Elemi triangle: a theatre of armed cattle rustling

Elemi triangle, once a disputed triangular border area between Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia, has continued to know no peace. It has been a home of protracted and intermittent armed cattle-related conflicts, in which many lives have been lost, others maimed and property of unknown value lost.

Apart from being a gateway to an area of Sudan rich in unexplored oil reserves, Elemi is only significant for its dry season pastures that support the Turkana, Didinga, Toposa, Inyangatom (Dong'iro) and Dassanech (Merille), largely known as Karamoja cluster groups of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan. By analyzing why, until recently, the Elemi has been 'unwanted' and hence not economically developed by any regional government, differences of perception and significance of the area between the authorities and the local herders abounds.

On the one hand, the forage-rich pastures of Elemi have been the cause for war among Elemi communities and an enigma to colonial surveyors who could not determine their''ownership' and extent. On the other hand, failure to administer the region in the last century reflects the lack of attractiveness to the authorities that have not agreed on infrastructure development, security and grazing arrangements for the benefit of their respective nomadic populations.

Armed cattle rustling conflicts between the Turkana of Kenya and Ethiopia's Merille has dominated headlines of the Elemi triangle news. Between January 2002 and November 2004, at least 100 lives have been lost and unspecified number of livestock taken away.

In this conflict, the Merille have been singled out as the main aggressors, as more and more Turkana fall victims of their belligerent atrocities. A number of recent attacks in Turkana inhabited area of the triangle allegedly by the Merille attest to this allegation.

In August this year, three General Service Unit officers were waylaid while on duty and shot dead by suspected Merille warriors at Todonyang, a Kenya Ethiopia border post. No livestock were taken away.

During the month of October, the Merille attacked Turkana villages' twice. The first attack took place on the 16th when Merille warriors attacked Narakibuk village, Kokuro but were repelled by heavy artillery from the Turkana warriors. Neither life nor livestock were lost. The footprints of the adversaries were traced to Lochuch area in Merille land.

The second attack was on the 20th of the very month when about 20 Merille warriors attacked Meyen villages in Kokuro, killing two and injuring three Turkana herders. Unspecified number of livestock was driven away by the attackers. The raided livestock are yet to be recovered.

These ugly incidences have generally bred deep ethnic hostility between the two communities, further rendering this forgotten triangle ungovernable, disrupted production and marketing of Elemi drylands products and utmost attracting very little domestic and indirect foreign investment.

Easy availability of guns has also been cited as a major contributor and trigger of cattle-related conflicts in the triangle. Virtually every male person aged 17 years and above is presumed armed in the triangle, with a larger concentration of arms traced to Merille villages.

Meanwhile, the Turkana community has recovered and returned 59 out of the stolen 61 cattle to Inyangatom. The recovery of the stolen livestock was hailed by a cross-section of Kokuro leaders including the Kibish District Officer, Mr. Lotulya, as a positive move towards mending relations between the two communities that had been threatened by the cattle theft incidence.

ITDGPractical Action-EA Peace Bulletin - January 2005