The political and cultural inclusion of intra‐state ethnic minorities in Ethiopia: The case of the Qimant of Amhara state

Abstract

AbstractConflicts between the Qimant community – an intra‐state minority ethnic group endogenous to Amhara state in the Ethiopian federation – and the state’s special police forces have caused hundreds of deaths and the internal displacement of close to 50,000 people. Linked to these conflicts are the Qimants’ demands for recognition as a distinct ethnic community and the establishment of local government in the territories they inhabit; demands which have not received a satisfactory response from the federal or Amhara state government and which officials view with disdain. The situation raises several questions. Do the federal and regional‐state constitutions provide the necessary framework for accommodating intra‐state ethnic minorities such as the Qimant? If they do, why have the two levels of government failed to resolve the Qimant issue peacefully? What institutional mechanisms could they have used to satisfy the demands of the Qimant community? This article seeks to answer these and related questions.