SUMMARY

The Borana and the Guji inhabit the Ethio-Kenya border area, a region of high strategic interest to the Ethiopian government. Both clans belong to the Oromo ethnic group and in view to prevent them from creating a unified front against the state, successive regimes have used divide and rule policies. The present government, in power since 1991, has a history of favoring the Guji over the Borana, thus creating schisms between the two clans.

The non-state conflict between the Borana and the Guji is first included in the UCDP data in 2006. Fighting in late May and early June that year brought the death toll well above the 25 battle-related deaths threshold.