SUMMARY

Members of the [Gumuz(/#actor/899) and Oromo people inhabit villages in the neighboring Oromia and Benishangul Gumuz Regional States in the western part of Ethiopia. The [Gumuz(/#actor/899) and Oromo share the same history of repression under successive Ethiopian regimes and have lived together peacefully. However, over the past, disagreements over land rights have flared up between members of the groups. The [Gumuz(/#actor/899) says that land has been taken away from them by the Oromo. This has caused incidents, even deadly, in the past. In May of 2008, this escalated further when [Gumuz(/#actor/899) and Oromo groups clashed in the Sasiga, Diga, Bumto Gida, and Limu districts in the Oromiya Region, resulting in more than a hundred people killed, most Oromo.

The non-state conflict between [Gumuz(/#actor/899) and Oromo is first included in the UCDP data in 2008. In May that year, clashes broke out in the eastern part of Oromia state, resulting in more than a hundred battle-related deaths.