Kunama People - The People and The Land

The People and The Land

The Kunama speak a Nilo-Saharan language unrelated to the dominant languages in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Although some Kunama still practice traditional beliefs, most are Islam and Christians (Orthodox). The fertile plains of the Gash-Setit, also known as the Gash-Barka, region where the Kunama live are sometimes referred to as the "breadbasket of Eritrea." Formerly nomadic, today they are farmers and pastoralists. Historically, the Kunama have been dominated by other ethnic groups and they are often forced from their traditional lands. The official policy of the Government of Eritrea is that all land is state property and the Government encourages large commercial farms.

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