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Land transactions between Majang people and ‘highlanders’ in the Majang forest zone: a case study of land registration in Ethiopia’s Gambella region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2025

Gutema Gizachew Abate
Gutema Gizachew Abate*
Affiliation:
Oromia Roads and Logistics Bureau, Finfinnee/Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
*
E-mail: abegizachew@yahoo.com
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Abstract

The increasing economic value of Majang forest land that accompanied the establishment of large, state-run coffee plantations and timber production has led to growing tensions between Majang people and ‘incoming’, resettled ‘highlanders’ or ‘migrants’ from the Ethiopian highlands (known in the local vernacular as Gaaleer), which often circulate around dynamic land transactions. In the early 2010s, the Ethiopian government introduced a new policy of land registration to settle these tensions by regulating uncontrolled land sales. This article explores how past land deals generated contests and grievances and how the formalization of land titling resulted in aggravating these tensions, even triggering violent conflict in 2014–15, rather than resolving them. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Gambella’s Majang zone, this article examines how contests and grievances attached to different interpretations of past land transactions between Majang people and ‘highlanders’, and their political implications, heightened when the government attempted to formalize land tenure in the early 2010s. The article makes an important contribution to our understandings of African land tenure and land-related conflict.

Résumé

Résumé

La valeur économique croissante des terrains forestiers de Majang qui a accompagné l’établissement de vastes plantations de café et de production du bois gérées par l’État, a entraîné une montée des tensions entre les Majangir et les « arrivants », « migrants » des hauts plateaux éthiopiens (appelés Gaaleer dans la langue vernaculaire locale) qui circulent souvent autour des transactions foncières dynamiques. Au début des années 2010, le gouvernement éthiopien a mis en place une nouvelle politique d’enregistrement foncier pour apaiser ces tensions en réglementant les ventes foncières incontrôlées. Cet article explore comment des transactions foncières passées ont généré des conflits et des griefs, et comment la formalisation des titres fonciers a aggravé ces tensions, déclenchant même un conflit violent en 2014–2015, plutôt que de les résoudre. S’appuyant sur des travaux ethnographiques menés sur le terrain dans la zone Majang de la région Gambella, cet article examine comment les conflits et les griefs liés aux différentes interprétations de transactions foncières passées entre des Majangir et des « migrants des hauts plateaux », ainsi que leurs implications politiques, se sont intensifiés lorsque le gouvernement a tenté de formaliser le régime foncier au début des années 2010. Cet article nous aide à mieux comprendre le régime foncier africain et les conflits liés à la terre.

Resumo

Resumo

O aumento do valor económico das terras florestais de Majang, que acompanhou o estabelecimento de grandes plantações de café e a produção de madeira geridas pelo Estado, deu origem a tensões crescentes entre o povo Majang e os ‘novos’ habitantes das terras altas, reinstalados ou ‘migrantes’ das terras altas da Etiópia (conhecidos no vernáculo local como Gaaleer), que circulam frequentemente em torno de transacções dinâmicas de terras. No início da década de 2010, o governo etíope introduziu uma nova política de registo de terras para resolver estas tensões, regulando as vendas descontroladas de terras. Este artigo explora a forma como os negócios de terras do passado geraram contestações e queixas e como a formalização da titulação de terras resultou no agravamento destas tensões, tendo mesmo despoletado um conflito violento em 2014–15, em vez de as resolver. Com base em trabalho de campo etnográfico na zona de Majang, em Gambella, este artigo examina como as contestações e queixas associadas a diferentes interpretações de transacções de terras passadas entre o povo Majang e os ‘highlanders’, e as suas implicações políticas, aumentaram quando o governo tentou formalizar a posse de terras no início da década de 2010. O artigo dá um contributo importante para a nossa compreensão da posse da terra em África e dos conflitos relacionados com a terra.

Information

Type
Land transactions in Gambella, Ethiopia
Information
Africa , Volume 95 , Issue 1 , February 2025 , pp. 42 - 61
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The International African Institute

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