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1. Amhara Nationalists want to explain the Gumuz people's violence towards highlanders as nothing but a primitive instinct (mind you, the violence is targeted at Amhara, Agew, and Oromo i.e the 'red' people).
2. The reality is that the Gumuz people are responding violently to historical grievance, indignity, and most importantly, to a real or perceived existential threat from the highlanders. (I am not justifying violence in any way).
3. Historically, Gumuz ppl have been victims of aggressive slave-raiding by highlanders.
Gumuz ppl are being dehumanized by the highlanders who call them Shanqilla(slaves), primitive,& sub-humans. Amhara media, officials,& activists are hurling these insults on a daily basis.
Gumuz ppl are being dehumanized by the highlanders who call them Shanqilla(slaves), primitive,& sub-humans. Amhara media, officials,& activists are hurling these insults on a daily basis.
4. The highlanders not only dehumanize the Gumuz ppl but are posing an existential threat. How?
Gumuz land/specifically Metekel has been regarded as terra nullius (nobody's land) by the successive Ethiopian government. Dispossession of the Gumuz is thus legitimized.
Gumuz land/specifically Metekel has been regarded as terra nullius (nobody's land) by the successive Ethiopian government. Dispossession of the Gumuz is thus legitimized.
5. Gumuz ppl have been displaced by a massive influx of highlanders, partly by the state-sponsored settlement.
Gumuz ppl resented their displacement to less hospitable areas. Often they just fled as they distrust highlanders and avoid uncomfortable inter-group interactions.
Gumuz ppl resented their displacement to less hospitable areas. Often they just fled as they distrust highlanders and avoid uncomfortable inter-group interactions.
6. After the mid-2000's global food crisis and following GTP 2010, Metekel (also Gambella and Oromia) became a prime destination for large-scale land acquisition for investment. Displacement intensified. Sod did Gumuz ppl's resentment.
7. Gumuz ppl resisted displacement in the name of development in part by refusing to work for the corporations that displaced them. This was meant to deprive labor resources and discourage more displacement. But highlanders filled the vacuum.
8. As business brought migrant workers (highlanders), who already enjoy better job opportunities, the Gumuz ppl face a double displacement threat (from corporations and laborers). So, the Gumuz ppl see highlanders as existential threats on many levels.
9. The Gumuz ppl need an outlet to express their grievances. The threat they feel must be addressed. It is alarming that Amhara region officials are threatening to invade Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State (BGRS).
10. We witnessed in Tigray that the Amhara militias& Fanos are capable of committing ethnic cleansing.Threats from the Amhara Region security chief should not be taken lightly.If this lawlessness is not curbed,we will be seeing a massacre that can be totally hidden from the world
