SUMMARY

The Dawa and the Gura are both clans belonging to the Oromo people, who reside mainly in the federal state Oromiya in southern Ethiopia. Little is known about the relations between Dawa and the Gura clans, but analysts have pointed out that since the introduction in the mid-1990s of federalism along ethnic lines, there has been a general pattern of conflicts arising as a consequence of groups scrambling to claim scarce land and other resources for themselves. This, in connection with environmental degradation and politicized ethnicity and group identity, has resulted in numerous non-state conflicts both between larger ethnic groups and at the sub-group level. Bale Zone, where clashes broke out in 2003, belongs to an area of Oromiya where many people are semi-nomadic pastoralists. This may be a source of conflict as borders that were previously rather fluid become fixed under the federalist system, and as groups as a consequence make competing claims for the same land.

The non-state conflict between the Dawa and the Gura clans is first included in UCDP data in 2003. In November and December that year, clashes broke out the two clans, resulting in over 25 battle-related deaths.