East Africa’s Drought Worsening Rivalries Among Nomadic Tribes

OROPOI, Kenya —  After waiting seven hours in the baking sun for a turn at the only cattle watering hole for miles, goatherd Lorumor Lokosen erupted when someone shoved his cows ahead in the line.

“Back! Back!” Lokosen screamed, beating the thirsty cows until they reluctantly gave way at the water trough to his goats. Seconds later he and the offending rancher were scuffling in the dust, cursing and swatting each other with sticks until bystanders separated them.

“The fighting gets worse every day, and it’s all over this little trickle,” said herdsman Lolimo Lopie Epakal, flicking his hand in disgust through the dribble of water from a spring. “People are losing patience.”

As East Africa’s drought deepens, competition for scarce resources has fueled increased violence here among rival nomadic tribes forced to share a dwindling supply of water and grazing land in a region awash in grievances and guns.

The British aid group Oxfam International said ethnic-based conflict in northern Kenya was already at its highest level in nearly a decade and threatened to get worse.

This month, Uganda deployed army gunships to break up a cattle-rustling clash between a local tribe and raiders from Kenya. About half a dozen herders on both sides were killed, officials said.

In one of the bloodiest clashes, nearly 40 people were killed in February near the village of Lokamariyang, on the border with Ethiopia, after a Kenyan tribe drove its cattle into a pasture claimed by Ethiopians.

“If we don’t get rain in the next month, it will become much more serious,” predicted Father Bernard Ruhnau, a Catholic priest who has worked in the area for years.

Similar clashes have been reported elsewhere in East Africa, where the lack of rain is threatening nearly 8 million people with hunger if emergency food supplies do not arrive soon. In many regions, more than 80% of the cattle have died.

Concerns about violence are particularly strong in this bleak, unforgiving part of northern Kenya, where tribal grievances over cattle and land date back hundreds of years. The indigenous Turkana tribe has long-standing rivalries with neighboring clans in Kenya as well as across the borders with Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Exacerbating tensions is the abundance of guns. Tribes were first armed decades ago by colonialists and East African governments, which hoped the clans would provide a buffer against potential invasions.

More recently, proximity to rebel movements in northern Uganda, southern Sudan and Somalia have turned northern Kenya into a thriving marketplace for secondhand AK-47s and German-made G3 rifles.

Despite some recent disarmament programs, more than 60,000 weapons are believed to be circulating in Kenya’s Turkana district, the equivalent of more than one gun for every man, woman and child, said local Oxfam manager George Otim.

Drought has forced nomadic communities to travel more than 100 miles in search of food and water, far from their homeland and into the territory of enemies.

In the village of Kalokol, on the shores of Lake Turkana, a dozen fishermen escaped the midday sun on a recent day under some weathered wooden planks. The shoreline has receded nearly a mile during the last year, they said, beaching dozens of rowboats and forcing fish into deeper water farther out. That has led to clashes with Ethiopian fishermen who share the lake along the two countries’ border. A few months ago, two local fishermen were shot and killed on the lake by bandits believed to be from Ethiopia.

“Now we avoid that area,” said fisherman Joseph Ekamate, 35. “It’s not worth the risk of getting killed.”

Sometimes the threat also comes from the shore as herdsmen drive cattle to the lakeside in search of grass. Desperate ranchers have raided the fishermen’s camp while they were out in their boats.

“My father was shot last month when he was trying to return to the camp while it was being raided,” Ekamate said. His father survived, but the bandits stole all the fish.

To the west, at the base of mountains separating Kenya and Uganda, families in the Turkana district have been hit hard by drought, but rivals in Uganda still have plenty of water and grass.

In December, about 600 Turkana families from Naproto village in Kenya were forced to trek west into Uganda in search of water. But when the Turkana women tried to fetch water at a borehole, they were stoned and chased away.

“This is water that belongs to Uganda!” a Ugandan tribesman shouted, Esinyen Lopidir, one of the Turkana women, recounted.

When they set up camp nearby, they came under repeated assault from armed Ugandans, who killed almost 10 clan members in two attacks and stole several dozen cattle, villagers say.

After a month, the Turkana retreated to Kenya. But now tribal leaders say they must return to Uganda, regardless of the risk.

“I don’t care if I lose a child, or my husband -- it is a desperate situation,” said Akiru Lomukuny, a Turkana mother preparing for a return journey.

“We must go back,” said Longole Morungole, whose cousin was shot and killed during one of the raids. He rested his hand on an aging rifle he said he had received from the Kenyan government. “If they attack us again, we’ll fight until the last man standing.”