Rastafarians face eviction and arrest in spiritual homeland

In 1999, Ras Paul, a west London DJ born to Jamaican parents, sold part of his vinyl collection to buy a plot of land and build a house in Shashamene, 200km south of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

- By Fred Harter SHASHAMENE

Seven years earlier, he had become a Rastafarian, around the time of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, whom the religion reveres as the Messiah. "As an Ethiopian descendant, I wanted to come home," he said. "It's the place I felt I belong."

Paul was not alone. At its peak, more than 2,500 Rastafarians from around the world moved to Shashamene. Recently, though, the Rastafarian community's relations with the locals have come under strain.

Shashamene is in Oromia, Ethiopia's biggest and most populous region. Since 2018, Oromia has been gripped by an ethnic insurgency that claims the Oromo people are marginalised in Ethiopia's federation. It has also seen protests over political representation and land, including a particularly violent outbreak in 2020.