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The Bale revolt, also known as the Bale Peasant Movement, was an insurgency that took place in the 1960s in the southeastern province of Bale among the local Oromo people and Somali People populations. The Rebellion targeted the Feudalism system in place during the Ethiopian Empire and was rooted in Ethnic conflict and Religious war grievances.
Initially acts of resistance began in 1962 and 1963 as a defensive reaction by to land expropriation, bureaucratic corruption, and exorbitant imposed by the government. However, further clashes and consequent government eventually transformed the peasants into a decentralized insurgency that would go on to wage a six-year long guerrilla war, ending in 1970.
Support from the Somali Republic that had begun in 1963 was integral to the insurgencies ability to sustain combat operations.
Taxation by the imperial government was also widely viewed as exorbitant and unjust by the population of Bale further inflaming rebellious sentiments in the province. A significant increase in land taxes being considered the most aggravating. Professor of African studies, John Markakis would write of the conditions preceding the revolt:
The legal exactions of the state and the were compounded by a host of illegal impositions levied by the ruling class on the , usually associated with matters related to land. Land measurement, classification, registration, inheritance, litigation and so on were matters that could be concluded only through the payment of enforced bribes to a series of officials, and were subject to the risk of fraud in the process. Tax payment itself required the running of a gauntlet manned by officials who had to be Bribery to conclude the transaction properly. Venality, the hallmark of Ethiopian officialdom throughout Ethiopian Empire, reached its apogee in the conquered areas of the south, where the hapless peasantry had no recourse against it. Northern officials serving in the south hoped to amass a small fortune during their tour of duty, and to acquire land through grant, purchase or other means. The scale of their exploits in Bale affronted even some of their colleagues...There was precious little return for such impositions.A combination of these government policies are widely considered to be the primary the catalyst of the revolt, as many of the Oromo and Somali peasants would jointly refuse to pay taxes or allow land access to the Ethiopian government.
Because the insurgency consisted mostly of inexperienced farmers and peasants, it possessed no real centralized politico-military command structure even though General Gutu was widely viewed as the leader. Numerous clusters of rebels around Bale fought under other insurgent leaders such as Adam Jillo, Ali Butta and Haji Kilta. Several of the revolts leaders were women such as Halima Hassan, Haala Korme and Halimo Waqo. Pastoralism from the Ogaden, effected by government restrictions on free movement would also join the insurgency.
Waqo Gutu is believed to have started the rebellion when he received no government aid after a conflict over grazing rights. He then turned to Somalia to supply himself and other rebels with weapons. Due to the significant Somalis element of the revolt, the Bale rebels would enjoy the support of the Somali government. In a bid to reduce any potential conflict between Somalis and Oromos in Bale, the government of Somalia would characterize incidents of resistance in Bale as a defensive Jihad against Christian Amhara expansion.
In 1963 a delegation of eight men from the rebels was sent across the Ogaden to Somalia in search of arms. Well received, they obtained eight Carcano (called the Dhombir) rifles and one Thompson submachine gun. Later that year another rebel trip to Somalia brought back additional arms, ammunition, and . Soon additional groups of insurgents began to embark on the long march to Somalia, and the insurgency would gradually gain begin to strengthen. The first shipment from Somalia to the rebels would come in the form of 40 guns.
That same year the Mecha-Tuulama Self-help Association, a movement that would form that core of the future Oromo Liberation Front, would be founded.
During the upheaval, the Christian Amhara settlers would utilize paramilitary units whose conduct would be described as "particularly brutal" .
Fierce ground assaults and by government forces in high and lowland Bale during the opening months of 1967 resulted in significant casualties amongst the civilian population. Many of the peasants and pastoralists who had homes and crops devastated in the air attacks were terror stricken as they had never seen bombs before. Thousands of Oromos fled to Somalia in the face of intensive aerial bombardments, where they remained for decades.
The town of Negele Borana served as the main base for the Ethiopian army during the revolt.
According to Dr. Yonatan Tesfaye Fessha, the Bale Revolt was a testimony to the disgruntlement that was prevalent among the southern local population. This was due to the policies of Haile Selassie government. Ethiopian historian Gebru Tareke claimed that the revolt was, "...the longest peasant struggle in contemporary Ethiopian history, and its longevity was as much due to the resolve and competence of the insurgents as that served as the ideological matrix of organization and mobilization.”
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