SUMMARY
The Dizi (sometimes spelled Dizzi) are sedentary agriculturalists, numbering some 23 000. They combine cultivation with keeping livestock, and some young men have also taken up gold panning. The group inhabits the highland areas of the Maji region in south-western Ethiopia, near the border with Sudan and Kenya. During the Derg (the military council that ruled the country in 1976 – 1991) era, the area belonged to the Kaffa province, but after the introduction of ethnic federalism in the mid-1990s, it was incorporated into SNNPR (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region), where the Dizi have their own woreda (district).
Historically the politically dominant group of the area, the Dizi used to inhabit a substantially larger territory than today, covering also much of the lowlands in the region. The group’s roots in the area date far back, to an ancient agricultural population that built extensive terraces in the hills. They were traditionally organised in a conglomerate of semi-independent chiefdoms, ranked in a complex hierarchical order. While this system still remains, it by and large does so in name only; the Dizi chieftaincy has significantly declined, now mainly performing ritual functions. The erosion of the Dizi’s traditional social structure began when the group was conquered by the northern Imperial army and incorporated into the Ethiopian state in the early 20th century. As a consequence, they forcibly became part of a feudal social structure, where soldiers and northern settlers had the right to claim both land and labour from the group and where their traditional leaders lost most of their power. This period of disruption led the Dizi population to shrink considerably, due both to deaths from disease and ill-treatment and to the forcible abduction of thousands, as slaves, to the north.
While the close encounter with the northern representatives of the state thus had negative implications for the Dizi, the continued contact has meant that the group today is the one group in the region which is most associated with the central Ethiopian government. This perceived closeness has caused some friction with neighbouring groups. The Suri is the group that today is perceived by the Dizi to be their worst enemies. However, up until the late 1980s the two groups had a close, ritual alliance in matters of paramount seasonal importance. Under a rain pact, they regulated access to valuable resources and this cultural agreement helped stabilise the relations between the two groups, who exploit different, partly complementary, ecological niches.
The Dizi have been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
