Recently the unrest in Moyale was getting all kinds of attention from the national media houses, a 16 year old girl was brutally raped, looting was rampant and a few lost their lives amid the tribal hatred.
Fast forward two months latter, two people were brutally murdered as they traveled from Marsabit to Moyale, just a few kilometers from an army camp in Moyale. This happened on Sunday 14, August,2011.
A day latter, Monday 15th, three people were arrested with more than 180 rounds of ammunition strapped
on their bodies and pistols in their pockets crossing the border check on Boda Boda motorcycles, broad day light. Their arrest was purely a work of luck; no checks are normally carried out, this I have seen.
on their bodies and pistols in their pockets crossing the border check on Boda Boda motorcycles, broad day light. Their arrest was purely a work of luck; no checks are normally carried out, this I have seen.
There is no wind of this in the media houses, such killings don’t warrant their attention and incidences like this is not news unless it happens in Othaya, Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa or any other part in Kenya except Northern Kenya. The people of Moyale are an isolated lot.
Lets focus on the killings first, this is a common occurrence, it did not start yesterday, no! it happened in 1910 as it happened in 2010, it probably will happen again, if the locals don’t take a genuine initiative inspired by their own thinking to end such kinds of killings instead of only looking at the government to intervene and solve this problem, it probably will happen next year, next month or even tomorrow if the locals don’t stop seeing one another as threats. The ethnic killings can only be stopped by the local people themselves if and only if, they start seeing each other as brothers and people who share a common history, common problems and a common background and heritage, begin to embrace their diversity and make tolerance part of their lives.
The colonial reports at the Kenya national archives has a detailed account of such inter tribal killings in the northern frontier district (NFD), the biggest tragedy is that history doesn’t seem to teach the people of this region, they have made such killings part of their culture.
What actually contributes to insecurity and ethnic hatred in Moyale?
Contributors to insecurity in Moyale constitute a complex nexus that warrants a detailed study and research, my deductions are as follows.
Dialogue, peace and advocacy of non-violence are regarded as signs of weakness to those who thrive on anarchy, and in Moyale, they are in majority they include jobless youths sitting idle, who fan violence and loot amid the mayhem, in the May, 2011 incidence they broke into shops and looted. Some malcontents have been heard openly saying they don’t want peace and communal dialogue, they are people known to the locals but no action has ever been taken against them, these are the schemers and plotters of war within the region.
Ethiopians have been hired to execute atrocious acts within Moyale town, they have been hired to throw stones at one community or break into shops and steal, they add to the region’s insecurity.
The women seem to be the main means of directing hate speech, especially the market women are the rumor mills and they direct all kind of allegations and speculations which propagates the culture of suspicion and perpetual fear. They shout the most and they claim to be vulnerable. Men who don’t want to be seen as “weak” in the face of their women then act irrationally without any consideration.
Committing a crime and running for safety into Ethiopia is not a problem, anyone can acquire the Ethiopian Identity card at only 15 Birr, equivalent of only 45 Kenya shillings, no records, no birth certificates are needed, and most people of Moyale have identity cards to Kenya and Ethiopia. The porous border has added greatly to the Moyale problem.
Moyale is a center for illegal trade and acts as an arms transit center, it attracts people from the Somali region and the Ethiopian side and from as far as the Southern Sudan. The Ethiopian people bring in arms while those from Somali who have access to goods that are zero rated from almost anywhere in the world, sugar from Brazil, rice from Pakistan bring and sell them very cheaply to the locals in Moyale and Ethiopia. A combination of all these propagates insecurity: arms are available to the locals, cheap goods which find their way into the shops means that there are some very rich people who are willing to finance insecurity in this area.
The government’s inaction to the insecurity in Moyale, disarming exercise has not yielded any kind of progress in bringing security in this region; the number of people carrying guns in the name of home guards and KPR locals far outdoes the number of police men.
Its time the media highlights some of these issues, it is only then that the government seems to respond and wake up from their indifference and lethargy to the happenings in this region.
Its time the locals work out a comprehensive and long term solution to their tribal problems. The government’s intervention is not a long term solution; a genuine change of stereotypical and unwarranted negative competition between the communities is the solution. An eye for an eye only leaves both blind.
The national cohesion and integration commission (NCIC) seems to be failing in its mandate to promote peace and harmonious co-existence among Kenyans. As they set to embark on their county anti ethnicity forum they ought to give a priority to a county like Marsabit because the ethnic tensions and tribal hatred situation is quite rife.
Some NGOs in the region have embarked on peace advocacy among the youth through organizing football tournaments, this has been going on for some years now and only last month the Ethio-Kenya peace tournament was held bringing together teams from Marsabit, Wajir, Moyale (Kenyan and Ethiopian) and Megga in Ethiopia. Such kinds of initiatives should be held regularly.
brilliant analysis dalle...is there any border town as dangerous and lawless as moyale?? with such great amount of money and illegal firearms in the region, it is no wonder that it is so lawless and dangerous...there is so much to be gained financially from this!
ReplyDeletethanks for the information keep spreading the word!
I think the wajir and mandera side might be topping the list in terms of insecurity, Job, this is one side of the story, A beautiful people have been misled and corrupted by their leaders and by their socialization to take up arms against each other for reasons that they don't know. Mob/communal reasoning is where the problems lie, individuals don't have anything against each other, not until they come together as a community . About money to be made, yes there lots of money being made.
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