Elders involved in peace creation

MS Kenya partner PeaceNet puts emphasis on working with traditional leaders when resolving local conflicts

Land is a critical resource for supporting livelihoods and has been a source of conflicts between different interest groups for centuries. Land clashes date back to the colonial ages where nations fought each other for space. In Kenya, there has been a repeated pattern of ethnic clashes arising from land conflicts for decades touching almost all regions of the country from Molo to Laikipia, Tana River to Mt. Elgon. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Kenya have been intervening in many ways to reduce the impact of ethnic clashes fueled by land disputes for decades.

Clashes hindrance to development
The effects of the ethnic clashes have hindered different development initiatives. People have been displaced in their country, disruption of life such as for the school going children, loss of economic assets where houses are touched during clashes among many other things.

CSOs and Community members have tried to play an important role in their efforts to end the clashes.  PeaceNet, a national umbrella of CSOs, is one of those organizations that have put in place strategies to end the conflicts. It is committed to encouraging collaboration, facilitation and mobilization of local initiatives of peace building, promotion of justice and conflicts.

PeaceNet has established a mapping concept of conflict trend analysis. Mr. Mutuku Nguli, Chief executive PeaceNet, is showing the map which is on display in the reception area of the PeaceNet office.

PeaceNet established a mapping concept of conflict trend analysis based on information from peace monitors as well as verifying information from the media.  This, according to Mr. Mutuku Nguli, the Chief executive of PeaceNet, is aimed at documenting conflict and analyzing the same in order to inform effective interventions.

Community Resolution Mechanism
One of the main and major things that the network puts into consideration especially when resolving community conflicts is ‘a community resolution mechanism’

In each community and especially the pastrolist communities where conflicts are more severe, the elders have a traditional way of solving the problems.
Mr. Mutuku pointed out that there has been a breakdown in holding the traditional mechanism because the new mechanisms confuse the traditional hence the conflicts are not solved. “Most of the traditional mechanisms are affected by the judicial who don’t take into consideration what the community does traditionally”, he noted.  

According to him, community resolution mechanism is something that should be put in place when resolving conflict; else the conflict is likely to start again after sometime.  An example of how Peace Net has helped resolve conflicts using this mechanism is among the Kuresio community near Nakuru in the Rift Valley.

Case study of the Kuresio Community
In 2006 PeaceNet actively took part in solving conflicts near Nakuru in the Rift Valley. The Kuresio community involves the Kalenjin, Kikuyu and the Luhya. The three communities had lived together for sometime but it got to a point when the Kalenjin felt that majority of the Kikuyu and the Luhya had migrated to Nakuru and occupied land belonging to them. This created tension and conflicts between the three communities.  

The Kalenjin therefore planned to displace the Luhya and Kikuyu ‘with the Kikuyu being the majority’ for occupying most of their land living majority of the Kalenjins homeless. With the tension still rising between the three communities, Peace Net through the peace committee in Nakuru identified the early ethnic conflicts between the three communities and moved on to act.

And on the 20^th December 2006, Peace Net participated in a peace mediation project of the Kuresio community that was experiencing ethnic clashes. In this case they involved the peace committees as well as the leaders and elders of the communities experiencing the conflicts. 

Peace Net therefore through meetings, used the elders and leaders and told them the need of staying as a community and helping each other as well as killing away the tribalism. “We talked to the elders and informed them that the three communities needed each other in order to help one another. We told them that living as the Kalenjin or a single community cannot help them because they will not understand what other communities do and more so they will need help from each other,” said Mr. Mutuku.
“The only people who could enlighten the community the need for staying together are the elders and the leaders because they belonged to the community. That is why we formed peace committee members from each community to help mobilize peace. If Peace Net came in directly without going through community members, they probably could not understand how they were coming in to solve there problems yet we don’t belong to there community,” Mr. Mutuku explained.
According to Mr. Mutuku, traditional mechanisms are a key issue to put into consideration when solving conflicts especially between different communities