IRIN Focus on insecurity in northwestern Kenya

The security situation in northwestern Kenya, traditionally one of the most volatile areas of the country, has deteriorated sharply since the start of the year, according to various security sources. (see attached chronology) Bandit attacks and clashes between rival communities have intensified. Travel in the region, especially on the main roads, now only takes place with police escorts. The United Nations, which has rear bases for its operations in Sudan in the area, has put the region on Phase III security level describing the situation as "precarious". The main conflict has pitted two neighbouring nomadic pastoralist communities, the Turkanas and the Pokots, against each other. The disputes centre on livestock. Raids between the communities have seen dozens of herdsmen killed, hundreds of livestock stolen and left women and children injured. At the start of April, the government deployed the Kenya army personnel along the east Baringo-Turkana border to restore peace after clashes between the two communities in which semi-automatic guns were used - a development which has sent death tolls from these centuries-old feuds spiralling upwards. Baringo police boss Bernard Kwakha said the team was following the footmarks of recently stolen animals and already some 165 livestock stolen by Turkana raiders in a raid at the end of March had been recovered. For years, cattle raids have been used by both communities to prove their strength against each other and as a method of. Recently, however, they have taken on a new dimensions. In addition to the increased use of sophisticated weaponry, the raids are now much more sophisticated, well organised, frequent and commercially oriented. "The raids are no longer the mature raids which were traditionally blessed by magicians," Francis Anor told IRIN, adding: "The mature raids took a very long time to organise and were community initiatives aimed at getting more livestock." Area residents say the style and motives behind attacks have equally changed. "The Pokots have abandoned the initial style of raiding and now organise themselves in troops and move in smaller numbers of 10s and 20s unlike the Turkana who still move in large groups of 300-500 people," an NGO worker in the area, Damien Ariong, said. "They (the Pokots) seem to have a ready market for the animals," he noted. "After raids, the animals are loaded onto lorries destined for the market, whereas the Turkanas divide the loot [livestock] amongst themselves and take them home," he added. Ariong attributes the rise of "too many guns in wrong hands" to the influx of refugees from southern Sudan, especially in the period between 1994 and 1996. He said when ex-Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) fighters fled in large numbers into Kenya through Lokichoggio, the prices of firearms tumbled because of availability. "With two bulls, one could buy a gun unlike the old times when a gun was worth ten cows," he said. Guns in the area, allegedly also came from eastern Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia. Turkanas accuse the government of favouring the Pokots and even resupplying them with ammunition. A charge denied by both government officials and the Pokots. Whatever the truth of the allegations, the Pokots have taken advantage of the laxity of law enforcers. They have also not spared their Marakwet neighbours. "They (the Pokots) write letters warning of an impending raid giving date and time, and indeed they strike," an observer told IRIN. A series of peace talks, organised by the government, for elders from the different communities in northwestern Kenya was reportedly working "very well" until December last year when attacks suddenly surged. At the meetings, the elders had conceded that they would not follow their animals after an attack, but would rely on the government to do it. "Unfortunately, the government did not do this," Ariong said. "This led to the revival of the attacks and counter-attacks," he added. At the same time, northwestern Kenya has also become increasingly vulnerable to cross-border attacks. Many times the Karamojong from Uganda attack and this February, the Merrile community from Ethiopia attacked Turkana homesteads near the Kokuro area on the Kenya-Ethiopian border, leaving some 80 people dead and scores more wounded. Residents and travellers say that roads in the area have also become much more dangerous due to banditry. Humanitarian organisations now need armed escorts to carry out their work. According to UNHCR Senior Field Safety Assistant Major Ben Ngaira the road from Kakuma to Lokichoggio is "unsafe and dangerous". Armed escorts are also required on the road between Kakuma and Lodwar. Other reports have also listed the road between Lodwar and Marichpass as unsafe too. A humanitarian worker based in Kakuma told IRIN of how a vehicle they were travelling in was forced to retreat to Kitale [over 300 km from Lodwar] because bandits had set up an ambush. "From Kitale on our way to Kainuk, we saw a vehicle which was a ahead of us retreating, the driver signalled us that there were bandits ahead," he said. "The bandits usually attack passengers and take their money, luggage and in some cases, rape the female victims," he added. Turkana Central Member of Parliament David Ekwee Ethuro also blames the security situation on the proliferation of arms in the region, but says it is compounded by poor intelligence, a lack of serious commitment by the security authorities, and a general lack of understanding of the problem. He says the the problem has been exacerbated by a lack of political will and of alternative sources of income for the residents of the region. "This is an arid area with no water, no pasture, yet the inhabitants are pastoralists," he told IRIN. "The infrastructural development is poor and famine is just aggravating the cattle-rustling situation." In December last year, the government reportedly ordered the premature closure of a security meeting, organised by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), aimed at discussing security issues on both sides of the border. "This was a clear indication that the government was not interested in finding a solution to the problem," Ethuro said. A government official contacted by IRIN described the incident as "unfortunate" and blamed it on a "communications' breakdown". "Several members of parliament from the Karamajong community in eastern Uganda, their counter-parts from the Kenyan side, NGO representatives, elders from the local communities all attended the meeting," he said. "The deliberations went on quiet well, but on the last day before the final draft of the group discussions were presented, the meeting was ordered closed," he explained, but gave no details as to why. He said the government was endeavouring to curb cattle-rustling activities and improve the security situation in general, but accused area leaders of lacking commitment to "peace" agreements reached at several local initiatives.