Tradition stronger than firearms

After five ferocious years, violent clashes came to a stop two years ago in Isiolo District. Peace is to be attributed to the revival of traditional pastoralist cultures, the NSC Regional Facilitator states

Beautifully situated on the plains framed by hills to the East and West, Isiolo town seems like a Northern frontier. This is where the tarmac road ends and matatus reach their final destination. Travelers who want to go further north will have to look for a lorry and travel for more than five hours to reach the next town of size, Marsabit.

This is the land of pastoralists.  To the North the Samburus, to the West the Maasais of Laikipia, down South pastoralist Merus and to the East Somali tribes.

“We are a vast district of 25.000 square kilometers bordering no less than seven districts, all with pastoralist communities with a culture of raiding livestock,” explains Hussein Ahmed Yussuf, NSC Regional Facilitator based in Isiolo.

Hussein Ahmed Yussuf

He elaborates on the local traditions:

“Traditionally tribes are not denied transgression into other tribal territories. Even if herders came with sick animals they were allowed in. A system was in place whereby livestock were checked for deceases, and if they were sick, they were allocated grazing in a secluded area. But it always had to happen after negotiations.”

The traditional system was not only about sharing pastures. Access to water, another scarce resource in these arid lands, was dealt with too.

“A system would allow different group to drive their herds to watering holes on different days. Water for domestic use was accessible throughout“, Hussein Ahmed Yussuf adds.

The fact that conflicts have occurred despite such traditions of resource sharing Hussein Ahmed Yussuf blames on the deflation of traditional systems.

“The system of negotiation has been undermined because traditional leaders have lost power. Cosequently disputes over land have too often been decided through the barrel of the gun. Today, even among the pastoralist you find people who ignore the traditional boundaries and say that they are Kenyans and that it is their constitutional right to go anywhere.”

Another consequence of development which has negatively affected the conflict situation is the creation of new districts across traditional tribal boundaries.

“It causes confusion. We have seen an example of a border between two tribes clearly defined by a river suddenly being disputed because a new district border was drawn along a nearby road”, Hussein Ahmed Yussuf argues.

Besides the many neighboring tribes a variety of tribes reside within Isioli District; the Borana and Gabbra, Turkana and Somali being the most prevalent. In fact, though small in size, Isiolo is often referred to as a cosmopolitan town.

Cosmopolitan may sound like an adjective from a tourist brochure. However in Isiolo it has a sad downside.

In 2000 clashes between Gabbras and Boranas broke out leading to a series of incidents over the following five years, the latest taking place in December 2005 when 20 people were killed and thousands of heads of cattle were stolen. After that conflicts in the district came to a stop.

In the office of the District Peace Committee Hussein Ahmed Yussuf attributes peace to the revival of traditional pastoralist cultures based on co-existence and sharing of God given resources.

However, as the modern system has grown stronger, so have forces working to reemploy the customary methods of conflict resolution.

“Many attempts have been made to revive traditional system. The most successful is this declaration” says Hussein Ahmed Yussuf while reaching for “The Modogashe-Garissa Declaration” signed by leaders from 10 districts gathered in Garissa 2005.

“This declaration is founded on tradition and religion e.g. Sharia as the people in Garissa are Muslims. One of the issues addressed by the declaration is that transgression in to neighboring pastures must be conditioned by prior negotiation.

According to Hussein Ahmed Yussuf the declaration has made a change in the pattern of interaction between pastoralist of the region.

“People do actually negotiate, at least in this area. The different communities have agreed to a costume where elders escort the young men whenever they transgress into foreign territory with the dry herd. That is a way to make sure that powers of negotiation are present when herders from two communities meet. Negotiation then decides the outcome, in stead of the balance of firepower between the two groups of young men meeting in the bush. We even have a system where we can place the local chief on the ground if herders refuse to negotiate. Chief are always a symbol of authority which helps the process.”

“We have for some years avoided major conflicts by reviving the customary system of negotiating over common resources such as grazing and water,” says Hussein Ahmed Yussu who himself belongs one of the pastoralist tribes in the region.He elaborates on the local traditions:

“Traditionally tribes are not denied transgression into other tribal territories. Even if herders came with sick animals they were allowed in. A system was in place whereby livestock were checked for deceases, and if they were sick, they were allocated grazing in a secluded area. But it always had to happen after negotiations.”

The traditional system was not only about sharing pastures. Access to water, another scarce resource in these arid lands, was dealt with too.

“A system would allow different group to drive their herds to watering holes on different days. Water for domestic use was accessible throughout“, Hussein Ahmed Yussuf adds.

However, as the modern system has grown stronger, so have forces working to reemploy the customary methods of conflict resolution.

“Many attempts have been made to revive traditional system. The most successful is this declaration” says Hussein Ahmed Yussuf while reaching for “The Modogashe-Garissa Declaration” signed by leaders from 10 districts gathered in Garissa 2005.

“This declaration is founded on tradition and religion e.g. Sharia as the people in Garissa are Muslims. One of the issues addressed by the declaration is that transgression in to neighboring pastures must be conditioned by prior negotiation.

Isiolo (here at sun set) beautifuly situated on the brink of the desert appears like a Northern frontier.

According to Hussein Ahmed Yussuf the declaration has made a change in the pattern of interaction between pastoralist of the region.

“People do actually negotiate, at least in this area. The different communities have agreed to a costume where elders escort the young men whenever they transgress into foreign territory with the dry herd. That is a way to make sure that powers of negotiation are present when herders from two communities meet. Negotiation then decides the outcome, in stead of the balance of firepower between the two groups of young men meeting in the bush. We even have a system where we can place the local chief on the ground if herders refuse to negotiate. Chief are always a symbol of authority which helps the process.”

Amongst pastoralist disputes over grazing is not the only cause of conflict. Cattle rustling is just a common a trigger of violence. However raiding too is addressed by The Modogashe-Garissa Declaration:

“The declaration states that if you steal one head of cattle you will have to pay back three. This way of punishing raiders makes much more sense to pastoralist communities than conventional law. To pastoralist getting your cattle back is usually much more meaningful than seeing a thief being prisoned. Major raids have actually been dealt with this way, and that has scared many people from raiding.” 

Ahmed Hussein Yussuf emphasizes that peace based on the traditional rules such as The Modogashe-Garissa Declaration is fragile:

“It is a so called ‘silent agreement’ which has no legal validity. It can be challenged anytime in court. It is only compelling as long as the people who have signed it respect it.”

The point that the declaration does not guarantee peace, was demonstrated as partnernews visits Isiolo late September. At this point of time the District Peace Committee is on high alert, mainly because Somali tribes from around Wajir usually drive their herds to Isiolo District at this time of the year.

“The Somalis do not have the same culture of negotiation as people around here. So people here feel that they often breach the declaration. And we know that that can cause clashes,” expains Ahmed Hussein Yussuf

Another seasonal event presently pushing the alert indicator upwards is in fact pastoralist traditions which are not only about resource sharing and coexistence, but also about raiding. 

“The Samburu have just gone through their initiation ritual. Usually that means the young morans have to prove their manhood by stealing some cattle. This is not the kind of organized raids we used to see, where people get involved. It’s more like petty theft but can still trigger conflicts.”
Influx of small arms from Somalia makes an underlying potential for violent conflict in the region, as does recurrent theft of cattle instigated by handlers, usually butchers, who buy stolen cows at around 60 of the market price and slaughter them furtively in the bush.

Despite the current state of high alert, life in Isiolo is peaceful, at least compared to what it used to be like. As Hussein Ahmed Yussuf concludes:

“It seems people here respect the traditional system more than they fear the official system.”