Shifta
Sign in to saveShifta is a term mostly used in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia that can be translated as "bandit" or "outlaw", but can include anyone who rebels against an authority or an institution that is seen as illegitimate, like the Arbegnoch guerillas during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. The Swahili word was loaned from the Somali shufta during the Shifta War, and is in turn derived from Amharic ሽፍታ (šəfta).
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4 sectionsContents
- Concept
- History
- See also
- References and notes
Shifta is a term mostly used in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia that can be translated as "bandit" or "outlaw", but can include anyone who rebels against an authority or an institution that is seen as illegitimate, like the Arbegnoch guerillas during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. The Swahili word was loaned from the Somali shufta during the Shifta War, and is in turn derived from Amharic ሽፍታ (šəfta).
Historically, the shifta served as a local militia in particularly remote, rural and often lawless parts of the Horn of Africa, namely the Ethiopian Highlands.