Yejju Oromo tribe

Yejju Oromo belong to the Barentu branch of Oromo people. They are one of the northernmost communities of the Oromo, who are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia.

The Barentu (also Barento/Barentuma) is one of the two moieties of the Oromo people, the other being the Borana. Yejju Oromo is often categorised inside the Barentu branch and other neighbouring communities include the Wollo Oromo and the Raya Oromo. Due to Amhara expansion to the northern traditional Oromo regions, and the assimilation of these peoples into the dominant culture beginning at the turn of the 20th century, the Yejju presently found in the ethnic Amhara dominated regions of northern Ethiopia identify as Amharas.

During the 17th century, the Yejju dynasty (more specifically, the Warasek) ruled much of the Ethiopian empire during the Zemene Mesafint or "Age of Princes", changing the language in the court of Gondar to Oromo language.^[1] Throughout the era, different ethnic groups, clans and communities made short-term alliances to acquire economic advantage and political power.

As early as 1890, under the reign of Menelik II, the homeland of the Yejju was organised into an Ethiopian province named for them. It was bordered by the Alewuha River to the north, separating it from Rayya Qobbo district, the Mille River to the south, separating it from Wollo Province, the Afar Depression to the east, and the highlands of Amba Sel to the west. Woldiya served as its capital city. Currently, the territories of these northern tip Oromos are officially located inside Amhara Region, specifically divided between the districts of Habru and Woldiya town, with smaller portions administratively part of Guba Lafto and Amba Sel.^[2] Consequently, these boundaries have been rejected by various Oromo nationalist groups, including the Oromo Liberation Front.^[3]

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