NEP conflicts: When small things matter

A man who owns a Rottweiler goes into a bar and asks: "Who owns the chihuahua dog outside? writes Tony Blair in his biography, A Journey.

"Me, why?" the owner asks. "It is killing my dog."

Apparently, the Chihuahua (a hand-sized dog) was stuck in the Rottweiler's (a huge dog) throat.

This anecdote provides a sobering lesson for those who feel too big or too small to resolve an issue.

Last week I was thrust into the middle of a situation where this anecdote mattered a lot. Since the beginning of June, more than 100 people have died due to ethnic related violence in the North. In Isiolo alone, more than 30 people are confirmed to have died as a result of two tribes fighting. They say we learn a lot every day. In the last one week, I have learnt a lot that I didn't know.

My boss, the Governor, asked me to chair a committee to find the causes and possible recommend the remedy for the perennial hostilities in the county pitying the Samburu and Turkana. My plan of action and working strategy included going with a section of my committee to visit the affected areas, providing emergency services and persuading the displaced to return to their homes. We also visited the schools which closed and asked the parents to return their children back to school.It was prove that some things are easier said than done.

I remember sitting there at times on edge knowing that any "wrong" utterance would tip things for worse and take us back to square one. You see, what has been happening here is a cycle of revenge killings. One side attacks, the other plans counter-attacks and so on and so on. What used to be a pass-time in the past has turned into a cycle of violence that only reinforces age-old prejudices.

In the talks, you could see positions harden, at times loosen, often it was a hardening of stance. It is easy to blame cattle rustling as the main cause of the violence. When observed closely as I did, other dynamics became apparent. In as much as scarce fodder for the animals a time triggers the conflict, other long standing rivalry perpetuates ethnic strife. And this could be true of the Pokot and the Tugens and Turkana and Pokot, Maasai and Kisii and so forth.

Let me give an example; an encounter between Samburu Morans and Turkana youth at the grazing fields where one side referred to the other group as "women" or weaklings led to a protracted gunfire. Culturally, the Samburu consider themselves superior and call the Turkana, boys because they (Turkanas) don't circumcise their boys. A Samburu cannot fathom a Turkana leading them. Matters are complicated further because the area MP is a Turkana. Meanwhile, the Turkanas call the Samburu thieves, think of them as being foolish and primitive.

How does being called a boy matter you may ask because it doesn't change a thing or being referred to as foolish while you know you are not.

Of course, the issue may be that "simple" to an outsider, but to the communities, it is not. Mr Blair in his book lists 10 points that he applied successfully to the intractable North Ireland peace initiative leading to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 ending nearly 30 years of violence. One caught my eye; Small things can be big things.

To be called a boy is a small thing to you and me. To a Turkana youth, it means life and death. In the talks, as Mr Blair says appreciating that small things are big things is putting aside what is important in favour of the other person's view. And therefore the issues in Isiolo and all the strife-stricken places are "big things".

And like in the case of Northern Ireland, there are obvious economic, political and social factors at play. I gleaned a few: the possibility of Isiolo becoming a future resort city and the development of vision 2030 projects like the Lapsset transit corridor has triggered suspicion and caused tension in the area.

Secondly, young people under the influence of alcohol resort to aggression, or simply participate in spreading rumours about an eminent attack from a neighbouring community. Most of the youth we encountered were in various states of inebriation severely affecting their sense of judgement.

A third one, believe it or not is technology. The mobile phone helps to propel the (wrong or right) messages fast and wide. When a lorry burst a tyre recently, word went round about an attack causing great panic and tension.

Yet the most chilling aspect in these conflict is the number of automatic weapons in the hands of the youth herding livestock. It is quite common in the grazing fields to come across a group of a 100 youth all carrying AK-47s and M16s to move in groups and even challenge security forces. It is estimated that in the area around Isiolo alone there could be more than 2,000 illegal firearms in circulation.

In Isiolo County there are less than 500 combined AP and Kenya Police Service officers and Kenya Police Reservists. Small is indeed big when you consider the lethal cocktail this makes up.