KENYA: Politics, pastureland and conflict
ISIOLO, 29 August 2012 (IRIN) - Thousands of people have fled their homes
amid renewed clashes between rival communities in Kenya's North Eastern
Province, in which some 17 people were killed, according to officials.
The violence follows a
<
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96153/KENYA-Dozens-killed-in-Tana-River-clas
hes> massacre earlier this month of 52 people in a coastal village in Tana
River District. While the incidents, which have resulted in mass
displacement, take place amid a long-standing competition over resources,
they are increasingly being triggered by political motives as well.
Revenge killings
In the latest incident in the northwest, five people in the Banissa area of
Mandera District were shot dead on 26 August.
"The raiders were out on a revenge mission. They raided our country from
Ethiopia, killed five and crossed back," said a local government official,
who asked not to be identified.
According to the Kenya Red Cross, 12 people were killed in clashes in
Banissa and nearby Rhamu earlier in August.
"At least 3,500 households have been internally displaced in Banissa and
Rhamu. The families have been forced to live in deplorable conditions
without water, food, medicine and shelter," the Red Cross said in a
statement.
Red Cross spokeswoman Nelly Muluki said the total number of displaced was
likely to be much higher. "We are told many have moved far away to grazing
fields they feel are safe," she said.
"The displaced families have been forced to live in deplorable conditions
without water, food, medicine and shelter. The attacked communities have
suffered destruction of property and shelter as a result of the clashes,"
the statement added, noting that livestock had been stolen in large numbers
during some of these incidents.
"The Rhamu District Hospital is strained with a shortage of medical supplies
and medical personnel to manage the increasing casualties from clash-prone
zones around the area. There has also been a lack of ambulances to carry out
timely referrals of casualties to the Mandera District Hospital," the Red
Cross said, adding that many schools in Banissa had been vandalized.
Commercial activities in Mandera have also been affected and a curfew is in
place. "We have no more taxis, shops or hotels that operate at night. We are
losing a lot of money. Insecurity has affected many of us. We can't afford
to sustain our families," said Mukhtar, a Mandera taxi driver.
Some civil servants have fled the area. "I am now in Wajir. I arrived on
Sunday [August 26] from Mandera after being threatened. Many civil servants,
including health workers and technical staff, have left Mandera," one civil
servant told IRIN. Some of the villages in the Mandera North and Banissa
areas have also been deserted.
The Wajir area itself has itself not escaped the violence, with clashes
between Garrey and Degodia communities on 23 August leading to the
destruction of property and the displacement of almost 100 households to a
temporary camp at the local police station.
Tensions high
Meanwhile, tension remains high in the coastal area near the site of the of
21 August killings. Some 600 households from the pastoralist Orma community
remain displaced from the area for fear of a new attack, according to County
Chairman Salim Golo.
"We are worried by the heavy presence of Pokomo fighters. They are camping
at an island in Tana River. We have informed the administration and the
police, but it's sad no action has been taken," he said.
A team of government doctors and Red Cross personnel visited one makeshift
camp in the area and found "there was no standing shelter or pit latrine.
The IDPs had no food and had to feed on coconuts solely. The children were
quite exposed to the cold weather and had to sleep on the wet and swampy
terrain with no warm clothing."
The team delivered plastic sheeting, collapsible jerricans, mosquito nets,
soaps, water purifiers, kitchen sets, rice, cooking oil and beans.
Speaking after the Tana River killings, Red Cross Secretary General Abbas
Gullet said more than 200 people had lost their lives during clashes between
communities since the start of the year, a phenomenon he linked to general
elections scheduled for March 2013.
"Our country was rocked by pre-election induced violence in 1992, 1997 and
2002. In 2008, we experienced the worst post-election violence. It's clear
we have not learned or made any commitment to end this pattern of
political-related violence, killings, suffering and loss of properties," he
said.
"As we continue for the next six to seven months before the election it is
clear that this pattern will continue unless something is done drastically,
now and not tomorrow," he warned, calling for the speedy prosecution of
those
<
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96168/Analysis-Taming-hate-speech-in-Kenya>
orchestrating the violence.
Politics and scarcity fuel violence
Since a new constitution was passed in 2010, considerable political power
and associated financial resources have been devolved from the capital to
Kenya's regions in the form of positions in newly-created administrative
areas.
"While the violence appears on the surface to be a long-standing conflict
driven by competition for resources such as water and pasture, there is
evidence to suggest the killings have a political component related to
redrawing of political boundaries and next year's general elections,"
Aeneas, Chuma, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Kenya said in a recent
statement.
Still, other, more long-standing and less localized drivers of conflict
should not be discounted entirely, according to Choice Okoro-Oloyede,
outreach and advocacy officer at the East Africa branch of the UN's Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a partner in the multi-agency
<
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/89683/EAST-AFRICA-Freedom-of-movement-to-hel
p-pastoralist-lifestyles> Security in Mobility initiative.
"Pastoralists communities across the Horn of Africa have become regions of
low-intensity conflict, begging for sustainable and sustained
conflict-prevention interventions," she told IRIN.
"Kenya's regional positioning makes it particularly vulnerable. Cattle
rustling incidents have increased in the region as owners seek to restock
herds badly affected by the recurrent searing droughts. The country's
geographical positioning places it squarely at the epicentre of
pastoralists' resource-based conflict in the Horn of Africa," said
Okoro-Oloyede.
"Depleted livestock, limited pasture, and water from the cumulative effect
of cyclic drought, and the availability of small arms are conditions that
have seen an increase in pastoralists' cross-border movement in search of
pasture and water in ways that are triggering violent armed cross-border
conflict," she said.
In 2011, for example, 370 conflict-related deaths were recorded in the
drought-affected areas of north-eastern Kenya. A majority of those affected
were pastoralists caught up in ethnic clashes over livestock and pasture. In
2010, 179 such deaths were recorded.
"Freedom and flexibility of movement within national borders and beyond is
essential to the viability of mobile pastoralism - more so in the face of
climate change," said Okoro-Oloyede.
"However, much evidence points to mobility being restricted on various
grounds, increasing pastoralists' inability to minimize risks and cope with
climatic and other shocks. Administration borders are being drawn without
bearing in mind pastoralists' mobility needs, leading to conflict and
insecurity. Consequently, pastoralists are increasingly being pushed to the
periphery as other livelihood systems encroach on their land," she said.
na-aw/am/rz
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Received on Wed Aug 29 2012 - 16:39:27 EDT
