THE STRUCTURE OF REGIONAL CONFLICT IN NORTHERN ETHIOPIA

A conventional view of regional conflict in Ethiopia is that it is the result of the domination and exploitation of conquered peoples by the central Ethiopian state. The pattern of regional conflict does not, however, fit this explanation. The most important threat to the central government today comes not from the recently conquered pastoral and sedentary peoples of southern Ethiopia but from the northern highlands (Eritrea, Tigray, northern Wollo and Gonder) which have been associated with the Ethiopian state for many centuries. A more satisfactory explanation needs to take into account both the political and economic bases of revolt in northern Ethiopia following the 1974 revolution. Politically, the people were alienated from a national government of which they had previously often been a dominant part. Economically, the progressive marginalisation and agricultural degradation of the northern highlands was accelerated by the policies of the post‐1974 government, policies which brought immediate and important benefits to the southern regions. Copyright © 1991, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved