Three rival communities sat down for consultation and discussion in Yamicha, Isiolo North, in Central Kenya. This was a peace meeting facilitated by FCA.

After travelling across long distances, elders, peace committees and their leaders from the rivalling communities of Borana, Gabra and Dogodia from Marsabit West and Wajir West converged at Yamicha for peace talks.  FCA co-workers in the three counties have been conducting internal consulting within these communities, which led to the Yamicha inter-community dialogue meeting.

Charles Korir, Assistant County Commissioner for Merti, chaired the negotiations guiding the communities to develop community agreements on resource sharing, to let the National and County governments resolve boundary issues and properly respect other communities during migration for pasture and water. The communities were also encouraged to select a resource management committee, which would have five elders from each ethnic community as members. They were to set agreeable rules to guide the utilisation of grazing resources.

Communities identified the rehabilitation of shared water sources as a Peace Divided Programme to cement their relationships.

FCA will facilitate the validation and signing of the peace agreements and follow up on their implementation by the communities.

Text and photos: Umuro Sora

Finn Church Aid (FCA) is implementing the peace component of a larger programme “Resilience and Economic Growth in the Arid Lands – Improving Resilience” (REGAL-IR) by the consortium led by Adeso, African Development Solutions, and funded by USAID.