THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN ARMED CONFLICT; A CASE STUDY OF CATTLE RUSTLING IN TURKANA, 2005-2010

Abstract

Many pastoralist communities around the globe are experiencing conflicts. This study was undertaken in the Turkana region, Kenya where armed conflicts have been persistent for generations. Although studies have been carried out on armed conflict, the role of women, who play a major role in these conflicts is still ignored and vaguely understood. The present study looked into the role of women in Turkana persistent armed conflict with her neighbors, the Marakwet, Pokot and even Karamojong of Uganda. Turkana is strategically positioned on the north-western Kenyan border, with Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda. The area is subject to unrest as it occupies an area between the largely uninhabitable ground to the east and neighbors who are unfriendly to the north and west. It has the highest number of displaced persons due to cattle-related conflicts in Kenya. Being a pastoral community with strong cultural and traditional values, it exhibits a strong cultural orientation of armed conflict in which raids are one of their accepted traditional ways of acquiring livestock in the community. Pastoralism is their main source of livelihood. However, their stocks are often depleted by prolonged droughts and un-sustainable grazing methods such as overstocking. The role of women in these conflicts is hardly contextualized and has been ignored, and hence the need for this study. The study shows that Turkana women in their absence participated in conflict. Most times, their men leave in search of pasture and new places to raid and in their absence, women have to provide and moreover, protect themselves and the livestock left behind. There is a high toll of raids due to its geographical position, little or no policing and a high rate of illicit arms influx. This study sought to prove that resource scarcity, among other factors, is a major cause of conflict in Turkana. The respondents indicated that cattle rustling is an acceptable way of initiation and a means of wealth gaining. They are actively engaged in armed conflict in the Turkana region, in that they are aware of the conflict and actually support it by playing key roles in the propagation of that conflict. They aid in collection of intelligence, hide, carry and transport weapons and ammunition. Finally, the study sought to answer the question whether women indeed are instrumental in peace building among the Turkana people. It looked into their peace building drives through non-governmental organization players, as well as in their own traditional mechanisms of solving disputes.