The relationship between the Pokot and Markwet tribes is difficult. During the past year, fighting between the two has taken dozens of lives. Finn Church Aid is helping to build peace between the tribes. Two former warriors explain how it can be done.
It all began with watermelons.
Tensions had always existed between the Pokot and Markwet tribes in the remote rural regions of northwest Kenya. The Pokot are a tribe of cattle ranchers and the Markwet rely more on farming. Conflicts arose from time to time, particularly over water and land rights. Also, cattle rustling was a way of quickly gaining wealth and taking revenge. Becoming a warrior, which practically meant cattle thief, was a perfectly viable career alternative for many young people.
However, the two tribes lived in relative peace, until in March 2016 a group of Pokot allowed their cattle to graze on their neighbours’ melon fields. Damages rose to 5,000,000 Kenyan shillings, or about 45,000 euros. Nobody in these remote regions can produce such sums. Since the Pokot were unable to pay, the Markwet stole seven camels in retaliation. This sparked violence along the border region between the two tribes resulting in at least 30 deaths.
The threat of violence has persisted ever since, and many have fled their homes. Children are afraid to go to school as are occasionally the teachers. Trade between the tribes has come to a halt, further impoverishing the region.
Finn Church Aid has been building peace between the tribes since 2015. FCA workers have assisted in laying the foundation by making sure everyone’s opinions and experiences, including those of women and children, are taken into account in the peace efforts, and the inclusivity and security of meetings.
“The next step is finding income and education opportunities for young people. That is the only way to definitively end violence”, says John Bongei, FCA Programme Coordinator for peace work in Kenya.
To push for peace, a conference between the two tribes was organised in December 2016. It was the second attempt. The conference was originally supposed to take place three weeks earlier, but the Markwet announced they were not ready to sit down at the time.
Now the tribes have set up joined groups to work out issues of land usage, trade, water sharing and so on. Former warriors from both tribes also took part in peace talks. Here is what two of them have to say:
David Kanda, 33, former Markwet warrior
“The atmosphere in the talks is good, there are no particular tensions. It doesn’t feel bad to talk with the Pokot. I just tell them we want to love them!
I think there are two things we need to agree on in these particular talks. First, that people simply must be able to get along and coexist. Second, that we must continue trade. The Markwet sell fruits, like mango and bananas. The Pokot mostly sell goats. Both hold their markets on different days. They must be allowed to attend our market in peace and we must be allowed to attend theirs in turn. At the moment, people are afraid, and they dare not go onto the other tribe’s land.
I am now a businessman, but you know I was the mightiest warrior of all. Back then I was young and I didn’t have a family yet. I might have been 15 when I started stealing cattle. I stole cows and goats and climbed up trees to break apart beehives, which some Pokot use to produce honey.
The life of a warrior is not good. Snakes and wild animals can bite you when you go out at night and it is very difficult to see them, especially the snakes. When you ford a river in the dark, you can get attacked by a crocodile. This happened to many people. I saw about a dozen people get killed when I was cattle rustling.
I also noticed that if you want to get married as a warrior, it is very difficult to find a wife. Fathers don’t want to give their daughters to warriors. That is why I decided to quit fighting.
I haven’t participated in violence or theft in years. My life is stable and peaceful. My children go to school, I buy goats from the Pokot and sell fruit with my wife. The difference compared to my life as a warrior is remarkable.
A good way to build peace is for people from the Pokot and the Markwet tribes to marry each other. It is possible. Would I take a Pokot wife, you ask? My other wife is a Pokot! She is so beautiful, wise, pure and lovely! I have always admired the Pokot women and hoped very much to get a wife from among them. And then I got her!”
Noren Lorengetum Lokoryara, 40, former Pokot warrior
“The most important matter to discuss here today is grazing land. There is much more of it on the Markwet lands, because they have more rainfall over there. We need the right to allow our animals to graze on some of the good grazing land.
In the past, if I ever went on Markwet lands, I went there to steal cows or goats. I cannot remember the first time I did that but we did it often.
At first, it seemed smart, but soon it started to feel awful. It was awful seeing people die. Many people lost what they had been building their entire lives. I lost people close to me, but I also killed.
After one battle we decided we wanted peace. The life of a warrior was not good. For example, I have two wives and every time I went out to steal cattle they were very worried. Every time they had to wonder if I was coming back. I decided to start farming land instead of fighting. Now I have cows, goats, and a home where I can sit down in peace.
It is important to forget about the bad things to achieve peace. It serves us no good to dwell on the past. If a young man says he will become a warrior, I hit him with a stick!
I feel much better now than I did when I was a warrior. I get to take care of my own property. My cows produce enough milk for all my children. In our culture it is customary not to tell how many children you have, or how many cows. But I have many of them. When I go away, my children know that I am only out selling my products and I am coming back. We can all smile again.”
Text: Satu Helin
Photos: Ville Palonen
Community members in Turkana South and West Pokot rejoiced at having lived in peace for 18 months without cattle raids and killings by together celebrating the International Day of Peace in late September.
For decades Pokot and Turkana communities have been embroiled in continual conflict related to natural resources and livestock rustling. The conflict has caused deaths and destruction of property, and rendered the northwestern region marginalized, poor and forgotten.
Hundreds of lives have been lost in the conflict over land, finally prompting elders from both communities to meet and negotiate. The recent one and a half year old peace is one of the achievements of Finn Church Aid’s conflict resolution process in Turkana South and West Pokot under USAID and funded by REGAL-IR project.
“The prevailing peace for these two communities now enables them to trade freely and children can now go to school”, FCA peace officer John Bongei tells.
“Pokot people are able to cross the bridge to the nearest Kainuk shopping Centre to sell milk while the Turkana people are able to also cross the bridge and buy other food items or graze their livestock. “
The peace process began with conflict assessments in 2014 and utilized Inter and Intra dialogue peace meetings between Elders, Women groups, Reformed warriors, politicians and Youth to peacefully resolve the conflict.
During the peace process, FCA has identified representatives to speak on behalf of the tribes and identified major grievances to be addressed within the tribes themselves. After that the two tribes were brought together for dialogue to address the long and outstanding conflicts.
After the talks the political leaders of the area went ahead to organise popularisation meetings of the resolutions to both communities. This resulted in a peaceful coexistence of the Turkana and Pokot communities.
However, the work is not yet done.
“My fear is that the former fighters, who are now friends, remain idle and might relapse back to violent conflict if they aren’t provided with alternative livelihood opportunities soon”, John Bongei says.
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.
Marsabit Lake Turkana Cultural Festival is the largest annual event in Kenya. It brings together the tribes of Kenya to exhibit their traditional culture. The festival is absolutely exhausting, but absolutely fascinating as well, with two days full of singing, dancing and bonding. For a casual onlooker, it might seem that the whole of Marsabit lives in euphoric harmony. And it does – at least for a moment.
This year, however, getting here has been a long journey – not only through the mountainous desert between Marsabit town and Loiyangalani – but also through the severe communal clashes between the Turkana, Samburu and Rendile that have flared up during the month of May. For the communities it is clear: the ingredients of this culturally diverse county don’t always taste this good.
For four days leading to the festival, FCA Field Officer, Vincent Omunyin, has been working exceptionally long hours together with the County Commissioner and the National Drought Management Authority of Marsabit County to help the Turkana and Rendile communities to come to an agreement on how to reconcile after recent violent cattle rustling attacks that have claimed the lives of 7 people and injured 9 others.
Around 3,000 heads of cattle still remain in the wrong hands and this has been acknowledged by the communities. The process of recovering and returning the cattle has been slow and reluctant. The village of Sarima remains empty as the residents are still afraid to go back. As a first step, the communities decided on the cessation of hostilities, but the issues are far from a sustainable solution. The threat of police intervention hangs in the air. However, both communities agree that this is the right track. Stealing more cattle or killing more people doesn’t solve anything. Both communities are asking security forces more time to solve the issue peacefully. “The police interventions rarely bring peace”, the communities agree. “Using external force just brings another layer of grievances to the table.”
Though the situation remains tense, the communities were able to put their grievances aside and dance under the stars, surrounded by curiously strong night winds rising from Lake Turkana. For the small town of Loiyangalani and the modest settlements surrounding it, the cultural festival is the highlight of the year. This year, the festival might have really helped to bring about peace as well. Time will tell.
Peacebuilding through shared experiences
Ever since last year’s festival, the FCA Kenya Country team had been brewing a plan to bring the key change makers from the communities from the five REGAL-IR counties to this festival. The REGAL-IR program is relying on livelihoods, natural resource management and good old negotiations as vehicles for pastoral peace, but why not bring the cultural heritage to the table as well?
The plan worked beyond expectations. While bringing five delegations from five counties to the festival was a logistic nightmare, the fruits of the exposure were plenty.
FCA side programme consisted of several sessions of comparing notes, success stories, challenges and lessons from each community. It was clear that the experience was an eye opening one for many delegation members. The concerns that each community had believed to be unique to their own conflict situation ended up being everyday headache for the communities coming from opposite sides of Kenya too. The participants learned that some communities had actually solved resource based conflicts very similar to theirs which – for the time being – have been seen as unresolvable. They mapped the root causes of the conflicts, and understood that in the end, all the communities have similar needs. They talked about the needs for alternative livelihoods, education and resource sharing. They shared concerns about political incitement and cattle rustling. They compared notes on opportunities for peace. They agreed on their own responsibilities as instruments of change. They compared traditional clothing and jewellery.
The delegations that FCA brought to the festival consisted of members from several tribes, none of which are in conflict with each other. In the end of the two days of intense discussions (and dancing), the group was asked: “What do you think, if we would have brought all of your ‘enemies’ here instead of you? Do you think that their discussions would have been very different from yours?“ The question was answered with a roar of laughter. However, deep down, this trip might have been a “Eureka!” moment. Time will tell.
Finn Church Aid (FCA) is implementing the peace component of a larger program “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.