07/01/18

 

Nowhere in Africa is more remote than the valley of the lower Omo river in South-west Ethiopia. The  kara tribe live on a plateau above the river, which serves literally as the umbilical cord of this vast valley.   Last month I visited the kara tribe and was touched by the kindness of these people but also shocked by the trouble that is unravelling down in the Omo vally.  With the constructuction of the billion dollar gibe iii dam and the government reclaiming huge swathes of their land, the kara tribe amongst other tribes in this region are living on the razor's edge of a past anchored in ancestral heritage and a future that is painfully uncertain.

These people are no longer innocent in the face of a the changing world. Their traditional weapons have long ago been replaced by Russian Kalashnikovs, that have been trafficked over the border from the ongoing conflict zones in Sudan and Somalia.  With tensions rising as resources become limited, harsh repression and violence being served out to anyone who speaks out about these problems and the proliferation of automatic weapons throughout the valley, it looks as if this notoriously peaceful region of ethiopia is teetering on the edge of a new humanitarian crisis.