Peace-talks Resume After Renewed Ethnically Framed Clashes in Tana River District, Kenya

Following the first full-scale massacres in Tana River District since the 2007 post-election clashes, the local population remains concerned about the lack of government effectiveness in security provision and legal accountability for the crimes committed.

Since August last year more than a dozen violent attacks, including machete-slaughtering, machine-gun assassinations, arson, pillage, cattle raiding and looting have been committed by members of the agrarian Pokomo ethnic group and the pastoralist Oroma. Around 150 people are estimated to have lost their lives. In addition, scores of people have sustained severe injuries and tens of thousands have been displaced. Compared to the 2007 violence, this time around women and children appear to have been more systematically targeted.

The motivations for the attacks are currently being investigated. Most local and international commentators give struggles over land resources as the primary issue at stake. The devolution of administrative power, as a result of the 2010 Constitution, may also play a role in intensifying local conflict. So does the influx of weapons into the region. Still, the details of the wave of violence remain unclear.

The recent kidnapping of the principal government-appointed investigator and some of the evidence so far collected impede the fact-finding and accountability process. Not to be excluded is the possibility of top-down incitement of violence.

So far, Dhado Godhana, MP in the Galole district and Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Livestock Development been faced with charges of inciting violence and was dismissed from the latter position and released in September 2012 against a 500.000 KSh bail. An additional 3 politicians are currently suspected to be involved in the violence and accusations are being made against the police force for ineffective intervention and prevention of further attacks in the face of warning signs.

On the bright side, peace and reconciliation talks are currently taking place near Garsen, a district center. However, without long-term locally anchored solutions to conflict over land and resource allocation, legal accountability, as well as checks and balances on governors and ethnic entrepreneurs, the conflicts in Tana River District are unlikely to be resolved.

Miranda Myrberg

MA Nationalism Studies Program