Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa

Information on the Shekha ethnic group was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. However, the following information about the Sheka Zone and the Shekacho and Sheko ethnic groups may be useful.

1. Sheka Zone

According to the government of Ethiopia, the country is divided into Administrative Regions, also known as Zones, which include the Sheka Zone (Ethiopia n.d.a). According to the Movement for Ecological Learning and Community Action (MELCA), an Ethiopian membership-based association with the aim of working for a "healthy ecosystem, vibrant culture and improved lives of communities in Ethiopia" (MELCA n.d.b), the Sheka Zone is in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNP) (ibid. n.d.a). The SNNP's website indicates that it is located in the southwest part of the country (Ethiopia n.d.a, 1). The SNNP's Regional State Health Bureau indicates that the region is Ethiopia's third largest administrative region and that it is the "most diverse region in the country in terms of language, culture, and ethnic background" (ibid. n.d.b). According to Ethiopia's 2007 census, the population of SNNP was approximately 14.9 million (ibid. 2007, 82). According to the SNNP Regional State Health Bureau, the region accounts for approximately 20 percent of the country's population (ibid. n.d.b). UNESCO reports that the Sheka Zone's largest ethnic group is the Shekacho [Shekecho], representing 34.7 percent of the zone's population, and that another ethnic group in the region is the Sheko ethnic group, which represents 5 percent of the region's population (UN Sept. 2012).

According to Ethiopia's 2007 census, of the country's total population, 77,561 people identified as Shekacho and 37,576 as Sheko (Ethiopia 2007, 73). The same source indicates that the majority of Shekacho (68,768 individuals) and Sheko (34,445 individuals) live in rural areas (ibid.). Within the SNNP Region, there were 65,463 Shekacho (7,704 urban and 57,759 rural) and 36,527 Sheko (2,937 urban and 33,590 rural) (ibid., 83). The same source indicates that 21 people speak Shekacho in the Somali Region (ibid., 98) and 67,573 people speak Shekacho in the SNNP Region (ibid., 101).

2. Ogaden Basin and the ONLF

Information about the relationship between the Shekacho and Sheko ethnic groups and the Ogaden basin region, the Somali region or the ONLF could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. However, the following information may be useful.

The Inter Press Service (IPS) indicates that the Ogaden basin is located in south-eastern Ethiopia, in the Somali National Regional State (SNRS), and that it has a population of 8 to 10 million ethnic Somali (IPS 23 Feb. 2014). The Rift Valley Institute (RVI), an independent non-profit organization working in seven African countries to "advance useful knowledge of the region and its diverse communities" (RVI n.d.), indicates that the Ogaden region refers to the entire ethnic Somali-inhabited part of Ethiopia (ibid. 2014, 12). According to the 2007 census, the population of the Somali region was 4,445,219; of which 4,320,478 people identified as ethnic Somali, 26 as Shekacho and 10 as Sheko (Ethiopia 2007, 80). There are no ethnic groups referred to as "Ogaden" in the 2007 census (ibid., 73-74).

The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 indicates that the ONLF is an "ethnically based, violent and fragmented separatist group operating in [Ethiopia's] Somali region" (US 25 June 2015, 2). Human Rights Watch reports that the Ethiopian government considers the ONLF to be a terrorist organization (Human Rights Watch 25 Mar. 2014). Sources report that the ONLF has been fighting for self-governance (ibid.; IPS 23 Feb. 2014; CFR 1 Nov. 2007) of ethnic Somalis living in the Ogaden region (ibid.; IPS 23 Feb. 2014). Human Rights Watch reports that the ONLF "was initially a political party, but began a low-level armed insurgency in Ethiopia's Somali region in response to what it perceived to be the EPRDF's [Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, the ruling party] failure to respect regional autonomy" (Human Rights Watch 25 Mar. 2014). The same source indicates that the ONLF won control over the Somali region in 1992, but the group's open advocacy of secession for the Somali region "led to its ouster from government in 1994" (ibid. 3 July 2007).

Sources report that the conflict between the Ethiopian government and the ONLF has been ongoing for 20 years (RVI 2014; IPS 23 Feb. 2014). Country Reports 2014 indicates that in 2014, "scattered fighting continued between government forces — primarily regional government-backed militias — and elements of the ONLF" and that the ONLF was responsible for "abuses" in 2014 (US 25 June 2015, 2). The IPS indicates that "reports of forced evictions and human rights abuses in the vicinity of oil and gas fields [in the Ogaden region] is creating a new wave of grievances against the government in local communities" (IPS 23 Feb. 2014). Without providing details, the same source reports that the Ethiopian government placed an embargo on the Ogaden basin, which has "severely" isolated the region's population from "Ethiopia's development gains" and interfered with humanitarian agencies' access to the region (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). 1 November 2007. Rebecca Bloom and Eben Kaplan. "Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)." [Accessed 24 Sept. 2015]

Ethiopia. 2007. Central Statistical Agency. 2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Statistical Report at Country Level. [Accessed 24 Sept. 2015]

_____. N.d.a. Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State. "Basic Facts About SNNP Region." [Accessed 23 Sept. 2015]

_____. N.d.b. Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State Health Bureau. "SNNP Region Overview." [Accessed 23 Sept. 2015]

Human Rights Watch. 25 March 2014. "They Know Everything We Do:" Telecom and Internet Surveillance in Ethiopia. [Accessed 24 Sept. 2015]

_____. 3 July 2007. "Ethiopia: Crackdown in East Punishes Civilians." [Accessed 24 Sept. 2015]

Inter Press Service (IPS). 23 February 2014. Ed McKenna. "Humanitarian Crisis for Ogaden Living near Ethiopia's Oil Fields." [Accessed 24 Sept. 2015]

Movement for Ecological Learning and Community Action (MELCA). N.d.a. "Sheka Project Area (in SNNPR)." [Accessed 30 Sept. 2015]

_____. N.d.b. "About Us." [Accessed 30 Sept. 2015]

Rift Valley Institute (RVI). 2014. Tobias Hagmann. Talking Peace in the Ogaden: The Search for an End to Conflict in the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia. [Accessed 24 Sept. 2015]

_____. N.d. "Aims of the Institute." [Accessed 24 Sept. 2015]

United Nations (UN). September 2012. UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). "Sheka Forest." [Accessed 23 Sept. 2015]

United States (US). 25 June 2015. Department of State. "Ethiopia." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. [Accessed 24 Sept. 2015]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: associate professor, Department of Society and Globalisation, Roskilde University; honorary fellow, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.

Internet sites, including: Africa Confidential; Africa Files; All Africa; Amnesty International; Ethiopia – Central Statistics Agency; Factiva; Freedom House; International Crisis Group; IRIN; The Jamestown Foundation; Jane's Intelligence Review; Minorities at Risk; Nazret.com; Ogaden National Liberation Front; Ogaden News Agency; United Nations – Refworld; United States – Central Intelligence Agency; Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.