisations to ensure that the ethnic groups are properly consulted and represented. Such a process will pave the way for the formal gazetting of the protected areas and will form the foundation of a sustainable management solution for the benefit of both people and nature. Failure of the process will almost certainly result in the permanent loss of the parks and continued conflict amongst ethnic groups.

Nech Sar National Park

In February 2004 African Parks signed an agreement with the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Southern State, People and Nationalities for the management of Nech Sar National Park. At the time the Governments had expressed their prior intention to resettle two groups of people inhabiting the park because of their unsustainable impact on the Parks. Nech Sar is only 50,000 hectares in extent, a large portion of which is water, and the plains from which the park derives its name were being extensively grazed by as many as 7,000 cattle with consequent degradation of habitat, erosion, and pressure on critical species such as the endemic Swayne’s hartebeest. The resettlement was partially accomplished with the Kore community being resettled to the South of the Park. However, 3 years into the project one of the communities still remains in the Park, and the increased use by them and their livestock herds are further threatening the sustainability of the park.

In the first two years of the project the authorities made little progress with negotiating an acceptable compromise to the mutual benefit of both the community and the park. Therefore this year African Parks decided to make a concerted effort to negotiate, with independent specialist advice, an agreement with the Guji on the limits of use of the park. External organisations were invited to participate in and witness the negotiations. To an extent this process was successful, and a formal agreement was reached on 30 September with the Guji defining a core area which would be free from both people and cattle, with use permitted in the remainder of the park. The authorities were requested to recognise this agreement as an acceptable and practical compromise for the benefit of both people and nature. This recognition has not been forthcoming. Therefore African Parks has decided that it shall terminate all operations in Nech Sar.

Omo National Park.

In November 2005 African Parks signed a similar agreement for the management of Omo National Park. The complexities and challenges of managing Omo were recognised at the time, although the extent thereof was underestimated. There are eight distinct ethnic groups living in or utilising the Park. There is hostility between these groups as they compete for land and other resources and many men carry automatic or semi-automatic weapons. Wildlife has been decimated, other than in the “no-man’s land” between the different ethnic groups. African Parks put in place staff and mechanisms to build relationships and trust with the various ethnic groups. Our actions were based on the fact that the only chance of securing a sustainable future for Omo and the people dependent on the ecosystem, was negotiating limits of use of the land and natural resources by each one of the different ethnic groups. If successful this would have ensured the long term sustainability of sections of the Park, and the creation of community conservation areas in others. It would also have brought about regional peace and stability, something desired by all the ethnic groups. Such a negotiation process is extremely complicated and fraught with problems of representivity, legitimacy and self interest as well as extreme logistical challenges. However, to make matters more complicated, some human rights organisations immediately assumed mala fides on the part of African Parks, and without ever visiting the area and consulting with the very communities whose interests they purported to represent, publicly criticised African Parks for its endeavours. This criticism, although unjustified, has highlighted the need for this process to be objectively driven. If African Parks attempts to facilitate such dialogue, it will only attract hostility and legal challenges from one party or other. Africa Parks has been active in Omo for two years, and our contract anticipates an initial three year commitment. We do not believe that African parks can solve the complexities of Omo, at least not in the time frame anticipated. To continue is simply a waste of scarce resources which can be better appied elsewhere. Therefore we have requested the Ethiopian Governemnt to allow an early termination of the management agreement.

Between 8-12 November more than 250 members of more than 17 different ethnic groups will gather to talk about the rise of tourism, trade and economic diversification, the management and eradication of conflicts as well as social change and basic services. Also to be discussed are changes in land use, opening of new transport, communication and market links, development of education and new opportunities for participation in national affairs.

Inspired by visits to other pastoralist gatherings in Ethiopia and Kenya, members of South Omo’s pastoralist groups welcome this unique opportunity to discuss how rapid changes are altering the face of South Omo zone in ways that are both appreciated and giving rise to concern.

The gathering will be facilitated by members of the Nyangatom Community in conjunction with Atoweksi Eksil Pastoralist Development Association and will additionally be attended by members of local and national administrations, development agencies and pastoralists from neighbouring groups in Bench Maji Zone, northern Kenya and Southern Sudan.’

For more information go to the website of the Pastoralist Communication Initiative (PCI) at www.pastoralists.org