This case study will analyze the nature of cross-border conflicts and deterrencemeasures in the Horn of Africa with a focus on the pastoral communities of Pokot,Turkana, and the Karamojong. These communities in northwestern Kenya and easternUganda are under intolerable stress and they are involved in a violent struggle to survive.While insecurity in this area is often characterized as arising from competition overscarce resources, there are broader dimensions to local conflicts. These revolve around along history of social, cultural, economic and political exclusion. The states’ role in theprovision of security and support to pastoral communities is, on the whole, poor. Bothcountries have a tendency to sometimes use excessive military force. Pastoralcommunities have reasons to feel alienated. Lack of political will and corruption likewisefrustrates efforts to keep the peace. This study seeks to examine the interplay among raidsand counter-raids, internal security, the rule of law, and democratic governance. Itproposes a number of steps for achieving greater stability in the region.

The Commission has been in the forefront of promoting good governance and accountability in the land sector. Progress in the land sector has been mixed. Through the effort of the government, support agencies and other stakeholders the Commission was able to devolve its function to the 47 counties through the County Land Management Boards (CLMBs). The CLMBs have in effect devolved land services throughout Kenya. However, achieving land, better land governance, accountability in the land sector and ensuring secure land rights for all Kenyan is still to be achieved. The target for good governance through the land assessment framework and a National Land Information System as envisaged by the Land Policy Initiative (African Union) is not yet attained.

The Mau Forests Complex, with an area of over 400,000 hectares, is the largest forest in Kenya. The forest is a source of at least twelve major rivers, which flow into and sustain the fragile ecosystems in lakes Victoria, Nakuru, Bogoria, Naivasha, Natron, Elementaita and Turkana. The sprawling forest complex straddles several counties, namely Nakuru, Kericho, Bomet, Narok, Baringo, Keiyo Marakwet and Nandi, which are home to a total population of nearly seven million people.

Conflict and instability trends in East Africa continue to make it one of the most unstable regions in the world.  Significant portions of East Africa remain unable to break free of the lethal cocktail of armed conflicts, violent crime, extremism, communal violence, political instability, and state failure that has plagued the region for decades. Most of East Africa‘s zones of armed conflict and instability today are concentrated near border areas; pose a major risk of spillover; and feature powerful crossborder drivers, interests, and actors. In recent years, regional governments have made a much greater effort to police their borders, and their renewed commitment to address transborder conflict issues constitutes an important window of opportunity. However, few regional states have the capacity to effectively administer their remote, expansive border areas. As a result, much transborder conflict management and prevention falls on the shoulders of local communities and local authorities, in partnership with central governments and interstate regional organizations. The resilience and adaptability of this collection of local and regional actors are critical factors in determining whether, and to what extent, crossborder conflict and instability issues are successfully managed.

International election observers and diplomats celebrated the March 2013 Kenyan generalelections as “peaceful” and “successful.” But Kenyans disagree. The local population describedthe electoral experience as one of “tense calm” or “unstable peace.” These contrasting—even contradictory—views raise questions about the legitimacy of the success narrative.

The 2013 general elections proceeded without mass violence, a significant advance in light ofthe country’s recent electoral history. But Kenyan citizens were hesitant to credit peacebuildingefforts for this relative success and expressed concern about the high levels of ethnic tension,hate speech, voter bribery, and intimidation throughout the electoral period, both in ar

Conflict sensitivity is a deliberate and systematic practice that ensures that our processes and actions minimize negative and maximize positive effects within a given context, based on the awareness about the interaction between the said processes and actions and the particular context.

In this paper, the author grapples with the issue of how to effectively manage or resolve environmental conflicts through the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Kenya. “Environmental conflicts” refer to the contests that exist as a result of the various competing interests over access to and use of natural resources such as land, water, minerals and forests. Various groups, communities, developers, government and other organisations have differing ideas of how to access and utilize environmental resources. Laws and policies which have a conflict generating capacity are often pursued by the various groups leading to further friction among them.

On the last Monday of 2007 dozens of ethnic Kikuyu families crowded into the Assemblies of God church in the village of Kiambaa seeking sanctuary from the violence engulfing their country.  A disputed election and simmering resentment over decades of ethnic favouritism by the political elite had transformed Kenya from a perceived paragon of stability in East Africa into a killing zone.  Just days after allegedly fraudulent election results had been released in late December more than 250 people were already dead, many killed by mobs armed with machetes and knives.  The 400 people crowding into the Kiambaa church were terrified they might be next.

On Tuesday, in broad daylight, a crowd of ethnic Kalenjins, Luhyas and Luos surrounded the church, blocked the exits and set the building on fire.  Most of the Kikuyu families inside were able to fight their way out and flee.  However, at least thirty-five people were killed including a number of women and children who were burned alive.  As the international media came to document the horror at Kiambaa, an elderly professor spoke for many Kenyans when he said that the scene at the church, “reminds me of Rwanda.”

With climate change and parallel increase in population pressure that diminish the availability ofarable land it is of great importance to understand the determinants of land-related violence.However, little is known about why individuals participate in violent conflict over land. Thisstudy sets out to shed light on this question using novel data on around 70 individuals whofought in land-related conflict in the Mt. Elgon region of Kenya during the years 2006-2008.Survey data is combined with semi-structured interviews. The case of Mt. Elgon sharescharacteristics with many other regions in Africa that experience land-related conflict, such asscarcity of land resources, location in the periphery of the country and the importance of ethnicentrepreneurs for instigating violence. Findings can thus contribute to our understanding of thedeterminants of land-related violence in Kenya and elsewhere and inform conflict prevention andresolution efforts.

The land problem in Kenya has many faces, one of which is the Squatter Problem. Kenya is primarily anagricultural economy. Approximately 75% of Kenya’s population is employed in the agriculture sector,hence the issue of land becomes core and delicate. The objective of the study was to investigate thefactors leading to landlessness in Kenya and it paid special attention to the Rift Valley Province.

Kenya drew international attention in 2007 when widespread violencebroke out following presidential elections, resulting in the death of1,300 people and the displacement of as many as 600,000 individuals.Much of the violence was linked to long-standing land disputes. Kenyahas endured a long history of land conflicts, dating back to its colonialperiod when first the Germans and then the British promulgatedpolicies and practices that alienated people from their customaryland and pitted one ethnic group against another. These policieswere extended after independence. Ethnic divisions, especially overtraditional land, were exploited for short-term political ends. Kenya’snew Constitution of 2010, however, provides hope that some historicalinjustices will be addressed.

Amid expansive and often informal urban growth, conflict over land has become a severesource of instability in many cities. In slum areas, policies intended to alleviate tensions,including upgrading programs, the legal regulation of informal tenure arrangements, and thereform of local governance structures, have had the unintended consequence of also spurringviolence and conflict. This paper analyzes the conflict over a proposed ‘ethnic homeland’ forthe Nubian community in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to advance knowledge onthe strategies communities adopt to promote their interests and how such strategies impact onurban conflict management.

African societies and the developing nations have been undergoing difficult times in terms of ethnic conflicts and antagonisms. The Northern part of Kenya is infamous for the frequent conflicts and counter conflicts as communities are pitied against each other since the pre-colonial times. Against this bedrock this study explored inter-ethnic conflicts between the Gabra and Dassenetch communities of Marsabit County between 1960 and 2011. The study was guided by three objectives which were: the causes of the frequent conflicts between the Gabra and Dassanetch communities; the socio-economic effects of conflicts between the two communities; and conflict resolution mechanisms. The study was justified on the basis that many studies done on inter-ethnic conflicts have tended to neglect the Gabra and Dassanetch communities of Marsabit County.

The study focuses on the historical trends, causes, effects and interventions to inter-ethnic conflicts in Rumuruti Division of Laikipia County, Kenya between 1963 and 2010. The objectives of study included: tracing the historical trends, investigating the causes of inter-ethnic conflicts; examining their effects on food security as well as the intervention measures. The study is significant because inter-ethnic conflicts impact on the communities’ livelihoods as well as national stability and development. The Incompatibility of Plural Society Theory by Furnivall and Smith (1997) and Greed versus Grievance Theory by Collier and Hoeffler (2004) were used to interpret the findings of the study. Literature was reviewed at international, regional, Kenya, Rift Valley and Rumuruti in Laikipia County and guided by the research objectives. Literature review focused on inter-ethnic conflicts as supported by the theoretical framework with key attention to relevance and research gaps. Data was gathered from both primary and secondary sources. 

The Mau Forest complex is the largest remaining near-contiguous bloc of montaneindigenous forest in East Africa. It covers an approximate area of 350,000 ha andis situated about 170 km north-west of Nairobi and stretches west borderingKericho District, Narok District to the south, Nakuru to the north and Bomet to thesouth-west. The forest is divided into seven blocs comprising South-West Mau(Tinet), East Mau, Ol’donyo Purro, Transmara, Maasai Mau, Western Mau andSouthern Mau. These seven blocs merge to form the larger Mau Forest complex.Of all the forest blocs, only the Maasai Mau is not gazetted. The Ogiek community,who are the last remaining forest dwellers, are scattered all over the seven forestblocs.

Kenya is a large multi-ethnic country, with over 40 different ethnic groups. The largest ethnic group are the Kikuyu, who make up about 17 per cent of the population (6,622,576). Other large ethnic groups include the Luhya (5,338,666), Kalenjin (4,967,328), Luo (4,044,440), Kamba (3,893,157), Kenyan Somali (2,385,572), Kisii (2,205,669), Mijikenda (1,960,574), and Meru (1,658,108).1 The country is majority Christian, with a substantial Muslim population (4,304,798). It is currently led by a coalition representing the formerly opposing communities of Kikuyu and Kalenjin, with the opposition coalition primarily representing the Luo. The 2010 constitution has also devolved power to the 47 counties. Kenya is rife with violence. This includes high levels of sexual and gender-based violence and of intercommunal violence; low levels of persistent violence; cycles of election-related violence; and increasing numbers of terrorist attacks. The incidence, gravity and intensity of violence have all increased in recent years. The conflicts in Kenya are multiple and overlapping. The Rift Valley, Nairobi, the peripheral pastoralist drylands, and the coast are among the areas most affected.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) is planning a public inquiry on the continued insecurity caused by conflict in the Baringo and North Rift region. This paper seeks to develop a literature review that will inform the strategy that KNCHR will use to conduct the public inquiry and to establish the levels of insecurity in the respective areas.The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) is planning a public inquiry on the continued insecurity caused by conflict in the Baringo and North Rift region. This paper seeks to develop a literature review that will inform the strategy that KNCHR will use to conduct the public inquiry and to establish the levels of insecurity in the respective areas.The literature review will focus on six issues that will be used to compile the document, and the issues are as follows: conflict mapping and analysis, political, security, economic conditions, socio- cultural and environmental dimensions of the conflict in the Baringo and North Rift.

The Rift Valley is the crucible of Kenya’s intercommunal conflicts and often the siteof confrontations among rival ethnic political blocs. Though an election alliance hasbrought together the two largest ethnic groups in the region, the Kikuyu and Kalenjin,and helped avert large-scale violence during the 2013 polls, the task of reconciliationis far from complete. The government has failed to heal rifts created by multiple priorrounds of political bloodshed and violent land disputes. While major Kikuyu versusKalenjin conflict is unlikely during elections scheduled for August 2017, serious localviolence is possible, particularly as the creation of new counties run by powerfullocally-elected officials has increased the stakes of political competition. To minimisethe risk, the government and donors should do more to implement conflict-sensitivepolicing and revive the peacebuilding infrastructure that has largely been neglectedsince 2013.

This paper argues that even with the incorporation of land policy provisionsinto Kenya’s new constitution, there is every reason to believe that in the nearfuture, highly politicized land conflict will continue. This is because land politics inKenya is a redistributive game that creates winners and losers. Given the intenselyredistributive potential of the impending changes in Kenya’s land regime—andthe implications of the downward shift in the locus of control over land allocationthrough decentralization of authority to county governments—there is no guaranteethat legislators or citizens will be able to agree on concrete laws to realizethe constitution’s calls for equity and justice in land matters. This article traces themain ways in which state power has been used to distribute and redistribute land(and land rights) in the Rift Valley, focusing on post-1960 smallholder settlementschemes, land-buying companies, and settlement in the forest reserves, and it highlightsthe long-standing pattern of political contestation over the allocation of thisresource. It then traces the National Land Policy debate from 2002 to 2010, focusingon the distributive overtones and undertones of the policy and of the debateover the new constitution that incorporated some of its main tenets.

Because of changes in some underlying factors, land is increasingly becoming asource of conflicts in Africa. We estimate the determinants of land conflicts and theirimpacts on input application in Kenya by using a recent survey of 899 ruralhouseholds. We find that widows are about 13 percent more likely to experiencepending land conflicts when their parcels are registered under the names of theirdeceased husbands than when titles are registered under their names. We also findthat pending conflicts reduce the organic fertilizer application, which can beconsidered as short-term investments in soil structure.