Bringing the Sultan Back In: Elders as Peacemakers in Ethiopia’s Somali Region

Abstract

In many African societies, elders play a crucial role in managing public affairs in their community, both with and in the absence of formal state recognition. Elders assume the most varied tasks in safeguarding the social, political, economic, cultural, religious, and spiritual welfare of the people they (claim to) represent. Yet if we are to believe van Nieuwaal and van Dijk (1999: 9) “there is one aspect of chiefing for which no shortcuts exist”, and that is conflict resolution. Resolving conflicts represents a “chiefing” activity of special importance and interest for the study of recent waves of the incorporation of traditional authorities by sub-Saharan African states. On the one hand, many rural societies lack a complete understanding of formal state institutions such as courts and legal codes, mainly preferring “endogenously defined concepts and procedures” (Just 1998: 108) to manage individual and communal disputes. On the other hand, the state endeavors “to dominate other institutions that provide dispute resolution services” (Merry 1987: 2069) in an attempt to subordinate competing norms that challenge its legitimacy. Controlling and ending violence is among the classic tasks of the nation state seeking to impose a monopoly over the use of legitimate force (Weber 1947).