Galtung's Triangle and the Metekel Conflict

 Andreas Cantu 

The Metekel conflict is an armed conflict in the Metekel area of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Ethiopia which has been a reoccurring conflict since 2019. This conflict consists of three ethnic groups of people in Ethiopia. The Gumuz People, and the Amhara and Agaw agricultural settlers coming from the highlands of the region, these specific groups of settlers also constitute minority ethnic groups. 



Within the latent level of is conflict lies the attitudes and assumptions the Gumuz people have towards the ethnic minorities of the Amhara and Agaw people. It has been very clear that the Gumuz people dislike the settling of the minority groups on what they call "their land." This attitude has remained the same ever since the ethnic groups arrived in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region and there seems to be no end in sight. It is presumed that the Gumuz people assume that the ethnic groups wish to expand their villages throughout the entirety of the region, however, there has been no evidence of that at all and the groups have remained peaceful through all of this. 

This attitude also directly contradicts Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who came to power in 2018. His main platform revolved around the unification of Ethiopia. Not only does this contradict the prime minister, but it also threatens the stability of the second most populated nation in Africa. 

Within the manifest level of this conflict are the behaviors and actions by both groups. However, in this case, it only consists of the Gumuz people as they are the only ones that have gone through with any actions. With the Ethiopian soldiers dealing with other conflicts throughout the country, the Gumuz people organized an attack on the ethnic groups. This resulted in a massacre killing nearly 80 people including women and children. There were also reports of them chanting "leave our land" as they burned and pillaged houses to the ground. Furthermore, while it seems that actions are only being made by one side of this conflict, it's important to remember that as minority groups they lack the resources that a more developed group of people such as the Gumuz possess. This does, however, prevent the groups from being able to protect themselves from the actions of the Gumuz. 

Viewing this conflict through the Galtung Triangle allows you to see how the peaceful actions of the Amhara and Agaw people, led to the killing of nearly 80 of their people. It also shows you how the attitude and assumptions of the Gumuz people contradict the work of the Prime Minister. 



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