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9. Customary Dispute Resolution
Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
in Tigray Regio
in Addis A...

GRASS-ROOTS JUSTICE IN ETHIOPIA  | Alula Pankhurst,  Getachew Assefa Regional Case Studies

10. Customary Dispute Resolution in READ

Addis Ababa, with Reference to Yeka

Kifle Ketema
Sebsib Belay
OPEN ACCESS

p. 237-247

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1 Addis Ababa was established in 1886 by Emperor Menelik II and Empress

TABLE OF CONTENTS Taitu as the country’s capital. Most of its built up area falls within the
altitude range of 2200 m to 2500 m above sea level, the northernmost part
CITE SHARE PDF FILE OF THE BOOK
of the city is about 3000m. Entoto Hills to the North, Mounts Wechecha and
Furi to the West and Southwest and Yerer Mountain in the East and South
CITED BY
encircle Addis Ababa. According to the Population and Housing Census of
1994, the population was over two million and was projected to be over
three million in 2007. However, given very rapid urban growth in the past
CHAPTER IN PDF FORMAT
decade it is generally believe that the census carried out in 2007 will reveal
significantly higher figures. The City Government Administration of Addis
Ababa divided Addis Ababa into ten Kifle ketemas or Administrative
Divisions and 100 kebeles.

2 In the city of Addis Ababa according to the Federal Police Commission FREEMIUM
types of crimes recorded in included 9572 cases of intentional/non-
Recommend to your
intentional homicide, 7007 attempted homicide, 8583 cases of robbery,
library for acquisition
44213 cases of theft, 119037 cases of assault, 9731 cases of
embezzlement, 8046 cases of fraud, 3121 cases of rape, 86132 cases of
BUY
rule breaking, and 88565 cases of other crimes in 2002-3 (CSA, 2004:
377).

3 Yeka Kifle ketema where the research was carried out is situated in the ePUB / PDF
northern part of Addis Ababa. The Kifle ketema has a total area of about
128 km2 and comprised 11 urban kebeles and peasant associations. Based
on the results of the National Population and Housing Census of 1994, the
total projected population of the Yeka Kifle ketema in 2004 was estimated
to be over 260,000 people. There is a slight predominance of females
(53.11%) over males (46.89%). There is a substantial variation of population
density among 11 kebeles and PAs. The ethnic composition of the Kifle
ketema is diverse including Amara, Oromo, Tigraway, Sebatbet Gurage,
Sodo Gurage, Silte, Kembata, Wolayta and others. With regard to mother
tongue, most residents are Amharic speakers. The majority of the
inhabitants are Orthodox Christians, although there are also Muslims,
Protestants, Catholics, traditional believers and others (CSA, 1995: 59-61).

Customary Dispute Resolution Cases

4 Three cases are presented below. One is a criminal case resulting from a
fight between youths who were friends. The two others are civil disputes.
One concerns a marital dispute that involves a woman’s appeal for divorce,
while other relates to a border dispute between neighbours one of whom
encroached on the land of the other.

Case One: Fight between two football supporters

and the role of their families and elders
5 Two young close friends and neighbours supporting different football
teams had a fight after Manchester United defeated Arsenal in the cup final.
In the ensuing fight the Manchester supporter was injured and lost two
teeth. He appealed to the police for the case to be sent to court. The
respective family members of the two youths and a respected elder took
the initiative in intervening before the investigating policeman presented
the case to one of the first instance courts in the Kifle ketema. When the
elders took initiative serve as ‘informal judges’, the injured requested that
the dispute be considered by customary means. The elders met with the
two litigants and managed to convince them to resolve their dispute
through patience, and advice about the paramount importance of peace
and order preached by a priest who was the chairman of the elders. The
aggressor was made to pay all medical and other expenses, including
reparation for physical injuries and psychological disturbances and was
made to apologise. In addition, a sheep was bought and presented to the
harmed party’s family to be slaughtered as compensation.

Case Two: Marital Dispute; a woman appeals for

divorce
6 The couple had been living together for decade. He had a lucrative position 183. Some people call such
in a government office as a financial officer and she was a student in a high decisions ‘yewiha fird,’
literally ‘justice of water’
school. However, their respective family members did not like one another.
meaning unbiased decisi (...)
He sent elders as go-betweens in order to request her family for her hand
in marriage and to fix the wedding day if her parents were willing.
However, her family refused. Therefore, the couple agrees to a pretend
abduction and sent a mediator once again for kin-negotiations. He was
successful and the couple had a marriage ceremony. However she had two
miscarriages and was unable to have children; her husband brought his
nephew to live with them; however, relations between the nephew and the
wife were not good and he would tell lies about her to his uncle. On one
occasion she beat him and he responded saying ‘had you been my mother;
you would not have beaten me very severely.’ She tried to raise the matter
with her husband but they could not reach a consensus. On one occasion
when the boy’s mother came to visit she and the wife dressed up and went
to town coming back late afternoon. The husband got upset and put his
wife’s clothes in a cupboard, and her beloved mother’s photograph into
fire. At this point she left the house, and appealed to elders from both
sexes in their social networks for divorce. However, the husband refused
her request for divorce. Her neger abbat (‘representative’) appealed to the
elders in the living area. Through patience and repeated attempts by
peacemakers chaired by respected priest, the couple resolved the dispute
and the husband bought a pair of clothes, earrings and rings as reparation
for his serious mistakes, based on the peacemakers’ decisions 183 and the
couple started living ‘peacefully’.

Case Three: Boundary Dispute

7 One of the ‘informal judges’ narrated: ‘People who were born, brought up
and started farming in rural areas migrated to big cities for various
reasons. These individuals are mostly settled away from the centre of the
city where they can hold large plots of land for residences and other
purposes. In our locality, two rural-based dwellers live in a neighbourhood
and hold relatively large plots of land. These landholders possess plots that
have only land use bills (receipts obtained for paying urban land use tax)
but they are not held legally. The two neighbouring residents quarrelled, on
the grounds that one of them trespassed onto 5 meters of his neighbour’s
land and fenced his new land holding with bricks. The victim, therefore,
sent his father confessor in order to act as a go-between. The trespasser
refused to return to his original boundary. The victim once again sent the
trespasser’s father confessor in order to convince the intruder to pull down
the wall. The trespasser, in would not listen and the victim got upset and
strolled around the wall to give a last warning to the trespasser to pull
down the wall. One day, the victim came across the trespasser and gave
him a warning, accompanied with a menace. After few days, the victim
changed his mind and decided to appeal to the kebele social court. At that
time, the trespasser sent the victim’s father confessor in his turn to the
victim as a go-between so that the dispute could be resolved through
shemgiilnna, literally ‘eldering’ meaning through the mediation of elders.
The father confessors from either side, together with three other persons
from the neighbourhood succeeded in resolving the dispute without any
reparation.

Description of the CDR Process

8 Some ethnic groups in Ethiopia have specific terms in their respective
cultures in order to express different traditional dispute resolution
institutions. Even though the city can be envisaged as small Ethiopia, there
is no uniform and specific term even to express the same type of civil,
criminal, or commercial cases because different types of such cases that
may be categorized under one major dispute type. The CDR is generally
referred to as shimgilinna literally ‘elderling’ which emphasises the role of
the elders in the process.

Jurisdiction
9 Regarding jurisdiction one of the elders involved in litigation in his, 60’s
stated, ‘Such mechanisms are used to resolve disputes between family
members or husband and wife, between neighbouring residents, between
dwellers of different kebeles and disputes at a village level. So far I have
judged informally about seven cases and served as chairman and as
secretary of the dispute resolution institutions at different times of which
there was only one criminal case was resolved in CDR.’ In addition, all
residents from all walks of life are eligible for services. In fact, he stated
confidently, ‘there is no one-who is actually excluded from the CDR
service.’ He also argued that there was no specification regarding amounts
of money involved. He concluded: ‘We do not ‘judge’ serious civil, and
criminal cases which involved a lot of money’.

Parties’ Degree of Freedom

10 The participation of all the parties in CDR is relatively a voluntary service.
However the parties are not bound to participate and are not bound by the
process and outcome. One of disputants or both of them may not want to
resolve the dispute through CDR. However, concerned and dedicated
elderly residents usually interfere to try to settle the dispute. Firstly, these
elders try hard to get affirmative response from the disputants about their
willingness to participate. The ‘judges’ give appointment once or twice or
three times till the issue becomes smooth and to make the disputants think
about it through time. As far as possible, the ‘judges’ calmly reiterate the
usefulness of peace, bad sides of crime, bad aspect of enmity, the value of
forgiveness in front of God, the repercussions of revenge, wickedness of
sin, value of submissiveness and forgiving one who does wrong to some
one in front of God, and generally the necessity of peace in social life. In
addition, the ‘judges’ emphasise the repercussions of engagement in
disputes such as refusal to help and support the reluctant party at the time
of happiness and hardship in social life. Litigants may also come under
social pressure to agree to take part in CDR.

11 Once the elders have obtained the consent of both parties to participate,
they go first together to one party and then to other party in order to
obtain first-hand information. The guilty party knowing that the issue is
under consideration and that the formal system may make him accountable
and decide against him and if he regrets his action and does not want to be
taken in front of law court; he may request elders for their CDR service.

Link with Traditional Institutions

12 The CDR is linked to traditional structures or institutions of the community
or society in question. The CDR is mostly related to indigenous institutions
such as iddir and mehaber., Though the primary function of these social
institutions is not dispute settlement they can serve as means for referring
cases to reinforce both disputing parties to agree to participate and to be
bound by the CDR process. Moreover, the same institutions can serve as
fora for apology, as contexts for creating sympathy to each other, as
effective enforcement mechanisms for making the parties comply with the
informal judges’ decisions and to present candidates for serving as
informal judges.

Structure of the Institution/System

13 There is a hierarchy within the CDR institution. Whatever the official rules,
beliefs, and values of the institution the Chairman, the Secretary, and two
or more persons in the CDR have their own ideas and develop their own
informal structure within the larger formal structure of the institutionalised
justice system.

Composition and characteristics of the shimagiles

14 The elders often include a respected priest who is a member of an
Orthodox church in the area together with at least two or at most six other
elders. Religious leaders may give benediction to the process and to quote
relevant verses in the Bible

15 This type of the CDR institution in which disputes are resolved traditionally
requires various types of skills or qualifications in order to perform the
CDR service capably. One informant stated that there are usually one priest,
secretary and member(s) in the CDR process. These members of the CDR
institution, as ‘informal judges’ must have the required skills and
qualifications to become eligible ‘informal judges’ and deliver the CDR
service effectively and efficiently. Regarding who can taken on the role the
same informant stated: “Those people in the area who had dispute
resolution experiences, are capable of convincing disputants, of bringing
peace and let it rule over others, and generally those residents who are up
to the standards of the criteria of the community for appointing ‘informal
judges’. Therefore, those judges are capable of providing the CDR service.”
The appointment process of ‘informal judges’ is situational or contextual,
although certain basic skills for handling or resolving disputes are required.

Place and Time of the CDR

16 The members of the CDR institution usually meet in a compound of
Orthodox Christian Churches or mosque compound or under a large
sycamore tree. Sometimes though it may take place in a private house of
litigants, their families or neighbours. CDR is initiated when disputes arise
and the sessions may take place with gaps partly since getting the parties
and mediators together may be difficult given work constraints and to give
time for the parties to reconsider and begin to come to terms.

17 The CDR meetings often are adjourned and the process takes several
sessions with time gaps in between. For instance in the case of the youth
who fought over the football the elders met them three times over a period
of two months.

Description of the CDR process

Types of Evidence
18 Peacemakers in the locality usually try to check all available evidence from
different witnesses who have something to say about a case under
consideration. Disputants must present detailed evidence including of
injuries and if they have witnesses, they have to present them. The
peacemakers assess and evaluate the evidence by posing various questions
and through probing both disputants and their witnesses. The ‘judges’
then discuss the aspects of the presented evidence among themselves in
order to reach at the ‘truth’ and make decision(s) on the dispute under
consideration. At times, if the ‘informal judges’ find it useful to refer to
precedence to assess the evidence, then they do so. Witnesses are just
called by one of ‘judges’ without a written formal letter, and the witness is
expected to appear in person in front of the peacemakers.

Traditional Beliefs
19 There are blessings both at the outset and at the end of the CDR session.
During the blessings, the priest usually asks for God’s favour and
protection, leads prayer asking for a good outcome and things that bring
happiness before and after the CDR process. The peacemakers in the
locality mostly perform this CDR in the light of church-based laws and
higge-libbuna, meaning law-conscience.

Decision Making Process

20 In some cases if the elders feel that the offender has violated the laws their
decisions include a financial penalty — a party who breaks the decision is
to pays five hundred birr to the government and two hundred and fifty birr
to the disadvantaged party.

21 The peacemakers also often require compensation by the ‘offender’;

sometimes this may take the form of a sheep as ‘blood reparation’.
Sometimes the injured party may be reluctant to receive the compensation
on the grounds that it may not be good for their reputation. The elders
often aim to broker a compromise by mutual consensus between the
disputing parties

Announcement/Record
22 In some cases the decisions are given orally; however, the secretary of the
CDR team may also keep notes, keep files and case folders and read the
decision to the litigants. The disputants are asked by the elders are
whether they agree or not. If they reach at consensus on certain aspects of
the dispute, then the disputants sign their agreement.

23 The decision is usually announced by the Chairman of the CDR institution

is written form. The Secretary of the CDR institution in the research area
records the decision in an exercise book or other document. The record
contains date, names of disputants, the peacemakers, types of dispute, an
outline of the case, and decisions and remarks. The paper on which
decisions are written is prepared in three copies. The original copy, the
second one, and third copy is given to the victim, the wrongdoer, and to
the Secretary of the CDR.

Possible Outcomes
24 Among the outcomes there may be apology, reparation and the award of
damages. In case the elders require an apology the wrongdoer must ask for
an apology, and the victim, in turn, must express his willingness to accept
the apology. The wrongdoer, for example, may say: ‘As I am the wrong-
doer, you make apology to me in the name of the Almighty God.’
Reparation may include coverage of medical expenses, payment of some
amount of money as reparation for physical injury or disability, providing a
sheep to be slaughtered as a sacrifice for blood-reparation, and some
other financial expenses related to the dispute and its consequences taking
into account the wrong-doer’s economic status.

Enforcement Procedures
25 Sanctions can be applied as a means of enforcement of the decision(s).
These can include financial penalty and informal enforcement mechanisms.
The disputants may appear in front of iddir members, and the iddir leaders
may take the decision that the disputants may be removed from iddir
membership if they fail to comply with the decision, and then no
community member will participate at times of mourning, as well as
happiness. Moreover, if the disputing parties intend to join other iddir or
go to another place in the city, the iddir leaders will not give them a release
letter from the iddir. If they request the kebele office for the release the
elders may write a letter to the office which states that so-and-so are
socially labelled as people who are bad to the community, and this may be
included in the release paper.

Remuneration
26 The forms of remuneration for those involved in the CDR can be in cash
and/or in kind. The CDR institutions that are held at some places, for
example, in the compounds of the Saint Trinity Church, Saint Giorgis
Church, Saint Urael Church, Saint Estiphanos and others involve financial
transaction as per diems for those peacemakers involved in the resolution
process. Some other peacemakers are critical of this. As one of them put it:
‘Those ‘peacemakers’ who think in their belly and fail to give space for
God’s words regarding dispute resolution usually receive a sum of money
as per diem in order to ‘judge informally’ the married couples who are
litigants in front of them. For such elders, especially those who are
pensioners the CDR is a lucrative business.’ At the consensual resolution of
a dispute the disputing parties (mostly the wrong-doer) may contribute
money in order to invite the elders to have drinks which is said to ‘moisten
their throat and to create favourable social environment’ so that the
disputants can be reconciled.

Linkages with Formal System

27 Informants noted that there are linkages with formal system of justice. This
can help to reduce the work burden on the formal system, shorten time
elapsed in judging case, prevent the creation of dissatisfaction. Members of
the formal justice system or offices and police station offices sometimes
recommend and refer some cases or disputes to the CDR institution to be
resolved by elders in a neighbourhood. Litigants can therefore work
through both systems of resolving disputes.

Evaluation of the CDR

Advantages of the CDR institution
28 Positive aspects of the CDR include an emphasis on reaching a consensus
and reconciliation with less of a concern for penalising the wrongdoer. The
elder peacemakers stressed to following advantages: being able to resolve
disputes peacefully, avoiding that the disputing parties develop negative
attitudes toward each other in terms of penalty at the court, avoiding deep-
rooted resentment/rancour, reducing the work burden on the police
stations and first instance courts.

Disadvantages of the CDR institution

29 The values held by those involved in CDR reflect those of the society and
the dominant groups within them. Gender equality is a major issue. One of
the elders admitted that the biblical view of women as inferior to men
influenced the judicial process and decision-making process, particularly in
marital disputes and the question of distribution of property on divorce. A
women in her early 50’s has this to say:

30 ‘In our locality, women do not participate and have a say in the CDR
because this is considered as work of men or it is not usual practice. Since
time immemorial, CDR has never given chance to women to participate in
the CDR process. If women got the chance to take part they could come up
with noble ideas and opinions that could contribute toward resolving
disputes successfully and fruitfully.’

31 Concerns are sometimes expressed about corruption associated with CDR

some parts of the city, especially in certain business-oriented disputes.
However, elders interviewed were adamant that this does not happen.

Assessment of the CDR Institution

Conformity to national legislation and
international norms
32 As traditional beliefs (such as blessings and cursing) are involved in the
process of CDR that may intrude into disputants’ right to liberty, and
freedom of religion, belief and opinion. Litigants may come under social
pressure to accept to participate in CDR. In the process of decision-
making, how the decision is made, how consensus is reached, how
compromise is reached, and how the third party makes the decision may
contravene some privileges granted under the FDRE Constitution Articles
20 and 21, Article 26 on right to privacy, article 27 on freedom of religion,
belief and opinion, notably insofar as oaths and swearing are used, Article
35 on the rights of women and article 36 on the rights of children
especially in divorce cases.

Integration with the Formal Justice System

33 There is already a degree of interaction between the two systems and some
complimentary or division of labour. The CDR institution does not deal with
very serious cases and often not cases involving large sums of money.
Sometimes the courts or police may suggest that disputants take cases to
CDR. At other times litigants may agree on CDR to avoid costs of the
courts. When a victim has already approached the formal system the
wrongdoer, relatives, neighbours or concerned elders may suggest CDR to
avoid high punishments or imprisonment

34 A greater integration of the CDR with the formal justice system could create
opportunities for elders to make use of their social skills and find a
fulfilling role in life. However, there may be impediments to greater
integration notably since the ‘informal judges,’ are mainly interested in
establishing reconciliation between litigants by creating an opportunity for
amity rather than ‘justice’

Recommendations
35 To enhance the integration of CDR with the formal justice system, the
following suggestions are put forward:
The already existing positive links between the CDR and the formal justice
system should be strengthened, the possibilities stated and those
impediments and barriers to integration should be reconsidered in a broader
view, together with commitments on the part of concerned officials to work
shoulder-to-shoulder for effectiveness of the justice system of the country
The integration of the two systems should recognise the value of the CDR for
maintaining peace and promoting reconciliation and harmony.
The integration of the CDR with formal justice system should enhance
practical conditions for teaching-learning process and experience sharing
through two-way perspective.
The integration should enable records on the case under litigation in one
dispute resolution system serving as input for other if the case must be
reconsidered or appealed at another level of the justice system in the country.
The integration with formal justice system should enable the selection,
training and eligible placement of ‘the judges’ for the CDR service so that
they work in collaboration with the formal system to resolve disputes.
The integration should create additional opportunities for work and good
contexts for enhancing the role of the elderly in social life.

List of Informants
Name of Date of
N° Social Status Place
Informant Interview

Ferensay
1 Ato Assefa Ex-diplomat & pensioner Jurte 3, 2004
Legasion

2 Ato Desta Pensioner Kotebe June 5, 2004

3 Ato Degefa Pensioner Gurara June 11, 2004

4 Ato Baye Pensioner Luke PA June 12, 2004

5 Ato Tegenu Stonemason Kotebe June 13, 2004

6 Memre Getnet Priest Kotebe June 15, 2004

7 Ato Gutta Carpenter and bricklayer Hanna Mariam June 7, 2004

Ferensay
8 W/ro Marie Teacher and housewife June 7, 2004
Legasion

Shambel
9 Employee at a local NGO Hanna Mariam June 14, 2004
Woubshet

1 Housewife and cleaner at a religious

W/ro Abeba Kotebe June 14, 2004
0 institute

NOTES
183. Some people call such decisions ‘yewiha fird,’ literally ‘justice of water’
meaning unbiased decisions which reflect justice in essence from elders’
perspectives.

AUTHOR

Sebsib Belay

© Centre français des études éthiopiennes, 2008

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11. Alternative Commercial
9. Customary Dispute Resolution
Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
in Tigray Regio
in Addis Ababa: The ...

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