Sheet n°289 - February 2008
The crisis in Kenya : one conflict among others
©IRD / Meunier Jean-Yves
ome
conflicts,
such as the one
between Israel and
Palestine, are at the
forefront of the media scene and tend
to obscure other no
less violent crises. In
Africa, there are many
conflicts running that
are less known to
the public. The forms
they take and the
reasons behind them
are manifold : community strife, violent
resources-access linked disturbances (for
instance over land,
water, grazing, mining
resources), organized
crime, urban violence. Yet they have at
least one underlying
common factor : extreme poverty and the
“failure” of government. These troubles
include the crisis
in Kenya, attracting
strong media coverage, urban violence in
Nigeria and the internal crisis in Uganda.
IRD research is under
way on all these situations, because the fuel
for these conflicts lies
in unequal distribution of wealth and the
development-related
problems faced by the
countries involved.
©IRD / Meunier Jean-Yves
S
Warriors (morane) of the Samburu, a nomadic ethnic group in
northern Kenya.
Kenya : crisis of the neopatrimonial
State. Since the highly contested reelection of President Mwai Kibaki on 27
December 2007, a web of so-termed
“ethnic” violence, locally installed by militiamen, has led Kenya to a fierce situation of fire and fighting. The areas in the
Rift Valley which are home to the Kikuyu,
the ethnic group to which the President
belongs, have been particularly strongly
affected. The violence in this province
is linked to a land tenure claim by the
Kalenjin ethnic group. Although civil populations generally react by fleeing the
battle zones, in some cases organized
resistance rises up, other militia counter-attack and the conflict becomes rooted in the long term. Kenya has a high
population density and is criss-crossed
by administrative boundaries inherited
from British colonial times. These can
become veritable territorial frontiers, in
the space of a battle or over a longer period. Since the end of the colonial era
in the 1960s, an ideology has been built
according to which each region must
conserve its ethnic homogeneity. This is
the Majimbo ideology, from the Swahili
word for “regions”. It is brought to justify
Young Samburu girl, in her dance finery.
the political supremacy and local land
tenure of certain ethnic groups declared
to be “autochthonous”. And it gives rise
to xenophobic feelings. In the course of
Kenya’s history, government and opposition have each in turn made reference to
the Majimbo ideology and exploited this
xenophobia for their electoral ends. During the election campaign, the Orange
Democratic Movement (ODM) of Raila
Odinga again drew on the Majimbo idea
to unite the opposition and allow an alliance between the Luo, Luhya, Kalenjin
ethnic groups of the western areas and
the Mijikenda against a government portrayed as being Kikuyu. Yet Kenya had
up to then enjoyed an image as a haven
of peace in this particularly agitated part
of the globe. In fact successive governments, in need of support from a broader ethnic base, have mostly been able
to handle these interethnic rivalries and
maintain a delicate balance. Government leaders’ “ethnic” legitimacy nevertheless needs to be built up and support
from “ethnic” alliances has to be won. It
is only in times of crisis, as at present,
that Majimbo rises to the surface again
and that a form of “ethnic” violence ta-
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Sheet n°289 - February 2008
For further information
CONTACTS :
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Unité de recherche
Constructions identitaires et mondialisation
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MARC-ANTOINE PÉROUSE
DE MONTCLOS
Unité Sociétés et
Développement
Tel : 01 48 02 56 97
Marc-Antoine.Perouse@bondy.ird.fr
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Unité Centre Population
et Développement
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kes root. In a country like Kenya, where
the different leaders founded their power
base on land redistribution at the end of
the colonial era, attaining a position of
power signifies having privileged access
to certain resources (land, water, grazing
rights, arable areas, and so on). Other
peoples, as in Nigeria, are struggling to
gain access to these elements of wealth.
Uganda : when different causes combine.
Uganda suffers primarily from the repercussions of crises affecting neighbouring countries. Civil wars in the Sudan,
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic
of Congo have had two major consequences. First, Uganda has for over 15
years been host to 250 000 to 300 000
refugees. Secondly, in order to protect
its frontiers, the government has effecNigeria : epitomy of a violent country. ted military interventions, for instance in
Nigeria is reputed to be one of the most the Congo and in the conflict between
violent countries in Africa. As in Kenya, the North and the South of Sudan (sepaelections regularly spark off bloody rate from the Darfour conflict), bringing
clashes, whether it be presidential elec- its support to the Sudan Popular Liberations like in April 2007 or local ones tion Army (SPLA). However, Uganda is
which ran in early 2008. Once again, also suffering from its own history, long
in a similar way to Kenya, community punctuated by coups d’état which crysconflicts are rooted in economic pro- tallized deep internal divisions, particublems, but added with a
larly between the North
strong religious dimenand the South of the
sion. In parts such as the
country. Such a situation
Middle Belt region, the
allowed the springing up
meeting point between
of the Lord’s Resistance
the Muslim cultural
Army (LRA) in the Acholi
areas of the North and
region, in the north of
the Christian ones of
the country. This is a
the South, the land-temessianic
movement
nure claims are effectisworn to overthrow the
vely borne up by idengovernment of Uganda’s
tity-related movements
president Yoweri Musewhich draw on religion.
veni. And the Ugandan
Nigeria is in its way rearmy responds with bru©IRD / Pérouse de Monclos Marc-Antoine
presentative of all the
tal force to the violence
types of conflict In Nigerian shanty-towns, people protect themselves of this rebel mothat can tear Africa from thieves by organizing night patrols and decei- vement, known for
apart. The country ving their enemy with lures. Depicted here is a sca- its abductions of
is for example the recrow-type model made to look like a watchman. children and young
arena of secessionist movements like girls. These disturbances have brought
the Movement for the Actualization of the whole Acholi population under threat
the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), from this two-way armed violence and
which fights for the independence of for more than ten years all the northBiafra in Ibo country, of rebel groups central region has been deprived of
which commit violent attacks to further any economic and social development.
claims for a better share of the oil manna Nearly 1 600 000 displaced persons
pumped from the Niger Delta. There are are still awaiting a solution to this crisis.
also numerous “ethnic” militias which The political and military conflicts to atpolitical parties effectively win over as tain power are born of unequal access
a means of establishing their power. In to resources. Such violence-filled situaall cases, the political dimension and tions preclude any prospect of develoorganized crime are intrinsically linked. pment. Nevertheless, the image of an
The conflicts which are ravaging the Africa entangled in endless insoluble
Africa’s most densely populated country conflicts is mistaken : most of the cricannot therefore be understood wi- ses which have flared up the continent
thout examining the day-to-day crimi- since the Cold War are in the process of
nal violence which affects Nigerians being resolved. Sierra Leone or Liberia,
and structures their ways of life, which for example, have stabilized. The conflict
certain signs indicate : highly protected in the Sudan is coming to an end and
homes, restricted means of movement, Angola is undergoing a reconstruction.
clampdown in urban areas with districts
closed off at night, barred windows, barbed wire and so on. The information Gaëlle Courcoux – DIC
gathered by IRD confirms the intensity of this phenomenon, showing over
6 000 violent deaths recorded in 2007. Translation : Nicholas Flay
Grégory Fléchet, coordinator
Délégation à l’information et à la communication
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