Addressing Local Land and Herding Disputes is Pre-Requisite for Peace in Africa

Twelve killed in violence in Lakes State, Southern Sudan. Eleven killed in a cattle raid in Kenya. Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo DR. There is something beneath the political battles we read about in the news. Feuds between ethnic rivals over land and rural groups over herding routes have rocked Africa's Sahel and Horn for a long time but some believe it has gotten worse recently.

As states crumble or leaders manipulate tribal animosity, the coping mechanisms which have held many groups together begin to fray. In fact, a great deal of traditional and Islamic law practiced outside the state focuses on land and herding dispute resolution. Given the combined benefits of having a traditional dispute resolution system when it is functional as well as the reality that many of these systems have been corrupted or broken by the broader political disputes, many international agencies, including traditionally health oriented agencies, are seeking to innovate further new hybrid peacebuilding methods to address local-level conflict.

Here's a great peacebuilding starter kit for donors and agencies considering broadening this front for peace. Perhaps this is one path toward addressing cattle raiding, and through it one of the associated factors in broader conflict. The efforts have been growing for a while, but funding has been lax until recently.

[Photo: Kenya cattle drive, Greg Westfall]