Background: general conditions of pastoralists

In Ethiopia nomadic pastoralists constitute about 5 million people (Fecadu 1990) living in the dry lowlands and relatively arid climatic zones. Mainly transhumant, they belong to some 29 linguistic groups classified as Cushitic, Nilotic and Omotic. The area they occupy covers slightly less than 50 percent (500,000 km2) of the country and encircles the central highlands and border areas of neighbouring countries (UNDP/RRC 1984).

Mainstream thinking holds that parts of Ethiopia inhabited by population groups whose economic mainstay is livestock husbandry are geographically, environmentally and economically marginal. However, these areas occupied by pastoralists are believed to be endowed with unexploited natural resources. Oil and gas are said to be in relative abundance in most lowland areas, notably the Ogaden (Yacob 1995). The lowlands are further characterized by plains watered by perennial rivers; the Blue Nile, Tekeze, Omo and Wabeshebelle Rivers and the Baro Akobo and Ganale- Juba-Dawa systems meander through the pastoral lands of Ethiopia before they cross the country's frontiers in almost all directions (ibid). Thus, the pastoral areas, by and large, lend themselves to large-scale agricultural development and are therefore attractive to outsiders.