Ciinna – the Borana Oromo narration of the 1890s Great Rinderpest epizootic in North Eastern Africa

Abstract

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, consecutive natural calamities occurred in North Eastern Africa that collapsed pastoral economies and forced human adaptations. A rinderpest epizootic and devastating famine characterized the period. Using oral narrations of the Borana Oromo of Southern Ethiopia, this paper discusses the impact of the Great Rinderpest of the 1890s on cattle, as well as the subsequent famine, and the beginning of predation by carnivores on humans. Societal memory is utilized to reconstruct that particular historical period, referred to by the Borana as ciinna tiittee guracha – the “extermination of cattle whose corpses were covered by swarms of black flies”. The pastoral economy and human population collapse that occurred left imprints on historical traditions. The impact of the pandemic was explored in this study by discussing family traditions of the unusual danger of man-eating carnivores, the practice of pawning children, the dispersal of populations, the wiping-out of entire families and, most critically, the crisis of social identity. We examine societal responses and the revival of those social institutions that coordinated recovery and the redistribution of resources. We attempt to understand the process of recovery: the importance of head counting the survivors, the social and ritual re-organization of the gada, and the revival of social institutions that re-created social harmony and promoted pastoral economic recovery.

Keywords:

• demographic collapse
• epidemics
• oral history
• rinderpest
• Southern Ethiopia

Notes

1. Barrett, Pastoret, and Taylor, Rinderpest, 87; Jacobs, “Colonial Ecological Revolution,” 29.

2. Hobley, Kenya, 42–53.

3. Hobley, Kenya, 42–53.

4. Spinage, Cattle Plague, 1.

5. Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 126–32.

6. McCann, People of the Plow, 4.

7. Waller, “Emutai,” 76.

8. Lugard, Rise of East African Empire, 527.

9. Ofcansky, “The 1889–97 Rinderpest Epidemics,” 31.

10. Barrett, Pastoret, and Taylor, Rinderpest, 87; Spinage, Cattle Plague, 497–8; Mack, “Great African Cattle Plague,” 210.

11. Thomson, Through Masai Land.

12. Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics, 59; Jacobs, Environment, Power and Injustice, 101; Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 126; Kreike, Recreating Eden, 36; Ranger, “Plagues of Beasts and Men,” 246–7; Van Onselen, “Reactions to Rinderpest,” 473; Phoofolo, “Epidemic and Revolution,” 112–43. The date of 1887 for the infection entering Eritrea is reported as 1887 – Zewde “A Historical Outline of Famine,” p. 54.

13. Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics, 61.

14. Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 126.

15. Lugard, Rise of East African Empire, 527–32.

16. Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 127.

17. Zewde, “A Historical Outline of Famine, 52–58.

18. Davis, Late Victorian Holocaust, 128–31.

19. Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics.

20. Pankhurst and Johnson, “Great Drought and Famine,” 42–72.

21. Pankhurst and Johnson, “Great Drought and Famine,” 42–72.

22. Anderson, Eroding Commons, 37; Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 126–32; Waller, “Emutai,” 101.

23. Watts, Epidemics and History.

24. Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics.

25. Kjekshus, Ecology Control.

26. Weiss, “Dying Cattle,” 174.

27. Hartwig and Patterson, Disease in African History, 19.

28. Maddox, “Mtunya,” 188; Fadiman, When We Began; Spear, Kenya's Past; Vansina, Oral Tradition.

29. Maddox, “Mtunya,” 188–90.

30. Spear, Kenya's Past, xviii.

31. Vansina, Oral Tradition; Miller, “Listening for the African Past”; Fadiman, When We Began.

32. Richard Waller details the impact on the Maasai, while Helge Kjekshus deals with the impact on East Africa. Pankhurst focuses on north and central Ethiopia and James L. Giblin, The Politics of Environmental Control, on north-eastern Tanzania.

33. Megerssa and Kassam, “The Round of Time.”

34. Van Onselen, “Reactions to Rinderpest,” 484.

35. Waller, “Emutai,” 73.

36. There are nine tula well clusters that Borana have managed for centuries.

37. Oba, “Assessment of Indigenous Range Management Knowledge.”

38. Legesse, Gada.

39. Bassi, Decisions in the Shade.

40. Pankhurst, “Social Consequences of Drought and Famine,” 10.

41. Tache, “Pastoralism under Stress.”

42. Oba, “Shifting Identities,” 128; Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics, 66–80.

43. Waaqoo Adii Liban Dikale, 80, is the descendent of a brave hayu who is remembered by all Borana for playing a major role in organizing not only his clan but also the Borana in general. According to Waaqoo, ciinna started in the north where the Borana found dead buffalo and rhino that they skinned. They then shared the meat.

44. Borbor Bule, age 59, interviewed at Dubluq.

45. It is usual for the marabou stork to have a pink colour on the legs, which the Borana mistook for blood. One cannot discount, however, that the birds carried the virus without being infected by it.

46. Hobley, Kenya, 42.

47. Group discussion at Melbana.

48. Group discussion at Dhas.

49. See Pankhurst and Johnson, “Great Drought and Famine,” for a similar situation in northern Ethiopia.

50. Tadhi Did Sarbo, Borbor's informant was 90 years old in 1961. Tadhi was an eye witness who was in his late 20s during the epidemic. He migrated with his goats to the Gabra area but his brother remained behind and was eaten by a hyena.

51. The families of Waree Mogorree and Diimaa Teqee were in the same olla around Mega. The family of Diimaa Teqee migrated to the Mega highland and survived whereas Waree Mogorree's family were not in agreement and were affected because they did not migrate. This was confirmed by oral historians citing what Waree said after ciinna. He said, “warri kiyya ciinnaaf rukkise ciinni fuula keessa dhufee gurraan tolfate” meaning his family was in “disagreement and impoverishment and all their misfortunes were predestined”. According to Gurro Dida Diimaa Teqee, age 82, 12 family heads, women and children from Waree Mogorree's family died or were taken by gorjam. Only three family heads survived and were taken care of by Diimaa Teqee. The surviving members were restocked by Diimaa's family. Waree's family disorganization and chaos in every aspect of life was a reflection of the situation of Borana society in general, while Diimaa's family was a typical example of a family and society created after the incident. It was a good benchmark for what unity can do in a chaotic situation.

52. This is relevant in examining the role of water points in disease transmission. See Weiss, “Dying Cattle”; Goodall, “Riding the Tide.”

53. Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics, 61.

54. Donaldson-Smith, Through Unknown African Countries, 238.

55. Vannutelli and Citerni, Seconda Spedizione Bottego, 136.

56. Gwynn, “Journey in Southern Abyssinia,” 138.

57. Fitzgerald, Travels in the Coastlands of British East Africa, 347–49.

58. Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemic, 65.

59. Weiss, “Dying Cattle,” 184.

60. Balanbal Fayo, aged 102, talks of extreme cases of boiling dried bones and sniffing the evaporating water that had some odour of meat, and even of people fighting for the chance of sniffing, let alone over something to eat: Danfa lafee ulatanii deeffatan. Eating skin and licking the poles supporting the house (utuba) where, during times of plenty, people wiped their hands. The less wise people who did not store meat probably died earlier.

61. Gwynn, “Journey in Southern Abyssinia,” 122.

62. Nama horii dhaberra nama qalbii dhabetu bade means that “being wise is far more important than being rich, because wise people can easily design strategies to solve problems, whereas cattle can easily be lost”.

63. Interview with informant Waaqo Halake by Waktole Tiki in Borana in 2007.

64. Baxter, “Repetition in Certain Borana Ceremonies”; Hodson, Seven Years in Southern Abyssinia; Donaldson-Smith, Through Unknown African Countries.

65. The Waata group was in a better position not only because of their food habits, but also because of the survival strategy that they had been following. The weapons (poisoned arrows) they used in hunting enabled them to easily fight off hyena and lion (gorjam). That is why Borana who joined the Waata survived better than others.

66. Pankhurst, “Social Consequences of Drought and Famine,” 12.

67. Pankhurst and Johnson, “Great Drought and Famine.”

68. Waller, “Emutai”; Dias, “Famine and Disease.”

69. Godana Ajaa interview by G. Oba in 1978, translated from personal recorded archives.

70. Gorjam is a term describing habitual changes in food of normal predators that are described differently from predators that depended on natural preys. The Borana Oromo term for predators is koote referring to animals with paws.

71. Informant Waaqoo Halake, aged 72, Melbana.

72. Informants Dida Waaqoo, aged 80, Doyo Waaqoo, aged 82 at Dhas.

73. Ford, Role of Trypanosomiases; Sinclair and Norton-Griffith, Serengeti, 5.

74. Harrison, “Journey from Zeila,” 270–1.

75. Spinage, Cattle Plague, 498; Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics.

76. Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics, 61–80.

77. Pankhurst, “Social Consequences of Drought and Famine,” 15.

78. McCann, People of the Plow.

79. Kreike, Recreating Eden; Kjekshus, Ecology Control; Waller, “Emutai”; Sinclair and Norton-Griffith, Serengeti, 5; Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics, 88.

80. According to Balanbal Fayo, the young people of the Wokor Mallu age group escaped the most pressing problems (both gorjam and famine). They slept in trees to escape gorjam and hunted and gathered to obtain food. This was the social group that could do a lot, considering their social category.

81. Oral historians (Dida Waaqoo, aged 80, Doyo Waaqoo , aged 82, and Sora, aged 75) showed me (WT) a tree in which the Wokor Mallu age group slept to escape gorjam. It was called qalqalcha Wokor Mallu. It was a big, old tree with flat branches that could be used to sleep on. There were cases when people were taken by hyena after falling from trees or after coming down to hunt, gather food or collect water.

82. Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 127–31; Waller, “Emutai,” 96–8.

83. Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 130.

84. Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics, 89.

85. Hancock, Ethiopia, 64.

86. Waller, “Emutai,” 92; Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 132; Maddox, “Mtunya,” 181–96.

87. Anderson, Eroding Commons, 37; Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 132; Waller, “Emutai,” 79; Ford, Role of Trypanosomiases.

88. Fadiman, When We Began, 108; Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics,

89. Waller, “Emutai,” 92; Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 132; Maddox, “Mtunya.”

90. Gosa Wariyo, hayu of the Konitu clan, aged 88.

91. Weiss, “Dying Cattle,” 185.

92. Mordechai, “Southern Ethiopia.”

93. Halake Huqana, 90 years old, interviewed by GO in Moyale in 1993. Personal recorded archives.

94. Group discussion and informants like Gosa Wariyo and Borbor Bule.

95. Spear, Kenya's Past; Kjaerland, “Culture Change Among the Nomadic Borana,” 60.

96. Strategies such as hunting, gathering and migration were reported across eastern and southern Africa. For details see Kjekshus, Ecology Control; Waller, “Emutai”; Jacobs, Environment, Power and Injustice.

97. Waller, “Emutai,” 85–101.

98. Group discussion, Dhas.

99. Group discussion, Dhas.

100. Kjekshus, Ecology Control; Waller, “Emutai,” 77; Maddox, “Mtunya,” 181–97.

101. As evidence, Nura Dulacha had seen scratches and wounds on the faces of members of the Wokor Mallu age group who were injured while keeping goats during ciinna.

102. Pankhurst, “Social Consequences of Drought and Famine,” 13; Hartwig, “Social Consequences of Epidemic Diseases,” 36.

103. Kassam, “The People of the Five ‘Drums’,” 187.

104. Pankhurst, “Social Consequences of Drought and Famine,” 13; Halake Guyo Huqana 90 years old, interviewed in 1993 in Moyale by Gufu Oba.

105. Schlee, Identities on the Move.

106. Oba, “Ethnic Conflicts.”

107. Luling, Somali Sultanates.

108. Kjaerland, “Culture Change Among the Nomadic Borana.”

109. See Weiss, “Dying Cattle” on the Fulani in Sudan; and Van Onselen, “Reactions to Rinderpest,” on South Africa.

110. Legesse, Gada.

111. Jacobs, “Colonial Ecological Revolution,” 28.

112. Water points were the major places where the proposed Gumi Qonye to gather dispersed people was announced.

113. A magallata is a musical instrument made from the horn of the Great Kudu. It is used to awaken or to call people together for announcements, and to provide an early warning of approaching danger. An olla magallata was a settlement where people used this instrument to sound a warning or to call people together.

114. After the onset of the rinderpest, the burying of dead bodies was temporarily suspended, at first because of dispersion and disorganization and later because of the lack of manpower.

115. Qorii Bara ciinna was food made of wild fruit. People gathered the fruit and cooked it in a pot. It was then shared among many people. See also Dias, “Famine and Disease,” Waller, “Emutai”; Pankhurst, History of Famine and Epidemics.

116. Fadiman, When We Began, 108.

117. Group discussion at Dubluq.

118. Borbor Bule, oral historian, aged 59.

119. The importance of social organization in dealing with environmental vagaries is detailed in Kreike, Re-creating Eden; Jacobs, “Colonial Ecological Revolution,” 28–32; McCann, Greenland.

120. Boru Afato, aged 98, Gosa Wariyo, aged 85, interviewed at Lafto.

121. This was to determine which owners of individual wells and ponds had survived so that the property rights of these resources would not be violated.

122. Borbor Bule, oral historian, aged 59, Nura Dulacha, aged 90, interviewed at Dubluq.

123. Malicha Golo Qoncorro, aged 65.

124. The Alchaya clan has now grown and is requesting independence from the Maliyu clan, as the 18th Borana clan.

125. Maddox, “Mtunya,” 181–97; Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 131.

126. This is the Borana name for Gudas in the present day Marsabit District of northern Kenya. The incident refers to the capturing and adoption of the Rendille children during the war. Waanno, Dallo, Luuqii, and Girja were known places to all Borana from which Rindille, Arsi, Somali, and Jamjam or Guji tribes respectively adopted.

127. According to oral sources, one of the most appreciated measures of this period was the returning of wives and children to their former clans.

128. Different terms such as ni Oromomsaan (made an Oromo) or hin oromsaan (given property) are used after which the adopted person assumes the name of the family that adopted him. From then on he breaks with the past and his identity in terms of tribe and clan changes.

129. Oral historians and participants in group discussions explained the contribution of this brilliant man to the continuity of the Borana system. However, his family line later lost its leadership position because of his challenging the qallu who was authorized to approve the election of Hayu. Family members of Jilo Boru are now reported to have become Muslims.

130. Pankhurst , History of Famine and Epidemics, 84.

131. Bilalo Dimala, aged 80.

132. Giles-Vernick, “Doli,” 373–94.

133. It is a cultural food prepared by roasting coffee beans in butter. It is used in every ritual, ceremony and blessing.

134. Borbor Bule, oral historian, aged 59.

135. Oliver-Smith, “Anthropological Research,” 304–5.

136. This is a serious violation of family law and sexual norms and it has serious consequence for both the girl and the man.

137. Maddox, “Mtunya,” 189.

138. The Waata, who depend on hunting and gathering, are a despised social group in Borana.

139. Borbor Bule, oral historian, aged 59; Nura Dulacha, aged 90.

140. Whoever tried to ostracize others because of the aadaa they violated during ciinna faced the death penalty (hama mudammuddi) as punishment.

141. Group discussion at Dubluq.

142. For similar situations elsewhere, see Henige, “Oral Tradition.”

143. The children's biological father was from the Karayu clan whereas they were socially categorized as Digalu.

144. The two remained together even after the woman returned to her previous clan, but the second husband maintained his clan identity.

145. Borana children traditionally used the fruits of Solanum as their “cattle” in child herding games. Parents take them home from herding as gifts and their children use them as toy cows. Thus, the sacrifice of the Solanum fruits was merely an extension of an already existing cultural practice.

146. Krieke, Recreating Eden.

147. Borbor Bule, aged 59

148. Waller, “Emutai.”

149. Waller, “Emutai.”

150. Biiqaa Boru Anna Fayo Dhaka, aged 78. Anna Fayo Dhaka was a clan leader who confiscated about 200 cattle from surviving clan members and divided them among the community. He took a ritualized cow (fitiko) that lost its calf, for ritual purposes. The owner of the cow requested that Anna Fayo Dhaka leave the cow for him, but Anna Fayo refused and took it anyway. Then the old man cursed Anna Fayo. On arrival back at home, Anna started using the milk of that cow, but he choked and died.

151. Pankhurst, “Social Consequences of Drought and Famine,” 10.

152. This involved jaarsa (community elders), jalaaba (elders appointed by the Hayu councillors, the most senior, working in the gada in power), who had the final authority and Qa'e (the grand elder) who coordinated the activities of the clan at a geographical level.

153. According to Balambal Fayo, aged 102, the hayu used to spray salt on their clothes and enter the cattle kraals. When the cattle licked their clothes, which is believed to be a sign that the animals like a person, the hayu would request that the owners make them a gift of the cattle as the animals already liked them. Balanbal Fayo's father migrated further east to avoid clan raids.

154. Sen, Hunger and Entitlement.

155. While searching for honey, a group of people found cow dung, which was unusual by then. They brought it home and showed qallu Oditu. A group of men led by Amaro Arero (the informant Sora's grandfather) killed the man from jamjam and captured and shared the herd.

156. Brothers who were given a cow divided the milk udders. Each individual milked his side of the udder. When there was good pasture, a family could survive on milk from a single udder supplemented by wild fruits and hunting.

157. Nura Dulacha, aged 90.

158. Kjekshus, Ecology Control, 127; Hartwig, “Social Consequences of Epidemic Diseases,” 37.

159. Pankhurst , History of Famine and Epidemics; Hancock, Ethiopia.

160. Van Onselen, “Reactions to Rinderpest,” 483.

161. Nura Dulacha, aged 90, Boru Afato, aged 98.

162. The grandfather of Bilalo Dimala was a hayu. He got cattle from Buna Batalo but was attacked by an enemy on the way home and stabbed with a spear. He stitched the wound in his stomach back together with traditional surgery to prevent the intestines falling out and returned home with the cow.

163. Nura Dulacha, aged 90.

164. In the family of Karayu Gababo, aged 78, only one family member survived. This person recalled when Borana went to Somali to obtain cattle for re-stocking. They did not have a mutual assistance agreement or the obligation of busa gonofa, but the Borana had no option but to try all possibilities. These people were the Borana's enemy (sidii), but they discussed the situation and gave one cow each, just to avoid further complications in their relationship. This place was far from the tula region, and it was reported that many people died of hunger while driving home the cows they had obtained either from clan obligation or from sidii. Some people were also lost in attacks by unknown clans. The cows were taken by colleagues or people who were nearby. One family member of this informant went to Luuqi and returned with a heifer. He then requested the giver to assist his safe passage by giving him a camel for transport; otherwise he would die on the way either from hunger on the long journey or from fighting off robbers. The camel was used to transport water and the person himself. He named the cow gaalaa, which means camel. He used the young camel to establish a herd. The two animals were the basis for re-establishing herds for Gababo and his lineage. His brothers, for whom they were arranged, waited patiently. A man went to a Somali area called luqume to look for cattle. He was from Oda Olale, a place known for its cattle. A Somali man asked him where he came from. The Boran replied “Oda Olale,” and the Somali said “loon odaan olale siihinargin odaan luqumee siif hinargitu deemi,” which means “you can not find cattle here that you did not at Oda Olale.”

165. Neumann, Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa; Spinage, Cattle Plague, 521–2.

166. Cavendish, “Through Somaliland,” 375.

167. Cavendish, “Through Somaliland,” 375.

168. Arkell-Hardwick, An Lvory Trader, quoted by Spinage, Cattle Plague, 522.

169. Spinage, Cattle Plague.

170. Donaldson-Smith, Through Unknown African Countries, 206.

171. From Donaldson-Smith's account it seems more likely that he visited villages that were spared the rinderpest. He refers to the impact of the rinderpest on wild ungulates, but says nothing about cattle. Donaldson-Smith, Through Unknown African Countries, 243.

172. Maud, “Exploration in the Southern Rangelands.”

173. Boyes, My Abyssinian Journey, 43–46.

174. French, “Journey from the River Juba,” 433.

175. Harrison, “Journey from Zeila,” 270.

176. Waller, “Emutai,” 94.

177. Spinage, Cattle Plague, 1.