Addressing Armed Violence in East Africa.pdf - Project Ploughshares

Addressing Armed Violence in East Africa3. KenyaThe number of people killed has risen dramatically and, whilemale warriors are still killed, non-participants in the raids arenow dying more often:Women and children are on the receiving end. They bearthe effects of violence. In the past, the rule was “take theanimals, don’t kill”. Now this rule has been disregarded.The men fight and take cover. The women and childrenhave no guns [and become targets]. Also, when men go outwith the healthy herds they leave the weaker animals withwomen and children and no supply of feed.Women, children and the elderly appear to be particularlyvulnerable as they are left behind when attacks occur. The menare often elsewhere with the cattle. One person interviewedsaid, “There is no sexual assault, just killing.” Apparently, atraditional taboo that raiders not attack women, children andolder people has been broken.There are other costs to women, indirect but still tangible,related to the violence of cattle raids. We were told that“women are now frightened to go about in the evening.There are risks to travelling into the interior, and women feelinsecure because of threats of robbery.” In addition, childrenare affected because their opportunities to attend school areconstrained.Illiteracy, poverty and isolation had animpact on the level of violence.When women lose their husbands, their rights to property canbe compromised:When a woman loses her husband, his brother takesresponsibility for her. She will lack choices as one of manywomen. The brother is interested in the cows and takesthem and other possessions. The aim is to take over thedead brother’s possessions.Sexual violence against school girls was recounted in severalinterviews in the Marakwet area. One person claimed that 11school girls were raped in an incident, and another individualsaid two school girls were raped. It is not clear if these accountswere referring to the same incident or two separate incidents.This incident was also described as a rare occurrence andperhaps related to the proximity of the school to a road where ahighway robbery took place. Another version of this incident, orperhaps a different incident of rape, was reported:There was a recent incident of rape where a Nissan buswas travelling on the roads. Girls were leaving a secondaryschool to go home. They were removed from the bus andraped at gunpoint. The other passengers were not robbed.Other incidents of armed violence were reported: gang rapeslinked to revenge, car-jacking, shootings, people disappearing,gangs threatening businesses. Extrajudicial killings were saidto be significant during post-election violence. A governmentoperation to recover animals resulted in the deaths of fivesecurity personnel in March 2007.The Impact of Armed Violenceon DevelopmentPart of the indirect impact of armed violence is the slowing ofdevelopment processes. When questioned about the impactarmed violence has had on their communities, beyond thedeaths that occur in raids and criminality, people mentionedthe postponement of planned meetings, school closures and thedisruption of other community activities. Economic activity isaffected: “Whenever there is a raid, there is confusion. We can’tgrow food because we can’t get to our fields and we fear dying.”Tourism has been hampered because the region is unsafe: “Atany moment violence can occur, undoing the promotion of theregion for tourism”.Other effects of the violence include:• People are displaced when they flee violence• Social and health amenities such as hospitals and sites fordisplaced people are closed because of insecurity in certainareas.• Livestock become infected by new diseases when they aremoved to new areas for security reasons. Animals subjectedto raids and counter-raids are always on the move, and theirmilk productivity and weight gain can be adversely affected.Restrictions on movement in areas of violence make buyingand selling cattle more difficult.• People move their families to escape danger and find adjustingto their new surroundings hard.• Unemployment rises as youth drop out of school to defendtheir properties.18