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SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
both between different ethnic groups and among sub-clans
within ethnic groups. Most affected areas were located in
Turkana, West-Pokot, and Baringo County in north-western
Kenya, and the counties Marsabit, Mandera, and Wajir in the
country's north-east. Throughout the year, over 300 people
were killed, hundreds injured, and over 220,000 displaced,
most of them from Wajir and Mandera counties.
In the north-west, Pokot and Turkana repeatedly clashed over
cattle and grazing grounds in the counties of West Pokot and
Turkana, leaving at least 84 people dead, hundreds injured,
and thousands displaced. In addition, both sides stole several
thousand heads of cattle destroyed property. On the night
of October 31, Pokot militiamen killed up to 24 people, including
21 police officers in Kapedo, Baringo County, stating
they had mistaken them for Turkana. Following President
Uhuru Kenyatta's call to surrender the attackers and to hand
over the guns seized in the attack, the Kenya Defence Forces
launched an air and ground offensive in the area. Subsequently,
approx. 3,000 Pokot, some of which were armed,
fled their homes to Marigat sub-county predominantly populated
by Illchamus and Tugen. On July 6, Pokot, Ilchamus, and
Tugen leaders held a peace meeting organized by the county
government in the cattle rustling-prone Mukutani area in
Baringo. However, throughout the year, Pokot and Ilchamus
repeatedly clashed over resources in Arabal area, Mukutani,
and Sirata in Baringo. Up to six people were killed, 8,000
displaced, around 30 buildings burned, and thousands of
livestock stolen in clashes between the two groups. Further
clashes erupted between Pokot and Tugen in December.
Following the killing of a former Pokot soldier and his son
in Mochongoi, Baringo, armed Pokot raided Chesiran village
and Loruk, Baringo, leaving one person dead and at least two
injured. In addition, they burned more than 30 houses and
stole at least 500 goats, forcing thousands to flee.
Along the Somalian border during the dry summer months
between May and August, clashes between the communities
Degodia, a subclan of the Somali Hawiye tribe, and Garre
escalated. In a sequence of attacks and counter-attacks that
included the use of heavy artillery, 74 people were killed, at
least 56 injured, over 70,000 of people displaced, and several
houses were burned in the counties Wajir and Mandera.
On June 25, Kenyatta summoned political leaders from the
two clans to State House, Nairobi, telling them to resolve
their issues.
In Qabobey, Garissa County, Auliyahan and Abdiwak clashed
over pasture and water, leaving more than ten people dead
and property destroyed between May 24 and June 27. The
border region of Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa also saw an
increase in attacks conducted by Somali Islamist groups in
recent years [→ Somalia (Islamist groups)].
In Marsabit County, near the Ethiopian border, confrontations
between Borana and Gabra over livestock, grazing grounds,
and water rights continued. Clashes between the two groups
left more than 30 people dead and more than 32,000 displaced
in 2013, after violence had erupted when the Borana
candidate lost his seat in the parliamentary elections against
the allied tribes Rendille, Gabra, and Burji. Continued violence
in the first six weeks of 2014 left at least 14 people
dead and thousands of families displaced. After President
Kenyatta had formed the Marsabit Peace Restoration Committee,
leaders of the warring communities signed a peace
treaty on February 22. Among others, several UN agencies
joined the negotiations to ensure lasting peace. However,
unknown attackers raided pastoral camps along the Ethiopian
border on June 18, leaving two people dead. Furthermore,
Desaanach and Gabra violently clashed after attempted cattle
rustling in North Horr village on November 19, leaving ten
people dead and twelve injured.
In Isiolo County in central Kenya, clashes over water and
pasture between Borana and Samburu erupted. On August
22 and 23, raiders attacked Koom village along the Samburu-
Borana border, killing five people and stealing more than
400 head of cattle. Furthermore, on November 11, raiders
suspected to be Samburu from the eponymous county, ambushed
Turkana herders at Loruko, leaving ten people dead
and four injured. Six days later, around 100 Samburu militiamen
raided Gachuru village, Isiolo, killing four people,
including two police reservists, who had tried to intervene.
At the coast, in the south-east, confrontations between Maasai
and Somali in Kinango sub-county erupted after efforts
to resolve differences had failed. On December 17, over 30
Maasai youths killed ten Somali herdsmen whose cattle were
grazing in the area. One day later, elders from both communities
discussed ways to peacefully co-exist in a meeting
summoned by Kwale County Commissioner Evans Achoki. vm
KENYA (MRC / COAST)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 2008
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
MRC/PDM vs. government
secession
The conflict between the banned secessionist movement
Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) and the government
over the secession of Kenya's coastal region remained violent.
In the second half of 2013, the conflict de-escalated
when President Uhuru Kenyatta issued tens of thousands
of title deeds in the coastal region to end long lasting land
disputes, and MRC had declared its willingness to drop secession
calls. Subsequently, the government and MRC stated
their readiness to engage in peace talks. However, authorities
claimed that MRC had recruited new members throughout the
year and reformed itself as the Pwani Democratic Movement.
A series of attacks were launched in the coastal region in the
second half of the year especially in the counties of Lamu and
Mombasa. As in previous years, officials repeatedly accused
MRC of being responsible for the attacks against security personnel
and recently also blamed them for inciting violence
against tourists. MRC rejected allegations concerning any involvement
in violent assaults and insisted on being a political
movement campaigning for the independence of the coastal
region. MRC also denied links to the Somali Islamist group
al-Shabaab, which claimed responsibility for most attacks,
stating they were retaliatory measures for Kenya's military
presence in Somalia [→ Somalia (Islamist groups)].
The largest of these attacks in the coastal region was launched
on the village of Mpeketoni in Lamu County near the Somali
border, where 65 people were killed on June 15 and 16. Despite
al-Shabaab claiming responsibility, Kenyatta accused
MRC. After unidentified assailants had killed eleven people
in another attack in Lamu on June 24, the next day police
arrested 13 alleged MRC members suspected of planning further
attacks. In Kilifi County, a further seven suspected MRC
members were arrested in a police raid on July 3 conducted
in the Kaya Choni forest between the towns of Mombasa and
Kilifi.
At the beginning of November, attackers launched several
assaults on security personnel throughout the coastal region.
On November 1 and 2, about 20 suspected MRC members
attacked a police camp in Malindi, Kilifi, as well as the Nyali
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