Shifta (or "shufta") is term used in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia for rebel, outlaw, or bandit. The word is derived from shúfto. Historically, shifta served as local militia in the lawless rural mountainous regions on the Horn of Africa. The word shifta can be translated as 'bandit' or 'outlaw', but can include anyone who rebels against an authority or an institution that is seen as illegitimate.

Concepts

The term shifta has positive and negative connotations, that of a common bandit and that of a revolutionary; both concepts being distinct but not necessarily mutually exclusive. Shiftas are often considered as highly respected, politically minded outlaws struggling for social order or a political cause. When applied in this context, shiftinnet (being a shifta) in its diverse forms has a social function as a form of conflict resolution.

In Eritrea during thr British administration, military units were used to police the lawless areas and stop common shifta activity

In Ethiopia, individuals who started as shifta have risen to the level of warlord or Emperor thus legitimizing the concept of shifta itself. Two nineteenth-century shiftas, Kassa Hailu of Gondar and Kassai Mircha of Tigray, became respectively, Emperor Tewodros and Emperor Yohannes in the later 19th century. Thus the shiftas formed the military elite and became the core of the resistance, using their military skills against the Italians.

A shifta, however, whose acts surpassed social norms would be called t'era-shifta and would be regarded as a thief or bandit. The Italians understandably labelled all shiftas as t'era-shiftas, of the criminal type. Nevertheless, to be described as a shifta, especially during the Italian occupation, was an honour for an Ethiopian and this was how resistance started and spread.

Both Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia were called shifta when they served respectively as rebel leaders of the EPLF and TPLF.

See also

• Brigandage
• Shifta War (1963-1967) in northeastern Kenya
• Klepht, a similar status in Greece.

References and notes