Welkait question

Provinces of Ethiopia, before 1935

The Welkait question involves a controversial territorial dispute surrounding the Ethiopian area Welkait, which is situated in the present-day Tigray Region. Welkait had been an independent area but was incorporated within Begmeder province, but after the fall of the Derg in 1991, the area was given by the TPLF government to Tigray's Western Zone. During Abiy Ahmed administration, the Tigray and Welkait Committee counterparts held peaceful talks in Gondar on 19 April 2018. Abiy pleaded the Welkait question should be addressed in peaceful resolution.

Tigrayan claims

Welkait within Western Tigray Zone

Welkait was historically its own province until 1944 when it was incorporated into Begmeder. This decision by Haile Selassie aimed to punish Tigray for the first Woyane rebellion. The uprising, led by Tigrayan farmers, was a response to Haile Selassie's plans to centralize power in Ethiopia around the government in Shewa, which went against the Tigrayan people's desire for self-determination.

Image from 1978 about the linguistic status of Welkait

Following the suppression of the rebellion, Haile Selassie assigned Welkait to Begmeder to allow the Amhara-led elite in Begmeder to control the area and weaken Tigrayan unity, preventing further uprisings. Raesi Mengesha Seyoum, the last monarch prince in Tigray, attested to the fact that, during his youth, all of Western Tigray and Southern Tigray to Alwuha Milash belonged to Tigray. However, portions of Western Tigray and Southern Tigray were taken from Tigray in the 1940s by Haile Selassie as a punitive measure and to expand Amhara influence.

19th-century ethnic map from Ghent University, Belgium, depicting northern Ethiopia. In this map, Welkait is identified as ethnically Tigrayan.

After the fall of communist Derg in 1991, Welkait was reassigned to Western Tigray, due to its close ties to the Tigray people. The Welkait question —whether it is Tigrayan or Amhara—intensified with its incorporation into the Tigray region. According to a demographic analysis done by the Derg regime about the population of the larger Begmeder province, the population of Welkait in 1984 was 221,692 residents. The same analysis stated that the Tigrayan population of Begmeder was 190,183 people, which made Tigrayans the second largest ethnicity. The study provided evidence that Tigrayans were a majority in Welkait. Multiple linguistic and ethnic maps supporting the population's majority Tigrayan ethnicity.

Donald N. Levine, an American professor who recognizes Welkait as Tigrayan land.

Maps and books written long before TPLF's claim to power provide evidence of the Tigrayan majority in the area. The American sociologist and author Donald N. Levine, whose primary work was Ethiopian studies, wrote the classical work "Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture". The book contain maps of the languages spoken across Ethiopia, proving the language spoken in Welkait was Tigrinya with a Tigrayan majority. The book "Class Struggle and the Problem in Eritrea", written by the Kenyan politician Peter Anyang' Nyong'o in 1979, proves the same. The names of cities and towns such as Mai Kadra, Mai Tsebri, Tselemti and Addi Remets are Tigrinya further justifying the incorporation of Welkait into the Tigray Region.

After the resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn. The resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn led the release of Col. Demeke Zewdu, who demanded that Welkait should be incorporated into the Amhara region, due to its history of being within Begmeder between 1941-1991 and the claim of its short history with the Amhara region. This would later lead to the Tigray war.

During the war, the Tigray Region was attacked by the Amhara militia Fano and there were mass killings reported against the civilians in Welkait. Mass rape, forced deportations and ethnic oppression became a normal part of life for the people of Welkait. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, two of the world's most respected Non-Governmental Organizations both wrote articles expressing their concerns about the events. Amnesty International stated: "newly-appointed officials in Western Tigray and security forces from the neighbouring Amhara region, with the acquiescence and possible participation of Ethiopian federal forces, systematically expelled several hundred thousand Tigrayan civilians from their homes using threats, unlawful killings, sexual violence, mass arbitrary detention, pillage, forcible transfer, and the denial of humanitarian assistance. These widespread and systematic attacks against the Tigrayan civilian population amount to crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes." The concerns of war crimes committed against the people of Welkait has caused massprotests all across the world, especially among the Tigrayan diaspora (see Reactions to the Tigray War) who seek justice for their people. Fano are currently still committing these mass atrocities and since the ENDF military forces withdrew from the area during Amhara Region conference with the Prosperity Party on 16 March 2023, there is no military power that will stop them from continuously committing mass expulsions against the people of Welkait.

HRW stated that hundred of thousands of Tigrayans have fled Welkait because of fear of the relentless persecution they have faced. Due to claims by Amhara nationalists of Welkait, justifications to the mass killings of Tigrayans is widespread in the Amhara region. The article states that when the mass expulsions in Welkait started, majority of Tigrayans left, however the ones that stayed hid in their homes. Amhara residents would paint "ት", a Ge´ez (Ethiopian) "T", in front of the houses representing the home of a tigrayan, where the residents would later be killed for resisting the expulsion. There is an active ongoing attempt of changing the majority Tigrayan ethnicity to a majority Amhara where people of other ethnicities will live under oppression.

Amhara claims

After the Derg collapse, the TPLF annexed Welkait into Western Tigray and began harassing, deporting, killing, and arresting people identified with Amhara. At least 5,000 Amharas displaced and hundreds of thousands Tigrayans settled to Welkait. Many people were forced to speak Tigrinya language, and rivers, lakes, mountains, spring and cities were changed from Amharic to Tigrinya. Discriminatory practices were almost 95% at governmental workplaces, where some Tigrayans displaced Amhara farmers and took their land.

In 2015, Amharas from Begmeder formed Welkait Amhara Identity Question Committee and collected 25,000 signatures. They submitted the signatory letters to zonal, regional and federal offices on 17 December 2015. The result met with ambivalent responses; some argued for identity question while the others related it to border question, the former dealt with zonal level and the later with federal level. Otherwise, the Committee hold it through legitimate claims in accordance with the rule of law. Soon after, the TPLF government began arbitrary arrests and purges against the committee members. In July 2016, most of its members were detained in Gondar and transported to Addis Ababa's Central Prison. Coloniel Demeke Zewdu was one of a victims who rebelled to the soldiers and arrest him at night.

Demonstration in Amhara region in 2016

As the arbitrary arrests and tortures intensified, Welkait Committee members set off series of protests in Amhara Region, and along with cases in Oromia Region and other regions, large-scale protests were erupted across Ethiopia, calling for justice and democracy. Protestors expressed concern with unequal distribution of power and economic exploitation by TPLF government. After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power, he met with Welkait Committee members in Goha Hotel, Gondar on 19 April 2018. In the meeting, Abiy pleaded to Tigrayan security force not harass and killing civilians as well as the Welkait question should be peacefully raised under constitution.

Still, the Tigray government continued atrocities around the annexed area. Many Amharas, who speak Amharic language and songs, were beaten, incarcerated and thrown from cliffs to death. In 2019, TPLF made youth group samri held many Amharas from Mai Kadra and summarily executed. Amidst the Tigray War in August 2021, TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda told that TPLF was not ready for national dialogue to end the war and chose rebelling the government by financing several factions in Oromo and Qemant minorities. Contested areas in Western Tigray such as Welkait, Tsegede, Setit and Humera special zone seized by the Amhara Special Force. In May 2021, a reconciliation dialogue held between Amhara and Tigrayan community members, and the Welkait Committee remain stable stance on the issue. According to Hiber Radio, the ENDF military forces withdrew from the area during Amhara Region conference with the Prosperity Party on 16 March 2023.

See also

• Welkait
• 2014–2016 Oromo protests