SUMMARY
SLM (Sidama Liberation Movement) originated as an armed group, fighting the Ethiopian government over the status of the area inhabited by the Sidama people, called Sidamigobba, or Sidamaland; the country of the Sidama. Sidamaland is located in south-central Ethiopia, in the area between Lake Awasa in the north, the towns of Agere Silam and Dilla in the south, the Bilate River in the west and the Bale highlands in the east. The area was incorporated into the Abyssian empire (present-day Ethiopia) by king Menelik II in the 1890s. During the Imperial regime of Haile Selassie (1930-36 and 1941-74) the region saw the gradual consolidation of central power, with the introduction of tax collection and army recruitment, and resentment started growing. This discontent, coupled with an increasingly chaotic situation in the country after the Emperor was ousted in 1974 and replaced by a military council – the Derg – served as a good breeding ground for the emergence of SLM. While sources diverge as to exactly when the group was formed (years range from 1975 to 1978), it started making small-scale military operations in 1978.
SLM was founded and, for a long time, led by Wolde Emmanuel Dubale. Dubale was the son of a local leader, and one of the few educated Sidama under the Emperor. When the Derg seized power, Dubale was initially an administrator of Sidama awraja, a district in Sidamo province. However, he opposed the harsh measures used by the Derg, and after refusing to carry out some particularly bloody orders, he fled to Somalia, where he formed SLM. Other founding members of the SLM included Roda Utala, Kebede Fokora, Amare Gunsa, Argata Gunsa, and Ginbo Basha. Dubale led SLM throughout the period that it carried out its armed struggle (there were reports of fighting between 1978 and 1984, but the group is only active in UCDP data in 1981 and 1983). Following large military set-backs in 1984, he was forced to flee to Somalia, but when the Derg regime was ousted in 1991, he came back and briefly partook in the political process. However, when SLM broke with the transitional government in 1992, Dubale went into exile again. Despite this, it seems as if he remained the group’s chairman. After the 1992 split with the government, the group’s members in general and its leadership in particular, was persecuted by the regime, and many in its top leadership, such as vice-Chariman Yilma Chamola, as well as its local leaders were arrested and taken to detention camps. In 2005, Dubale was allowed back to Ethiopia, and in 2006 he concluded a formal agreement of cooperation with the government, which caused the movement to split. The following year, Dubale died, whereby the whole group was once again in the opposition camp. After Dubale’s death, two different names are mentioned as leaders of the group: former vice-chairman Yilma Chamola and Dr. Million Tumato.
As mentioned above, SLM was a group based among the Sidama people. However, while it claimed to speak for the whole group, it is unclear how much support it actually garnered in the region. Sidama society is divided between free farmers (so-called Wollabicho) and stigmatized, traditionally impure artisans including smiths and tanners (awacho) and potters (hadicho). SLM was mainly associated with the pure clans of the Wollabicho; it was created and led by members of these clans and recruitment by and large followed the same pattern. Due to this, many of the hadicho were skeptical to the struggle for independence pursued by SLM, arguing that if the latter won, the previous landlord system would be revived.
During the armed conflict, SLM trained roughly 5000 fighters in Somalia, and in addition had some 6000 men on Ethiopian soil. In Sidama, the group was able to set up bases and establish an armed presence in the three remote woredas (districts) Arbegona, Aroresa and Benza. When they were eventually pushed out of these areas, the group set up bases in Somalia.
At the time of the birth of SLM, Ethiopia as a whole was going through a very turbulent time. The Emperor had been deposed in 1974, and the ruling military council – the Derg – experienced bloody power rivalries. Furthermore, the separatist conflict over the status of the Eritrea province continued in the north, and in addition, five other conflicts erupted in different regions throughout the country during the late 1970s. Thus, there were ample rebel groups for SLM to coordinate and cooperate with. However, there is very little indication that such coordination took place. The only armed group with which SLM clearly had links during the armed conflict, was SALF, which was fighting against the Ethiopian government in the conflict over the status of the regions Arssi, Bale and Sidamo, which slightly overlapped with the area SLM was fighting for. Some sources even argue that the Sidama rebels were in fact one of the elements in SALF, but on this, opinions diverge. While little if any support was forthcoming from fellow rebel groups, SLM did receive assistance from Somalia. With Ethiopia experiencing internal difficulties, neighboring Somalia saw the chance to realize its goal of incorporating what it termed “Western Somalia” – the Ogaden region and adjacent areas in south-eastern Ethiopia – into a “Greater Somalia” (for more information, see the section on the Ethiopia – Somalia interstate conflict). Apart from launching a regular invasion of the Ogaden in 1977, Mogadishu also pursued a parallel strategy of helping set up, arm and train Ethiopian rebel groups fighting the Derg. The bulk of Somali support went to groups that they themselves had helped set up, notably WSLF and SALF. However, also smaller groups, like SLM, received backing, and aside from political recognition, Somalia assisted the group with arms and training and allowed it to maintain rear bases on its soil.
The year 1984 saw large battlefield successes for the government. The army re-captured most of the areas previously held by the rebels and the civilian population was forcibly relocated into relief shelters. By the end of the year, SLM had been so weakened that it could no longer make any military impact. As indicated above, the group re-appeared as a political party when the Derg was ousted in 1991. After having briefly cooperated with the victorious EPRDF rebels in the country’s new transitional council, SLM chose to break away and subsequently became an opposition party, attempting to work politically within Ethiopia. However, this proved to be difficult, as many of its members were persecuted and arrested. Some sources claim that SLM still maintains a small armed wing, but this has not been possible to substantiate.
