Ethnic conflicts in Kenya occur frequently, although most are classified as minor skirmishes.[ citation needed ] A significant increase in the severity of such conflicts between the various ethnic groups inhabiting the country was witnessed after the introduction of multi-party politics in the early 1990s, especially during the 2007–08 Kenyan crisis. [1] Major conflicts have also led to exoduses of ethnic minority communities with roots in other geographical areas.
Several factors have been identified as the source of outbreaks of communal violence among populations living in close proximity to each other. These include: [2]
The most significant conflict witnessed since Kenya's independence from Britain was the 2007–08 Kenyan crisis, a series of inter-ethnic clashes ignited by the 2007 disputed presidential elections.
By the beginning of 2008, an estimated one third of the 2,200 member Indian community in Kisumu, which controlled most of the city's trade, had begun repatriating back home in the wake of the ethnic clashes. According to community representative Yogesh Dawda, the resident Indians did not trust the Kenyan police's ability to ensure their security. [3]
In 1992, 5,000 people were killed and another 75,000 displaced in the Rift Valley Province, with the town of Molo being an epicenter of the violence. The conflict was primarily between the Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities with Land ownership cited as one of key reasons for the conflict. [4]
In 2012, clashes over cattle between the ethnic groups in Samburu District resulted in the deaths of over 40 people including police officers sent to quell the violence.
In March 2017, 13 people were killed and four wounded in Baringo County during a series of cattle rustling. [5]
The year 2005 witnessed an insurgency in the Mount Elgon District of the Western province of Kenya. This was led by the Sabaot Land Defence Force which drew its members from the Sabaot people, who are a sub-tribe of the Kalenjin.
1997 saw a spate of clashes in the Likoni division of Mombasa District. [6]
In 2012–2013, there was ethnic violence among the Orma and Pokomo group in the Tana River District who have historically fought over grazing, farmland and water. [7]
On 18 November 2012, 10 people were killed and 25 seriously injured when an explosive ripped apart a route 28 mass transit mini-bus (matatu) in Eastleigh. The explosion was believed to have been an improvised explosive device or bomb of some sort. [8] Looting and destruction of Somali-owned homes and shops by angry mobs of young Kenyans ensued. [9] Somalis defended their property, and interpreted the bus explosion as a pretext for non-Somalis to steal from their community. [10]
On 20 November 2012, Kenya Defence Forces swooped Garissa in a military operation. KDF soldiers subsequently burned down the local market and shot at a crowd of protesters, [11] killing a woman and injuring 10 people. Another 35 residents were also receiving treatment at the provincial hospital after being assaulted by the soldiers, including a chief and two pupils. A group of MPs led by Farah Maalim accused Kenyan officers of fomenting violence, raping women and shooting at students, and threatened to take the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) if the perpetrators were not brought to justice. [12] [13]
Maalim also suggested that the deployment of the soldiers was unconstitutional and had not received the requisite parliamentary approval, [12] and that the ensuing rampage cost Garissa entrepreneurs over Sh1.5 billion to Sh2billion in missed revenue. [13] Additionally, Sheikhs with the CPK threatened to sue the military commanders for crimes against humanity committed during the operation. [12] However, general harassment of the Somali community by Kenyan policemen continued, with some officers going as far as invading the homes of Somali businesspeople to steal precious jewellery, foreign currencies, and electronic devices, including expensive phones, laptops and other personal accessories. [14]
By January 2013, a mass exodus of Somali residents was reported. Hundreds of Somali entrepreneurs withdrew between Sh10 to Sh40 billion from their Eastleigh bank accounts, with the intention of reinvesting most of that money back home in Somalia. The collective departures most affected Eastleigh's real estate sector, as landlords struggled to find Kenyans able to afford the high rates of the apartments and shops vacated by the Somalis. [14]
The North Eastern Province is one of the former provinces of Kenya. It had a land area of 127,358.5 km2, with its capital at Garissa. The North Eastern Province was carved out of the then Northern Frontier District (NFD) prior to independence.
Mungiki is a banned ethnic organisation in Kenya. The name means "a united people" or "multitude" in the Kikuyu language. The religion, which apparently originated in the late 1980s, is secretive and bears some similarity to mystery religions. Specifics of their origin and doctrines are unclear. What is clear is that they favour a return to indigenous African traditions.
Tana River County is a county in the former Coast Province of Kenya. It is named after the Tana River, the longest river in Kenya. It has an area of 38,437 km2 (14,841 sq mi) and a population of 315,943 as of the 2019 census. The county borders Kitui County to the west, Garissa County to the northeast, Isiolo County to the north, Lamu County to the southeast and Kilifi County to the south.The administrative headquarters of the county is Hola also known as Galole. The County has five (5) sub Counties; Tana Delta, Tana River, Tana North, Galedyertu, and Bangal.
Garissa is the capital of Garissa County, Kenya. It is situated in the former North Eastern Province.
The Orma is one of the Oromo clans in the Horn of Africa who predominantly live in Tana River County in northern Kenya and in southern Ethiopia. They share a common language and cultural heritage with other Oromo clans. First and foremost they are pastoralists and almost all are Muslims. In 2019 the Orma numbered 158,993.
The Shifta War or Gaf Daba (1963–1967) was a secessionist conflict in which ethnic Somalis in the Northern Frontier District (NFD) of Kenya attempted to join Somalia. The Kenyan government named the conflict "shifta", after the Swahili word for "bandit", as part of a propaganda effort. The Kenyan counter-insurgency General Service Units forced civilians into "protected villages" as well as killing livestock kept by the pastoralist Somalis.
The Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) was a guerrilla militia operating in the Mount Elgon District of Kenya since 2005. It has been accused of killing more than 600 people, and of committing a variety of atrocities including murder, torture, rape, and the theft and destruction of property. More than 66,000 people had been displaced in an 18-month period.
There is a high crime rate in all regions of Kenya. Petty offences are the most common crime with stealing being the most reported crime. Robbery and theft are among the least cited criminal offences. Crime in Kenya is as low as in countries like Tunisia with a rating of 3.46 crimes per 100,000 people. However, it is important to note that crime in Kenya often goes unreported and police often lack the training or experience to effectively respond to crimes. Despite the reportedly somewhat low crime rate, Kenya has a big problem with organized crime and many gangs work with corrupt police officers and sometimes even the government. Kenya has a criminality score of 7.02 on the Organized Crime Index, the 16th most in the world, an improvement from 11th in 2021.
The Mount Elgon insurgency was a conflict that started in 2005 when the Sabaot Land Defence Force militia revolted in the Mount Elgon area, Western Kenya.
Farah Maalim Mohamed is a Kenyan Politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Lagdera Constituency from 29 December 1992 to 29 December 1997, and then from 27 December 2007 to 4 March 2013. He's currently serving as the Member of Parliament for Dadaab Constituency since 9 August 2022. He also served as the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya from 15 January 2008 to 14 January 2013. He is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) was established in 2008. Kenya's modern history has been marked not only by liberation struggles but also by ethnic conflicts, semi-despotic regimes, marginalization and political violence, including the 1982 attempted coup d'état, the Shifta War, and the 2007 post-election violence.
From late 2011 to 2014, Kenya experienced an upsurge in violent terrorist attacks. Kenyan government officials asserted that many of the murders and blasts were carried out by al-Shabaab in retaliation for Operation Linda Nchi, a coordinated military mission between the Somalian military and Kenyan military that began in October 2011, when troops from Kenya crossed the border into the conflict zones of southern Somalia. According to Kenyan security experts, the bulk of the attacks were increasingly carried out by radicalized Kenyan youth who were hired for the purpose. Kenya security officials also indicated that they were part of death squads, which carried out many of the killings under the orders of a government security council. By mid-2014, the cumulative attacks began affecting Kenya's tourism industry, as Western nations issued travel warnings to their citizens.
In August 2012, a series of ethnic clashes between the Orma and Pokomo peoples of Kenya's Tana River District resulted in the deaths of at least fifty-two people. The violence was the worst of its kind in Kenya since the country's 2007–08 crisis, which left 118 people dead and more than 13,500 displaced – over 50% of the 13,500 were children, women and the elderly.
Many terrorist attacks have occurred in Kenya during the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1980, the Jewish-owned Norfolk hotel was attacked by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In 1998, the US embassy was bombed in Nairobi, as was the Israeli-owned Paradise hotel in 2002 in Mombasa. In 2013, the Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab killed 67 people at Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Mall. There have also been many other attacks.
Yusuf Hassan Abdi is a Kenyan politician, diplomat, social activist and former journalist. After working many years with the United Nations, he joined the Kenya parliament as a legislator in 2011.
In November 2012, a series of ethnic clashes between the Samburu and Turkana tribes of Kenya's Samburu County resulted in the deaths of at least 46 people including police officers sent to quell the violence.
The Somali–Kenyan conflict has been an issue within Kenya since the colonial period. Problems have ranged from skirmishes between the two communities and have led to terrorist attacks, police harassment, extortion, home invasions, physical violence, and massacres perpetrated against Somalis and Kenyans.
Tana River District was a district of Coast Province, Kenya. It was named after the Tana River itself. Before a split that led to the creation of Tana Delta District, Tana River had an area as of 38,446 square kilometres (14,844 sq mi). The district capital was Hola, also known as Galole.
On 2 April 2015, gunmen stormed the Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya, killing 148 people, and injuring at least 79. The militant groups Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab, which the gunmen claimed to belong to, took responsibility for the attack. The gunmen took over 700 students hostage, freeing Muslims and killing those who identified as Christians. The siege ended the same day, when all four of the attackers were killed. Five men were later arrested in connection with the attack, and a bounty was placed for the arrest of a suspected organizer.
The Oromia–Somali clashes flared up in December 2016 following territorial disputes between Oromia region and Somali region's Government in Ethiopia. Hundreds of people were killed and more than 1.5 million people fled their homes. The conflict ended in 2018.
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