1It is commonly said that the Afar often consider as their land, any area where the jujube tree (kusra), bearing red cherry-like fruits, is found. Two of these trees grow on the knoll where the first school was built in 1965 at Bilu, in the Uwwa Woreda, on behalf of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus – and formerly headed by the author of this article. Apart from the famous kusra tree, this paper shows that rivers and wadis still actively condition the past and present social dynamics of the local Afar coalitions.

2Among the several Afar federations living in Uwwa Woreda, Bilu constitutes the main settlement of the Carsu clan. It is 11+ 45’ 45.28”N and 39+ 56’ 23.68”E, with an elevation of 3,414 feet. Its territory borders on the no-man’s land between the Afar and the Amharic speaking Oromo in the western foothills. The territory controlled by the Gaydarru federation begins at the wadi located 3 kilometres east of Bilu. Its central location is the Ragden Oasis another 2 kilometres to the northeast as the crow flies, but 5 kilometres winding on the path between the lava hills. The Gaydarru territory extends from the Uwwa River, into the grasslands to the south. They are related to the Arabta clan, along the Mille River. The Aggini clan is located in the area north of Bilu, around Alalesubla on the Uwwa River, and the northern side of the Uwwa Woreda, toward the Awra Wadi, is traditionally inhabited by the Henkebba clan.

3Nevertheless, these rivers and wadis do not only delimitate the several Afar territories present in the Uwwa Woreda. Indeed, they also perform the different geographical paths, binding together the economic and religious networks among these Afar federations, as well as with their Amhara or Oromo neighbours. From the seasonal migrations, rooted in the cattle herding tradition, to the social movements emerging from the recent implementation of irrigation and education projects, the rivers and wadis of the Uwwa Woreda tend to reveal the plural nomadic dynamics of the local Afar federations.

Interethnic movement through wadis

4Wadis flowing from the foothills to the Afar lowlands are the pathways through the buffer no-man’s land that separates the Afar from their highland neighbours. For example, the Mormor Wadi serves as the pathway for exchange between the Uwwa area Afar nomads and the sedentary Amharic-speaking farmers in the foothills. It connects the Afar with Hara market in the foothills. From there they have vehicle access to district government offices, shops, and medical services in Waldia. The Imperial government used the Mormor Wadi to send hated tax collectors with police escorts into the area. The first vehicles of government (and missionaries beginning in 1963) to come through this no-man’s land were able to use the Mormor during the dry season. During the 1973-5 famine a dirt road was constructed along the Mormor Wadi as a food-for-work project of the Lutheran World Federation. Foot travellers use it, and highland traders with four-wheel drive vehicles continue to use it to go down to the Afar market at Alalesubla.

5On the Afar end, the Mormor Wadi joins the Uwwa River at 11+ 48’ 41.79”N and 39+ 52’ 49.25”E at 3,673 feet. The road crosses the Uwwa and continues 5 kilometres east to the Amhara-Afar regional border, which runs north-south. It is marked by a pile of rocks, around six feet high beside the old road. The road then continues another 3.5 kilometres to the Uwwa Woreda center at Alalesubla. Alalesubla has been settled during the last twenty years, after the Afar Regional Government was established. The first buildings there were a clinic and a residence, built by the Lutheran World Federation in 1974 during the famine. Now there are many shops and government buildings.

6Around 2004, a graded road was opened between Hara and Chifra, which is south of the Mille River in the Afar Region. This now gives access for Afar who go up the Mormor Wadi to board commercial vehicles at Haro on the foothills bluff (11+ 48’40.89”N, 39.48”E, elevation 4,920 feet). Previously they had to walk 4.3 kilometres on to Hara for transportation. The no-man’s land is about 6 kilometres wide beginning near the regional border, and continues westward to below the bluff east in the foothills.

7The Uwwa River is called ‘Chireti’ by the highlanders. It originates in the mountains west of Sirinqa. The Awra Wadi is the next to the north and joins the Uwwa 670 meters east of Alalesubla. Going north the Uwwa is the last river draining into the Awash River. Beyond it the rivers drain to the north-northeast and dry up in the Tigray Afar basin.

8To the southeast Gura-Qale Mountain makes a divide between the Uwwa River and the Mille River. Gura-Qale’s peak is 2,800 feet high and its crater descends to 2,716 feet. It stands out as the tallest mountain in the north-central Afar. In former days clan elders went to pray for rain on the mountain. 35 kilometres south of Chifra is the Waqaama River that flows northeast into the Mille on its way to the Awash River.

9People from the area around Bilu, a village 10 kilometres south of Alalesubla, also go to the Hara market. They used to go on foot 5.8 kilometres northwest on the old Crown Road and then another 1.6 kilometres on a road to the confluence of the Uwwa River and the Mormor Wadi, then up the wadi 8.7 kilometres as the crow flies (15 kilometres following the meandering wadi) to Haro and on to Hara. The Crown Road was a dirt road built by the Imperial Government from Chifra through Bilu and on to the north. Several wadi crossings are no longer passable for vehicles.

10Some Afar from the whole area go to the Hara market every Thursday of the dry season if there is peace between them and the Amharic speaking Oromo of the foothills. They bring butter, hides and animals for sale or barter, and formerly brought rope, which they made from wild sisal. They purchase grain, salt, coffee and clothing. The Afar were formerly distinguished by the camels used to transport their goods, but now the foothills’ people also have camels. Afar that know Amharic are more likely to go, but women who do not speak Amharic will also go and barter by hand motions.

11Movement also goes in the other direction. Women traders from the foothills go down to the Afar villages and buy butter, which they carry back to their markets to sell for a profit. When grass runs out in the foothills the men will go down to the Afar and negotiate for them to keep their cattle. They keep connections open for future negotiations by occasional visits even when they do not have cattle with the Afar. Wadis serve as footpaths for these interethnic activities.

12Afar men who want to train as Islamic scholars go to Dana Mosque on a hill between Haro and Hara. In the 20^th century this was one of the best Islamic training centers in Ethiopia. This has helped to provide negotiators when there are blood feuds between the Afar and the Amharic speakers of the foothills, who are also almost all Muslim. The negotiators and cattle move through the wadis. When a cattle raid from one side or the other results in bloodshed, movement is terminated, sometimes for years. Women are sometimes allowed to go to the markets before men dare to go into the other ethnic area.

13Afar women are not normally allowed to marry an outsider, but Afar men will marry women from the foothills in addition to their cousin brides.1 There are several non-Afar women in most villages of the area. They live the same way as their Afar co-wives. These marriages give contacts for visits in both directions. In-laws and friends in the foothills provide a place for the Afar to stay when going to and from markets.

14The Afar village of Bilu also connects to the highlands through a series of paths and wadis to get to the Qorqora Wadi in the Amhara Region. The regional border begins 5.7 kilometres west of Bilu and is 5.8 kilometres from the new highway at Dirre Roqa (also known as Kombolti), a village at the edge of the no-man’s land. It is 11+ 44N and 39+ 51’ 27”E at 4,659 feet. From there the wadi goes on up to the Arerit market in the Chore-Sodoma foothills. It is frequented by Afar from Bilu and clans east of them. Arerit is 11+ 40.91’N and 39+ 48.3’E with an elevation of 5,362 feet. A footpath goes on from Arerit to Mersa on the highway giving access to the Habiru Woreda offices, market, shops, and clinics. The same types of interchange described for the Mormor Wadi are carried on along the path of the Qorqora and parallel wadis connecting Bilu with the highlands.

15One significant movement was when Acmad Qali, the present leader of the Gaydarru Afar attended elementary school in Mersa for a few years in the early 1960s. This gave him a privileged position of being literate and knowing Amharic. After returning to his area he served as negotiator with the government for years working together with his father, who was the leader before him.

16The new road from Hara to Chifra goes through Dirre Roqa, so this has now become the point of access for vehicle transportation to Hara and the highlands for the Bilu and Gaydarru Afar. They can also get transportation at Alalesubla, or at Karawayu 10 kilometers south of Alalesubla on a road to Chifra built in 2004. This road continues south to Qel Wuha on the Baati Road. It also connects to the Zone Four offices at Kalwan north of Alalesubla.

Intra-ethnic movement along rivers

17Whereas wadis facilitate movement, rivers in the Afar region tend to be barriers hindering movement across the water, especially during the rainy season. The Uwwa and Mille Rivers, which begin in the mountains to the west, form the northern and southern boundaries of Uwwa Woreda. Rivers, which have a permanent flow of water like the Mille coming from the Ambasel Mountains west of Haick and Wuchale, are not used for foot traffic into the highlands like the wadis. They also flow through deep gorges making travel along them in the foothills difficult. However, to the east the Uwwa River loses its surface water in the dry season about 7 kilometres south of Alalesubla near Farangi Faage (which means ‘Foreigners’ Crossing’, referring to the Italian military crossing in the 1930s occupation). After the surface water is gone, holes are dug in the sand to get water for cattle and people. Both the dry riverbed and the south bank of the Uwwa River are used in movement going east and west within the Afar. A railway line from Djibouti to Waldia is now being surveyed along the south bank. When completed, this will make interethnic movement along the Uwwa possible.

18The new ‘Chinese’ asphalt road going east from Chifra follows the south side of the Mille River on its 100 kilometres to the highway at the confluence with the Awash at Mille. This road is the main connector to the regional offices in Samara, for all the Afar living north of the Mille. It also serves those living south of Chifra on the first half of the road going to the highway at Qel Wuha.

19Rivers often determine clan boundaries. Movements across the rivers are common during droughts to access grazing areas. Afar clans recognize open pasture for all clans suffering from drought, but also recognize territorial rights to grass and water. For example, since the Ragden Oasis is within the Gaydarru clan’s area, herders moving cattle from one area to another need to get permission from the head of the clan to water their animals in one of the 100 wells. Each well is dug and maintained by one family within the clan.

20Marriage alliances on both sides of the rivers facilitate movement. The absuma cousin-marriage custom often requires families of the cousins in different clans or subclans to cross the rivers to negotiate and celebrate marriages. They may locate near a cousin’s place for many months while making arrangements. These alliances preserve for ongoing generations a source of brides and options for grazing cattle. An example of this is with Acmad Ali, the Gaydarru clan leader. His first wife was a cousin from the Awra area north of the Uwwa River. His second wife was from the Chifra area across the Mille River. His third wife is a cousin from the Gaydarru clan. The male children of these three wives have mostly married Acmad’s sister’s daughters within the clan. However, one son’s bride died, and another son’s was divorced. The two men then married wives from their mother’s Chifra area clan. They occasionally live within that area, maintaining close connections with the in-laws there. Similarly Acmad’s female children have married their mothers’ brothers’ sons according to custom, thereby reinforcing the connections with those clans. This assures access to the in-laws’ traditional pastoral areas beyond the Uwwa River to the north and beyond the Mille River to the south.

21Herding during the dry season requires a regular pattern of movement. Camels can go for a week without water, so they can go farther into the desert before returning to water. Cattle need water every third day, so the pattern is to go for a day and a half into the desert grasslands while grazing, and then return a day and a half. The grass nearest the water sources is quickly gone. This requires spreading out into the desert to find edible dry grass. Sheep and goats don’t require as much food, and can’t travel so far, so they are normally kept within a day’s distance from water. Goats and camels eat brush and tree leaves besides grass, so they are able to survive better in a drought.

22The western Afar have a seasonal migration where they move into the drier eastern meadows during the rainy season in order to make use of the more distant grasslands. The grass near the permanent water sources is thereby preserved for the dry season. This movement brings members of the various clans closer since they share the same large pasture area, and interact socially with games and dances. During the dry season when the grassland ponds dry up, they move back to the rivers and western villages. The following is an account of the rainy season migration in the Uwwa Woreda of zone four.

Arrayi or rainy season migration

23In times of drought cattle are moved to areas where there is grass on either side of the Uwwa River, or even farther north or south in the desert. When there is a severe drought, the Afar also make agreements to move cattle into the highland Chefa swamp formed by the Borkanna River, flowing south of Dessie along the highway in southern Wallo.

24Movement from Bilu is typical of the seasonal migration for semi-permanent villages (gub) along the western edge of zone four. When the monsoon rains begin in late June or July, almost the whole village moves to the eastern grass fields. Only those who cannot travel, such as the elderly, are left behind. Only a few animals are left with them for milk. There are biting flies in Bilu during the rains. This encourages all who can leave to do so. The portable house (ayyunta) is broken down and loaded on a camel, or donkey if camels are not available. The curved poles of the house frame usually stick up on each side. The rolled-up palm mats and the bed with its four long poles and rolled-up mat made of narrow poles tied with hide, are balanced on the two sides. Other household things are put on top, and a child who is too young to walk may be tied around the waist to the front crossbars of the packing poles. Most houses in Bilu have a second larger house (goli) made of bent poles with thatching. These are abandoned, and the family will squeeze into the small portable house until they return after the rains. The time of return will be October, or whenever the ponds from the rains dry up in the grasslands.

25The 88 years old Carsu clan leader (makaaban), Wade Qali, no longer goes on migration. He supervises planting of three kinds of sorghum grain around the village during the rainy season. The 63 years old Gaydarru clan leader Acmad Qali always goes with all of his family. He normally returns to the ancestral location at Megloxxa, where the second school in the area was built around 1974. He has also spent the dry seasons in various other locations in his area.

26The destination of the migration is the plain around an extinct volcanic crater, around 40 kilometres east of Bilu. It is called Manda, which means ‘lava flow’. It is 45+ 53’ 67”N and 40+ 13’ 13.20”E. The rim of the crater is 2,782 feet above sea level, and the bottom of the crater is at 2,746 feet. It is considered the abode of demons (ginni). The Manda grasslands extend east along the Uwwa River, west toward Ragden, and south to the Mille River. They vary in elevation from 2,590 to 2,650 feet. The various clans migrate to their same traditional areas in the eastern grasslands each year. These places have names. Family groups normally stay together, and each group takes care of its own cattle. Large herds of cattle from the Aysaqiita area to the east also come to the Manda grasslands during the rainy season. They follow the Uwwa River bottom if it is dry, or the paths along its banks. They stay together in an area south of the Uwwa towards the Mille River.

27For entertainment, a ball game (koqiso) like soccer is played by the male youth. Teams from different clans compete with each other in order to determine which team is the champion. The games are usually in the late afternoon. There are occasional cattle races. On an average, eight groups of cattle participate from various clans. The Aysaqiita cattle provide many groups since they are numerous. Strong, fast cattle are chosen and chased from behind while shooting guns. Judges stand at the end of the track and decide the winner. Whichever animal crosses the line first determines the winning group even if the other cattle in its group are slower. Winners celebrate by shooting more shots with their guns.

28In the evening dancing is popular. People come together from all clans to the area just west of Manda Crater. Children from seven years on may go along with siblings and neighbours, and watch and sing along on the choruses. Dancers are mainly from early teens to 30 years of age. Unmarried men and divorcees use this as a chance to court. Some participants go off alone for sex, which brings criticism of the dancing by the religious leaders. If a couple wants to marry, this will be arranged after returning to the main villages. Young married women also attend if they can escape their husbands. One informant said they would be questioned and advised by their husbands afterwards, but probably not punished. Traditional songs from earlier generations are sung, especially saxxaq, which is a line dance of males and females facing each other and moving in their respective lines toward, and then away from each other. The singing is antiphonal, and is led by those with singing and spontaneous composition skills. It includes sexual flirtation and playful slander of the opposite sex.2 The dancing begins when the people gather after finishing the evening chores, and often goes on to midnight. Moonlight gives opportunity to continue even all night.

29The following description of seasonal migration comes from an interview with Assiya Kaadir from Bilu. Her father died while she was a baby. As a child she always went with her mother and siblings to the Manda grasslands during the rainy season. After arrival the women set up the portable houses, and the men go to the river and cut thorn branches to make a fenced compound (daala), which encloses the houses and the pens for the young sheep and goats. The pens are made of branches or lava rocks. The branches are brought to the compound by camel. Calves and young camels are tied to stakes outside the compound while their mothers are grazing. The stakes are driven all the way into the ground to prevent the animals from pulling them out.

30Work is divided between everyone. The men herd the camels and cattle. The children are responsible to herd the sheep and goats. Women with babies stay in the compound and care for the nursing calves, lambs and kids, which are kept there. Jackals are a danger for the young animals, and sometimes hyenas come at night. The people sleep lightly and get up and protect their animals when they hear predators coming. Only a minority of men strictly observe the prescribed daily five times Muslim prayers (salat). Women generally do not join the men, but may do so in a row behind them. They may also perform the prayer ritual alone or with other women. Women and men both participate in Friday and festival prayers.

31Water is available in ponds when it rains. If these dry up, the herders must take the animals to the Uwwa River. Milking the camels, cows, sheep and goats takes place first thing every morning and at dusk when the animals return from the pasture. The men milk the camels, either men or women milk the cows, although it is usually the women, and the women milk the sheep and goats. Young animals are allowed to nurse after the people get what they want. The women gather wood for cooking, and bring water from the ponds or river. If the distance isn’t too great, they carry the wood and goat-skin water bags on their backs. Assiya’s enclosure had two or three donkeys and around five camels for distant transport.

32Each married Afar woman has a portable house. The children stay with their mother. After her mother stopped going to Manda, Assiya stayed with one of her older brother’s wives, and their three children. Each wife had come with her children. If a man has more than one wife he spends the night with each in turn. Four wives is the maximum allowed. The wives’ houses are together in the same compound of their husband. Assiya’s unmarried brother slept on a cowhide beside the hut. When it rained he got under the hide for shelter. Other occasional visitors also slept on the hide. One night Assiya got up during a storm. A strong wind pushed the hut over and pulled the poles of the frame out of the ground. Those sleeping on the bed were not harmed, but since Assiya was standing, she was carried away rolling with the hut. Two visitors ran and rescued her.

33Malaria is common, especially at the end of the rainy season when they return to Bilu. Assiya got it every year. Some itinerant medical practitioners came to the Manda area. If necessary, people are sent to the pharmacy at Alalesubla to bring medicine. Pregnant women expecting to deliver during the rainy season would often stay in Bilu. If a midwife (ullatina) was going to spend the rainy season in the grasslands, pregnant women could choose to go and deliver there.

34Milk is so plentiful during the rainy season that no other food is needed. Milk is put in a carved wooden pot (koora) with a lid made of woven grass that is covered with hide and decorated with cowry shells. After fermenting, the curds are eaten with a wooden spoon. Fresh milk is also drunk. Extra milk is churned by sloshing it back and forth in small goatskins. Women and girls from five years old on do the churning. They may also hang the skin from a tree or pole and tie another rope to the end of the skin bag to pull it back and forth. Buttermilk is normally used, but there is so much during the rainy season that it is poured out. This time of migration to the grasslands is considered the happiest time of the year with so much milk and added social activities. The churned butter (mutuk) is added to the yogurt when eating. Extra butter is kept in a larger goatskin (koxxa) for future use and sharing back at the main village, or for sale in the highland markets. The butter may also be cooked into a clear liquid (subac) before storage. It is sometimes taken to Chifra, the Afar market to the south, for sale. If there is a drought, and milk is short, grain is purchased in the markets. Animals are sold to get money for grain or other needs, but generally the rural Afar do not sell their animals as a money-making business.3

35To show a typical family’s participation in seasonal migration, Assiya gave the following account of her living siblings – as several others died. She is the youngest of six with the same father and mother. Her mother also bore two children by her father’s brother after her father died. The oldest sibling is a woman who continued to go on migration sometimes after marriage, but whose husband stayed and ploughed. When she went, he would come and go. The next is a man who always goes. The third is a woman who always goes with her family. The fourth is the brother who slept outside. He later married and then divorced a cousin bride, who always went. He is now married again. The fifth is a sister who lost her first husband in an accident. Her second husband, a brother of the deceased, divorced her. She went with a child from each, and now goes regularly with the third brother who married her. She takes her five children. Assiya’s two siblings by her father’s brother are students, who both go regularly when school is not in session. The first is a boy, and the youngest is a girl who is also married to a cousin.

36Though this seasonal migration is the most significant intraethnic movement pattern of the Uwwa area, new movement patterns have recently emerged along with the development of irrigation and education projects.

Social movement generated by irrigation and education projects

37Since the late 1960s the rivers and wadis of the Afar provide water for irrigation during the rainy season. Large areas along the Awash River from Malka-Saddi to Aysaqiita have been cleared, levelled and ploughed to serve as sugar, cotton, and sorghum plantations. The workers for these projects are mainly from the highlands. The movement of people from other ethnic groups into the Afar culture disrupts their previous homogenous status. This is seen as a threat by many Afar. The loss of grazing along the Awash cuts away the backup of animal food for the nomads. This loss is devastating during drought, since the Afar depend on the vegetation along the rivers when there is no grass.4

38Development projects are building diversion dams to irrigate other rivers coming out of the highlands with the intent to get the Afar to settle and raise crops. For example, the Awra northern branch of the Uwwa River has had a diversion dam for four years. There is also a gravity canal on the southern side of the Uwwa west of Manda with irrigated plots. Plans are also being made to pump ground water for irrigation in this area. The need for a grain supplement especially during drought is recognized by the Afar, so many have added ploughing during the rainy seasons to their traditional grazing economy. The manual labour required for these projects also provides income for the Afar who are hired to dig. The Uwwa River banks are still kept with their natural trees and vegetation, so the devastation seen along the Awash is not found here. The Uwwa has a limited supply of water, so the use for irrigation will need to be watched to insure sufficient water for the traditional wells in the river sand, which provide water for the people and cattle downstream. At this point, most Afar do not see irrigation farming as a way to give up their traditional nomadic grazing, but as a supplement to it. However, the movement toward sedentary farming, which restricts open pasture, is a significant new social dimension for Afar along rivers and wadis.

39Government schools have been built in Bilu and Ragden through eighth grade, and in Alalesubla through tenth grade. Although a few teachers come from the Afar Region, most of them originate from the highlands. They get a bus to Alalesubla and usually walk the 10 kilometres to Bilu, or 5 from Karawayu to Ragden. They are a mixture of Muslims and Christians. Socially this is a big change for the Uwwa Afar to have highlanders living among them with a different culture.

40Students are also moving because of their education. If they pass to eleventh grade they must go to the school at Kalwan 50 kilometres to the north, or to the school at Chifra 35 kilometres south. A stipend is given to them by the government, but some students drop out when it does not cover their expenses. Others get help from relatives. Even going to a local school interrupts the normal pastoral life of a young person, and requires adjustments for the family to cover herding responsibilities. These changes are new to the traditional pastoral culture, where everyone was involved with caring for the stock.

41One young woman from the area was educated through sixth grade. She married two cousins in succession, but had miscarriages with both and was divorced. Divorcees who have not produced children are often not required to marry a third absuma, but are left to do what they want. She went to Awash and joined the police academy. After returning, she became the first policewoman in Alalesubla, where she served for three years. Now she has left the country and become a worker in Saudi Arabia. Her education opened doors of movement unthinkable before the schools were started.

Conclusion

42The rivers and wadis crossing the Uwwa Woreda and its vicinity seem to perform a kind of cartographic representation of the local Afar political and economic federations. From the inter- to the intraethnic levels, these waterway networks reveal the multiple movement patterns of the Afar nomadic tradition.

43Though the Arrayi rainy season migrations still constitute one of its major social expressions, the recent implementation of irrigations projects and the construction of several schools in the Uwwa Woreda are entailing the emergence of new migration logics. These innovations are carrying important economic and cultural challenges, as these development projects tend to be closely related to the rivers and wadis, which shaped the social dynamics of these local Afar federations for several centuries.