Welkait question
 | Parts of this article (those related to any changes since 2023) need to be updated. (June 2025) |
The Welkait question involves a controversial territorial dispute surrounding the Ethiopian area Welkait, which is situated in the present-day Tigray Region. Welkait had been an independent province until it was incorporated into the Begmeder province in 1941.[1] After the fall of the Derg regime at the end of the Ethiopian Civil War (1974–1991), the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) government transferred Welkait's administration to the Western Zone of Tigray Region.[2]
On 19 April 2018, at the beginning of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's administration, talks were held in Gondar by the Tigray and Welkait Committee. Ahmed pleaded that the Welkait question be addressed in a peaceful resolution.[3] However, the Tigray war, a civil war fought in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions between 2020 and 2022, exacerbated tensions, with war crimes committed by all sides.
Context
[edit]Welkait had historically been its own province until 1941 when it was incorporated into the then-province of Begmeder. After the fall of the Derg regime at the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991, Welkait's administration was transferred to the Western Zone of the Tigray Region. This choice was made due to perceived close ties between Welkait and the Tigray people,[4] and began an ongoing controversy over whether the population of Welkait is ethnically Tigrayan or Amhara, and whether Welkait should belong to the Tigray Region or the Amhara Region.
In 2018, the Tigray and Welkait Committee met to address the question. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called for a peaceful resolution.[3] However, the Tigray war, a civil war fought in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions between 2020 and 2022, exacerbated tensions, with war crimes committed by all sides.[5]
Tigrayan claims
[edit]A demographic analysis conducted under the Derg regime found that in 1984, Welkait had a resident population of 221,692, about half that of Begmeder as a whole. It also found that the Tigrayan population of Begmeder was 190,183 people, and suggested that the Tigrayans were a majority in Welkait. Multiple linguistic and ethnic maps supported the idea of a majority Tigrayan ethnicity in Welkait.[6] Maps and books written before the end of the Ethiopian Civil War support the idea of a Tigrayan majority in the area. Donald Levine's work Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture contain maps of the languages spoken in areas, which show Welkait is closely connected to Tigrinya language and Tigrayans as a whole. The book Class Struggle and the Problem in Eritrea (1979) also supports this. The names of cities and towns such as Mai Kadra, Mai Tsebri, Tselemti and Addi Remets are Tigrinya, further justifying the incorporation of Welkait into the Tigray Region.[6]
During the Tigray war, there were mass killings reported against the civilians in Welkait. Human Rights Watch wrote an article on the issue, stating: "thousands of Tigrayans were forced to flee ... to northwestern Tigray to escape Amhara authorities and regional security forces." Due to claims by Amhara nationalists in Welkait, the widespread sentiment in the Amhara region was that the mass killings of Tigrayans was justified. The article continues: "Since the outbreak of armed conflict ... hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans living in Western Tigray have been displaced from their homes through threats, intimidation, and a campaign of violence and forcible removal."[7] There is an active ongoing attempt of changing the majority Tigrayan ethnicity to a majority Amhara where people of other ethnicities will live under oppression.[citation needed]
Amhara claims
[edit]When the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) annexed Welkait into Western Tigray in 1991, they began harassing, deporting, killing, and arresting people identified with Amhara.[8][9][4] More than 5,000 Amharas were displaced and hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans settled in Welkait.[10] Amhara women were reportedly abducted and raped by TPLF fighters and teachers. In educational institutions and administrative offices, discriminatory practices were common; many people were forced to speak Tigrinya language, and the names of settlements and geographical features were officially changed from Amharic to Tigrinya. Discriminatory practices were observed at almost 95% of government workplaces. Additionally, some Tigrayans displaced Amhara farmers and took their land.[10]
In 2015, victims of the displaced Amharas democratically formed the Welkait Amhara Identity Question Committee and collected 25,000 signatures from Welkait people. They submitted the signatory letters to zonal, regional and federal offices on 17 December 2015. The result met with ambivalence; zonal authorities refuted the identity question while federal authorities considered it a border question. Otherwise, individual claims were processed in accordance with the rule of law. Soon after, the TPLF government began arbitrary arrests and purges against the committee members. In July 2016, most of its members were detained in Gondar and transported to Addis Ababa's Central Prison.[8] Colonel Demeke Zewdu resisted arrest on alleged terrorism offences, fighting government security forces for two days with a half-dozen people killed on either side.[7][11]
As the arbitrary arrests and tortures intensified, Welkait Committee members launched a series of protests in Amhara Region, and along with cases in Oromia Region and other regions, large-scale protests erupted across Ethiopia, calling for justice and democracy.[12] Protestors expressed concern with unequal distribution of power and economic exploitation by the TPLF government. The resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn led to the release of Zewdu, who demanded democratic process. After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power, he met with Welkait Committee members in Goha Hotel, Gondar, on 19 April 2018.[3] In the meeting, Ahmed pleaded to Tigrayan security forces to not harass or kill civilians and that the Welkait question should be peacefully raised under the constitution.[13]
The Tigray government continued atrocities around the annexed area. Many Amharas were beaten, incarcerated and executed by being thrown from cliffs. In 2019, the Mai Kadra massacre in Welkait was the first known ethnic clash in the region. Between 600 and 1,100 people were killed in what was described as a "systematic attack against a civilian population". Most of the victims were Amhara but there were Tigrayan victims as well.[14][15][16] In August 2021, TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda said that the TPLF was not ready for national dialogue to end the Tigray war and was financing rebels among several factions of the Oromo and Qemant minorities. Contested areas in Western Tigray such as Welkait, Tsegede, Setit and Humera were seized by the Amhara Special Force. In May 2021, a reconciliation dialogue was held between Amhara and Tigrayan community members, and the Welkait Committe maintained its stance on the question.[17] According to Hiber Radio, the ENDF military forces withdrew from the area during the conference with the Prosperity Party on 16 March 2023.[18]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Party, von Passport (2020-11-11). "Tigray's border conflicts explained". Passport Party (in German). Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ Davison, William (2016-12-22). "Ethnic tensions in Gondar reflect the toxic nature of Ethiopian politics". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ a b c John, Sonja (August 2021). "The Potential of Democratization in Ethiopia: The Welkait Question as a Litmus Test". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 56 (5): 1007–1023. doi:10.1177/00219096211007657. ISSN 0021-9096.
- ^ a b Tesfaye, Abel (2022-08-03). "Under Ethiopia's federal system, Western Tigray belongs in Tigray". Ethiopia Insight. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ Nebehay, Stephanie; Endeshaw, Dawit (3 November 2021). "Joint UN, Ethiopia rights team: all sides committed abuses in Tigray". Reuters. Archived from the original on 3 November 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
- ^ a b "Under Ethiopia's federal system, Western Tigray belongs in Tigray". HornAfricaInsight. 2022-08-03. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
- ^ a b "We Will Erase You from This Land". Human Rights Watch. 2022-04-06.
- ^ a b John, Sonja (August 2021). "The Potential of Democratization in Ethiopia: The Welkait Question as a Litmus Test". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 56 (5): 1007–1023. doi:10.1177/00219096211007657. ISSN 0021-9096.
- ^ Account (2022-04-15). "Welkait: The Redline that cannot be crossed in Ethiopia". Borkena Ethiopian News. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ a b "Welkait, Ethiopia: Geo Strategic importance and the Consequential Annexation by TPLF". HornAfricaInsight. 2021-08-03. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ "Identity and Violence: Abiy Ahmed's Amhara genocide denial". Reset DOC. 2023-05-04. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ "Country Summary: Ethiopia, January 2017 [EN/AM/OM] - Ethiopia | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ Tesfaye, Abel (2023-04-07). "As Ethiopian alliances shift, Abiy's anniversary met by Amhara protests and violence". Ethiopia Insight. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ "Ethiopia: Investigation reveals evidence that scores of civilians were killed in massacre in Tigray state". Amnesty International. 12 November 2020. Archived from the original on 21 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ "EHRCO Preliminary Investigation Report on Major Human Rights Violations in and around Maikadra" (PDF). Ethiopian Human Rights Council. 2020-12-25. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-12-25. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
- ^ Birhanemaskel, Millete (2021-03-03). "Survivors Recount the Mai Kadra Massacre". Retrieved 2023-08-06.
- ^ "The case for ceasefire, dialogue and reconciliation in Tigray: Why and how?". Addis Standard. 6 August 2023.
- ^ Account (2023-03-17). "Federal force pulling out of contentious Welkait". Borkena Ethiopian News. Retrieved 2023-08-06.