Conflict Displaced Thousands - Study

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
January 1, 2004
Posted to the web January 2, 2004

By Titus Maero
Nairobi
At least 167,457 people were displaced in violent conflicts involving pastoral
communities in northern Kenya last year.
A research by Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) says 70 per cent
of this population comprised women and children aged below 14.
The study, contained in a book titled Conflict in northern Kenya, notes that
violent conflicts involving pastoralists had become widespread and increasingly
severe in the region.
Compiled by ITDG researchers Mohamed Adan, Ruto Pkalya and Isabella Masinde,
the study was done in West Pokot, Marakwet, Turkana, Samburu, Marsabit and
Wajir districts.
In the 70-page book, the study involved interacting with the local people at
the grassroots level with the assistance of Government officers, especially
from the provincial administration, community-based groups and individuals.
The research, jointly funded by ITDG, United States Agency for International
Development (USaid) and Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid
(Cordaid), gives an in-depth analysis and identifies and examines factors
contributing to human conflict in the said districts.
The study points out that in West Pokot 30,361 people were displaced especially
in areas bordering Turkana, Marakwet and Karamojong in Uganda and attributed
the disruption to cattle rustling.
The book further notes that in Samburu 23,707 people were displaced, mostly in
Baragoi and Nyiro divisions, as a result of the same rustling vice.
In Marsabit, 4,378 people were displaced, the lowest figure in the study
districts, while Wajir had 32,914 victims. The politically instigated Wagalla
massacre of 1984 left over 3,000 people dead and 21,000 displaced.
The major reason for most displacements, which were also listed as being in the
top 10 poorest parts of the country, centres on fight for natural resources
like water, pasture and boundary disputes.
Factors named as being behind violent displacements include proliferation of
fire arms secured from neighbouring countries experiencing political
instability like Uganda, Sudan and Somalia.
The study says the eventual result is a dependency syndrome on Government
relief food which is inadequate to cater for the large number of those
displaced from their areas of habitation and now residing in urban centres.
"The impact of violent conflict is loss of lives, property and disruption of
social-economic activities," says the book.
The report recommends mediation between the people at the centre of conflict,
establishment of development projects, disarmament of illegally acquired fire
arms and clear policy of land ownership among the local people.
It also recommends strengthening traditional conflict structures, sensitisation
and awareness creation in issues leading to conflict, and peace meetings by the
Government and the local people with other stakeholders.

   

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