Ethiopia: Information on an ethnic group called Kembata, their involvement in the former Mengistu government and their human rights situation
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 January 1992 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | ETH9960 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ethiopia: Information on an ethnic group called Kembata, their involvement in the former Mengistu government and their human rights situation, 1 January 1992, ETH9960, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac5a6c.html [accessed 2 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Published information on this subject is scarce.
The Kembata are situated in the south-western part of Ethiopia and speak a Kushitic dialect (Wubneh and Abate 1988, 132). Their population is approximately 1,8 million members (Ibid.). According to Ernesta Cerulli, the Kembata are bordered by different other groups: on the north by the Hadaya and Alaba, on the south by the Tambaro and Walamo, on the west by the Walamo and Hadaya, and on the east by the Billate River (1956, 118). Their principal centre is reported to be Hosanna (Hosa'enna) and the country is considered fertile with vast uncultivated areas (Ibid.). The Kembata are members of a broader group named the Sidamo which shares kindred languages and are related by a certain racial and cultural homogeneity (Ibid.). Cerulli further mentions that the Kembata have a dialect of their own called Kambatta (Ibid., 87). In his book, Gunilla Bjerén warns that some names were changed after the Ethiopian Revolution; Kembatta have changed to Kembata or Hadiya (1985, 258). An Anthropologist at Emory University in Atlanta also reported that the Kembata are called Hadaya (3 Jan. 1991). This latest source added that the Kembata are an ethnic group with their own Kushitic language (Ibid.).
Additional information on this subject is currently unavailable to the IRBDC in Ottawa.
Bibliography
Wubneh, Mulatu, and Yohannis Abate. 1988. Ethiopia: Transition and Development in the Horn of Africa. Boulder: Westview Press.
Cerulli, Ernesta. 1956. Peoples of South-West Ethiopia and Its Borderland. London: International African Institute.
Bjerén, Gunilla. 1985. Migration to Shashemene: Ethnicity, Gender and Occupation in Urban Ethiopia. Scandinavian Institute of African Studies Uppsala.
Department of Anthropology, University of Emory, Atlanta. 3 January 1992. Telephone Interview with a Professor.
