The Oromo of Gommaa, Southwestern Ethiopia, A History: 1880s -1991

Abstract

This thesis deals with “The Oromo of Gommaa, Southwestern Ethiopia: A History 1880s to 1991.” The decade 1880s was an important landmark in the history of the Oromo of the entire Gibe region given that it was the time when they were conquered by king Menelik of Shawa. The year 1991 was also a crucial period in Ethiopia given that it witnessed the end of the Derg regime and the establishment of a federal system of administration. The purpose of this thesis is to reconstruct the political, economic, social and cultural history of the Oromo of Gommaa from the 1880s to 1991. The thesis is produced through the collection and analysis of data from both primary and secondary sources including oral sources, archival materials and historical documents, published and unpublished materials such as books, journals, articles, theses, manuscripts, and official documents of pertinent offices, etc. While most of the archival sources were mainly collected from municipality of Aggaaro and Jimmaa towns, the greater part of the published and unpublished materials was obtained from Jimma University and to some extent from Addis Ababa university. Key-informant interview and in-depth interview were used to gather information from knowledgeable persons in the various qebeles of Aggaaro and Gommaa districts. The data analysis was conducted by using both descriptive and narrative techniques that include analyzing, comparing, checking and counterchecking what the literature say about the history of Oromo of Gommaa with the one which the local people believed to be their history. The findings of the thesis largely consolidated the earlier works. Yet, there are some minor deviations from the earlier works on some of the specific details, which can be seen in the main body. Due to lack of unanimity of both oral and written sources on the issue of how the kingdom of Gommaa was founded, it is difficult to give a definitive answer on whether the kingdom was founded peacefully or through wars. But the finding of this thesis established, beyond a doubt, that there were wars between the various Oromo clans of Gommaa before and/or on the eve of state formation, and Abbaa Bookee had either a direct or an indirect role in the formation of the kingdom of Gommaa. It seems that the effort to reconcile the warring factions might have ultimately led to the emergence of the kingdom of Gommaa through a peaceful process. In the 1880s, the Gibe region fell under king Menelik of Shawa. Following the Shawan direct rule over the Gibe states but Jimmaa, since 1886, a new socio-economic and political system was imposed up on the local people, who were reduced to gabbärs. The gabbärs paid regular tribute and also give free labor services to the imperial settler soldiers/the näftäñña and even to the Church. With the introduction of the qalad system, the gabbärs further deteriorated to landless and insecure tenants. The Shawan conquest had also affected the social and cultural life of the local community. When the Fascist Italian forces invaded the country and occupied Gommaa, the majority of the local people did not regard them as invaders. In the post-liberation period, the people of Gommaa suffered a lot under the imperial rule, most of them were landless tenants until the 1974 Ethiopian revolution which ended feudal land tenure and gave them the right to use land to the landless.