Success Story
Mrs. Sa’ada said, from Jarso clan, married with Gari clan and lived in Tulu Guled. Since her brother, Mr. Ahmed Abdulahi, married recently, she invited him with his bride for honey moon to her house from Chinakson, Oromia to Tulu Guled, Somali. While the bride and bride groom enjoying their honey moon, conflict erupted between the Gari and Jarso. Because Mr. Ahmed Abdulahi is Jarso, he escaped the conflict and went to Chinakson, Oromia. This happened seven years before.
The cross-boundary Initiative for Peace (CIP) project organized a public forum in Tulu Guled town where 150 communities from the Jarso and Gari clans participated. The Jarso clan members travelled from Chinakson, Oromia, to Tulu Guled, Somali, to participate on the public forum. While the participants were hugging and shaking hands upon their arrival, a loud cry of a women that take the attention of all participants heard. Everybody turned to the woman eager to know what happened. The woman cried when she saw her younger brother who escaped the conflict seven years ago.
“I couldn’t believe my eye when I see my younger brother among the crowed. We separated only five day after his marriage which I prepared. I have not had any information about him for the last seven years. So, when I see him coming among the crowd, I couldn’t control my feeling and cry loud.”. Mrs. Sa’ada further said with sob, “I thought I was dreaming. He is like my child since it was me who brough him as mother. That is why I invited him with his bride for honey moon. But everything become a nightmare when the unexpected conflict erupted that separate us for the last seven years.”
Mr. Ahmed Abdulahi, the brother of Mrs Sa’ada said, “I spent the whole night fearing and thinking about what will happen when i arrive in Tulu Guled? The whole night was very scary remembering the brutal fight between us and the Jarsos. I was also thinking about my sister. What actually happened was totally different from what I though the whole night. The Gari brothers and sisters received us with happiness and smiles. I also met my beloved sister who brought me up like a mother.”
Mrs. Sa’da said, ‘I am so much grateful for the USAID and EIP efforts which totally changed the hostility between the Gari and Jarso clan and created the current peaceful situation. That is why the Gari and Jarso communities, are now in one hall after many years of brutal conflict.”
The Cross-boundary Initiative for Peace (CIP) project is funded by the USIAD and implemented the Ethiopian Institute of Peace (EIP) in Tulu Guled Woreda, Fafen Zone of Somali Regional State and Chinakson Woreda, East Harraghe Zone of Somali Regional State.
