Pasture scarcity may have led to clash between pastoralists

Scarcity of pasture and water due to the severe drought ravaging parts of eastern Africa is thought to have been the cause of an incident of violence between Kenyan and Ugandan pastoralists last weekend, when at least four civilians died in clashes between border communities.

The Uganda military said on Tuesday that both Kenyans and Ugandans, died in the cattle-rustling confrontation on Saturday, when ethnic Pokot raiders from Kenya attacked Bukwa district in northeastern Uganda and sparked clashes with the army.

"There were about 150 warriors from the Pokot who attacked Sundet village and killed four civilians," said Henry Obbo, the army spokesman in Bukwa. "We repulsed them. We followed them up using our MI-24 helicopters and killed several of them,"

Cattle rustling is common among communities along the northern frontier between the two countries, but humanitarian workers said the latest raid might have been a consequence of the drought.

"During the periods when there is scarcity of pasture, animals tend to gather at water points. That is where clashes start - as they [herders] in the process attack each other as they force their way to water their animals," said Etienne Peter Schmitt, emergency coordinator for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Uganda.

"They [raiders] try to scare off everybody because they are armed, but the first aim is normally not to steal animals, but to monopolise the water source," he added.