Afar and Somali are neighboring communities who predominantly practice pastoralism andrnshare a number of social, economic, spiritual and cultural similarities. As pastoralists they oftenrnshare the same grazing land and water points. Especially during drought seasons that causernserious scarcity of those natural resources vital for livestock consumption, clashes betweenrnherdsmen is inevitable fact.rnHowever, Afar â€“ Somali pastoralists have had traditional dispute resolving mechanismsrnmanaged under the auspices of elders and clan leaders of both communities. Nonetheless,rnalthough Afar respondents relate starting of the serious conflict back to the period whenrnconstruction of the Addis â€“ Djibouti railway line had been conducted by a French companyrnwhich they noted that it had militarily trained and recruited Issa/Somali members for securityrnpurposes which later helped them to wage serious attack against the Afar communities andrnsimilarly entrance of Italy to Ogaden - Ethiopia via Somaliland and its relation with thernIssa/Somali again, in the last two decades the trend of the conflict has completely changed itsrndimensions. After the Derg regime and coming of new federal system, intervention of regionalrnadministrations in the Afar â€“ Somali pastoralist conflict has increasingly grown from time torntime.rnThe Afar zone three which is a home for Awash and Gewane rivers and pastoralist and nonrnpastoralist communities, holding great potential for water and grazing activities vital forrnlivestock production is the center for the conflict between Afar and Somali pastoralistrncommunities. Afar elders noted that the Somali (Issa and Hawiya) communities not onlyrnrelentlessly covet to access water and pasture but also to control this resource rich areas andrntrading route and establish permanent settlements and institutions within the Afar region.rnAccordingly the perpetual, frequent and destructive nature of the conflict in the study arearncauses a number of social, economical and psychological impacts on residents. The Afarsrnrelentless efforts to expel Somali pastoralist communities from the Afar region on the one handrnand the Somalis interest to occupy the Awash River basin water and grazing resources on thernother have made the conflict and tension of the study area remain constant.rnAs a result, violent killings, body injury, displacement of residents, livestock raiding andrndestruction of property are common phenomenon in the study area. Such displacements andrninjuries further resulted in violation of residentsâ€™ right to housing, freedom of movement, right tornfood, right to education, work, health and other related socioeconomic rights.