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By Obang O. Jobi*
Posted to the web on March 18, 2008 |
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March 18, 2008 (USA) — Important events are taking place in Gambella. As of March 09, 2008, the Ethiopian Federal police launched a massive removal of illegal immigrants, the Nuer, from the Anyuaks land back to "where they came from".
The street is full in the area called “Newland”. Newland is a Sudanese refugee area for those who refused to go back to south Sudan in Gambella. Most of the day it is filled with people walking to the river collecting water for cooking and daily life.
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Whether the removal is temporary or permanent, it is a big relief for the Anyuak who have endured so much intimidation and death while the Government of Ethiopia played deaf to the Anyuak plight. Where on earth has another person been seen with a gun behind someone’s house in the face of a Government?
During previous Governments several removals took place, but did not last for long. The big reason was the war in Southern Sudan that pushed more and more people into Ethiopia as refugees. Some Nuer clans who were neither refugees nor Ethiopians played in the middle ground causing havoc to the lives of the Anyuak people.
In the course of politics the Ethiopian Highlanders used the Nuer as shield against the Anyuak who they saw as challenging to their authority. That gave the Nuer a long stay. But the turn of events came when the same Nuer killed the highlanders recently. Last year a horrifying discovery chocked the highlanders. The Nuer officials in Gambella and Addis Ababa have teamed up with the rebels of Thwath Pal, the big criminal of the Derg Regime, to attack Gambella. The thugs are now in prison awaiting justice. That event also changed the outlook of the Highlanders, seeing the Nuer as dangerous and a very unpredictable ally.
Now the Nuer are being driven home with whips. Time will tell if they will return. With the Sudan in peace there is no cover for any Nuer not registered as Ethiopian to be seen loitering around Anyuak villages with a gun.
(Anyuak Media)
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