The Political Economy of Wars in Mount Elgon, 1968-2008

Abstract

The current understanding of armed conflict is often mediated by the dichotomy between nurture and nature, genetic and social disposition to violence. Away from this prevalent binary, the recent study made an attempt to juxtapose markets of violence with socially constructed notions of autochthony on forging enduring and contending identities as one single most important stimulus to Mount Elgon wars. The main concern of this thesis is to analyze the political economy of conflicts in African setting characterized by dismal state hegemony. Drawing examples from various countries such as Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Liberia and many others, in this study we argued that conflicts provides a significant theatre for marketeering and racketeering. The thesis argues that the wars of Mount Elgon are traced to the period of migration and settlement of various communities and subsequent claims and counter-claims over territories in the area. Later on the entry of the British colonial rule introduced a new dimension on land ownership. The British administration introduced new land legal regimes which turned land claimed by Mount Elgon communities to the control of His Majesty the King of England whose agents annexed and allocated it to European settlers. What followed were different wars fought by different actors over land claims. The thesis establishes that at independence, the hope of the people of Mount Elgon to regain control over land dwindled with failure of the post-colonial African government to put in place proper institutions to manage the land issue. This influenced the post-colonial wars in Mount Elgon over land. Failure of the state to manage land issues led to emergence of charismatic leaders who mobilized the masses to fight for what they perceived as theirs. The thesis therefore, explores the genealogy and evolution of the Sabaot Land Defense Force (SLDF) and the Moor Land Defense Force and other militia groups that emerged in the region to attempt to impose the solution to the people grievances. The militia groups rose to the level that the civil authority in Kenya could not handle resulting into intervention by the military as an agent of the state. In these wars, the thesis establishes that in the shadows of war, there are profiteers and losers. It demonstrated that in the invisible space in warzones there were profiteers. The thesis contains an analysis of the factors leading to emergence of SLDF and other militia groups in the region and their recruitment of fighters. The thesis attempts to link the historical evolution Mount Elgon wars and the struggles over land and identity in pre and post-independence era. It sets up a theoretical framework which defines the relevant concepts of the political economy of war. To explain the justification to conflict, the just war theoretical framework is used which operationalizes the concept of war. Data about the violent ethno political conflict was collected, which helped to build the composite and individual pictures of Mount Elgon wars through time.