[allAfrica.com] [Africare] After the Bloodbath, Warring Clans Sign Peace Agreement The East African Standard (Nairobi) NEWS May 2, 2005 Posted to the web May 2, 2005 By Adow Jubat and Boniface Ongeri Nairobi Ms Habiba Mulo has been sitting on a rock outside the Mandera DC residence. She wears a haggard look. Beads of sweat streamed down the wrinkled face onto an infant swaddled on her laps. Clearing some acacia thorns from under her feet, she bent back and leaned against a pole. "I have been looking forward to this day. I just hope it will not be a disappointment," she said her voice full of anticipation. "Salaam aleikum?" the Garre clan elders trickling to the residence greeted her. And she responded Alekum salaam wa rahamatullah". Elders followed them shortly from the Murule clan. They trudged in with walking sticks occasionally wiping out sweat with the backs of their bare hands and their fingers ploughed through their henna dyed beards. In mid March this year, the 60 year-old-grandmother was forced to flee her home in El Golicha location of Elwak sub-district after suspected armed Murule clansmen on a revenge mission, overrun her sleepy village. After spending nights in the makeshift structures on the outskirts of Mandera town following the eruption of inter-clan fighting, the more than 28,500 families may be heading home soon. She had come to witness the adoption of peace resolutions reached after a month of peace deliberations between warring sub clans of the larger Somali community. As the hour of reckoning approached, Habiba murmured some prayers. Asked what her prayers meant, she said: "I prayed for peace," I asked Allah to reunite us not to let the devil tear us apart, she said as dozens of women and children hovering around the gate responded "Amin" in unison. She looks forward to a good ending. She reflects on the turning point that left at least 66 people dead in three months. "The killing of Sahal Rashid (a driver with Action Against Hunger) last December was definitely the turning point," she says. "I don't know. I really cannot tell. We lived like a family for a very long time. Maybe it is the devil at work. This is worse that it was in 1983 so many of us have been displaced," she said. "If you ask me what clan I come from, I will tell you that I am a Somali and a Muslim. "Muslims don't fight each other," she says. Habiba says she lost four of her relatives when the attackers struck at her village. Three were my grandchildren I think I am recovering. I am regaining my strength each day It should never have happened. Death bring misery," she says. The fourth member who was killed was her daughter in law who was breast-feeding her eight-months-old grandson. She says the infant keeps crying for her mother. "I want him to grow in a peaceful environment. I know when the boy will be 10 years he may demand to know what happened to his mother. But my prayer is that the boy grows up in peaceful surrounding", she said marveling at the infant gazing at her in newborn wonder oblivious of the fate of his mother. The thought of the boy growing in a hate-filled atmosphere is what Habiba and several others wish to avoid. As we left Habiba at the gate to witness the signing of the resolutions, her fingers remained crossed and her eyes peered through the bare branches as if seeking divine intervention. Inside the residence the atmosphere was promising. A hug here, a forced grin there and a rent of hearty laughter overshadowed shy eyes making contact with their formerly perceived foes for the first time since the clashes flared. An arbitration committee was formed in March 18 to reconcile the feuding and Murule clans. "Inshallah (God willing) today we think we will bury the bitter hatred between the two communities," the committee chairman Sheikh Mohammed Abdi Omar said as the clan elders prepared to approve the resolutions arrived at. The committee comprising Muslim religious leaders from Nairobi, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera were mandated to draw a written peace accord. Some of the resolutions reached included the compensation of deaths perpetuated against each other from April 20 2004. "The committee ruled that the Murule clan pays Sh7.6 million to the Garre community in installments," the committee chairman North Eastern PC Abdul Mwasserrah and Mandera DC Kimani Waweru. During the signing of the adoption at the DC's residence in Mandera town Sh3million cash was handed over to the Garre. Another Sh2.3 million will be paid by October 30 while the remainder Sh2.3 million being cleared by April 30 next year. Mandera East MP Shabaan Ali Isaak witnessed the ceremony. It was spelt that Sh1 million earlier given to area DC by the Garre be refunded. It was also agreed that elders from the two warring clans go out to the affected areas and preach peace and thereafter ensure that the displaced move back with their livestock. The resolutions also stated that the wealth and property lost during the conflict be forgiven and not claimed. Nevertheless the Garre clan was ordered to pay Sh600,000 to repair the houses damaged during the conflict period. It was noted that livestock owners must guard against animal straying to farms to check feuds that could degenerate into another rounds of full-blown clan clashes. The communities that migrate during dry spells into any place in search of water and pasture it was agreed must observe and respect the traditional mechanism in place for the using of the same. Under the sweltering temperatures the elders agreed to identify culprits who kill another to the government and if the any person is killed and circumstances surrounding the deaths is not clear an oath should be administered on 50 elders from the clans who are claiming compensation and they will be paid. The elders and the arbitration committee resolved to have some of those arrested in connection with the recent skirmishes be released after the PC has reviewed their cases. Suspected Murule clansmen traced the cause of the conflict to the killing of a Garre herdsman around Jab Bar in Rheum Division on April 20 2004. It was also agreed that a party dishonours the agreement in whole, the Government imposes a stiff penalty. During the adoption some of the surrendered 70 illegal firearms used in the fighting were paraded and the PC extended the amnesty issued by Internal Security minister John Michuki. The adoption of the resolutions brings a sigh of relief to the Provincial Administration who have been accused of failing to curb the clashes. It also comes after Mandera Central MP Billow Kerrow and his Mandera East counterpart buried the hatchet urging warring clans to stop the killing. In the meantime, Habiba can at last smile. "Alhamdullilahi (praise is to Allah) I could not imagine spending another month without a home" she said. "Let the bygone be bygones," she whispered cuddling the young orphan. The agreement revolves around a traditional justice system in NEP locally called Maslaha where a death of a male is compensated with 100 camels and 50 for a female and a child. "I feel justice has been done," she said. She will get Sh50,000 as compensation for the death of her daughter-in-law.   =============================================================================  Copyright © 2005 The East African Standard. All rights reserved. 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