The Oromo people are the largest national group in Eastern Africa, numbering around 40 percent of the population of Ethiopia. They have rich experiential knowledge of peacebuilding embedded in their system of governance, the Gadaa system. However, the past few years have shown a pattern of insurgencies and counterinsurgencies, with some efforts in peacebuilding. Amidst this situation, Oromo women’s peacebuilding roles within their communities and the challenges they face deserve attention.
UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, 2122) highlight how conflicts disproportionately affect women and mandate their inclusion. However, the prevailing discourse in both research and practice indicates that the significant involvement of women is still the missing ingredient on peace tables at the international level, and women’s voices are rarely heard beyond their own communities.
The Oromo women of Ethiopia play a crucial role in peacebuilding by acting as peace missionaries, agents of ceasefires, guardians of women’s rights, and mediators through their institution known as the siinqee institution. Siinqee (or siiqqee) is a long, thin ritual stick given to married Oromo women on their wedding day. It serves as a non-violent emblem of authority, justice, and protection. Siingee embodies the power and influence a woman needs to defend her rights, protect herself, and stand for peace and justice in a nonviolent way. Thus, it is described as “a woman’s weapon.”
The siinqee institution is an organized civic force of siinqee bearers (married women) within the Oromo society. During intercommunal and intra-communal conflicts or wars, if women carrying siinqee intervene among the warring parties, fighting ceases immediately. Then, helping the wounded, finding the dead, and post-conflict peacebuilding are facilitated. Overall, the siinqee institution empowers women to act for peace education, human rights advocacy, and awareness raising, promoting humanitarian and social welfare, peacemaking and preventing diplomacy, and spiritual mediation and harmony making.
There are five ways Oromo women do this. The first way is through the Oromo people’s customary law, which is known as muka-laafaa (or muka-laaftuu), roughly translated as ‘softwood.’ The underlying concept of ‘softwood’ does not indicate that women are weak or inferior. Instead, it establishes a system against the exploitation of women. Thus, Oromo women enjoy special rights by virtue of being “soft” or liminal, with Oromo society bearing a duty to respect, protect, and fulfill women. The law is part of the egalitarian governance system of Gadaa.
Second, violators of women’s rights are disqualified from Gadaa elections, which are meritocratic. Oromo women use naming and shaming methods similar to what civil society does in broader human rights systems. They practice this as part of their daily lives.
Third, when their rights are violated, Oromo women grab their siinqee, burst out of their houses, and scream. This is a way of mobilizing each other and spreading information about the deterioration of moral order. Then, they gather under an oak tree, referred to as a ‘women’s tree’ and hold peace talks, finding a way for reconciliation and restoration of justice. Oromo women often won’t return home before the peaceful resolution of the conflict and without the triumph of justice over injustice.
Fourth, Oromo women have the power to bless and curse. Due to the fear of a curse, people avoid what they believe would trigger women’s wrath. On the other hand, after elders come to hear women’s decisions and fulfill their demands, the peace process is concluded by a blessing. Women give wet grass to the participants and the offender as a sign of peace.
Lastly, in case of severe transgressions, women trek to cross water (life’s source), signaling total disorder, and refuse to return without a resolution. Men in the community gather and choose a mediator, usually an elder, to bring the community back to peacefulness. If the women find the elder worthy to mediate, they proceed to a peace talk, identifying the root cause of the conflict, deciding a punishment or compensation for the victim (restorative justice), and concluding with reconciliation and re-integration.
The above methods embody Oromo peace ideals: effort, truth, restorative justice, compensation and punishment, reconciliation- spanning prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. However, despite its contributions to peacebuilding, the institution has faced and continues to face challenges. Among others, politics-driven socio-political structures, political ideologies, and biased policies have adversely affected the existence, practice, and growth of the siinqee institution. Moreover, the introduction of Christianity and Islam in the Oromo society has hindered siinqee’s peacebuilding roles, as it is dominated by religious leaders. The advancement of modernization, the “modern” legal system, and non-integration of cultural values into formal education have also imposed a negative impact on the progression of siinqee. In the face of these challenges, the institution is striving to contribute to peacebuilding.
Keywords: Ethiopia, Ethiopian, Oromo, women, peace, women peacebuilders, Gadaa, democratic, conflict, conflict resolution, siinqee
Meseret Geneti
Meseret Geneti is a PhD candidate in Peace and Development Studies at the Institute of Peace and Development Studies, Haramaya University. His academic journey began with a Bachelor of Education degree in Civics and Ethical Studies from Arba Minch University in 2010. He furthered his academic pursuits by obtaining a Master of Arts Degree in Human Rights Studies from Addis Ababa University in 2014. He has been working as a researcher and lecturer of human rights, peace and conflict, and conflict resolution and peacebuilding at Dilla University. His interest areas are peace, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, human rights, and development. His recent publication is “Grassroots Peacebuilding: Lessons from theSiinqeeInstitution of Oromo Women.”
