DEVELOPMENT-KENYA:
A Plane Crash That Took More Than Lives
Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI, Apr 13 (IPS) - There have been intensified calls in Kenya for
an end to inter-clan hostilities in the arid north - this after a plane
crash claimed the lives of six members of parliament (MPs) and a bishop
who were on a peace mission to the region.
The MPs and cleric were amongst 14 people who died after the military
plane that was carrying them went down near Marsabit airstrip in the
north earlier this week (Apr. 10) - slamming into a hillside and
breaking in two, before bursting into flames. The crash was said to have
been caused by bad weather. Three people survived the accident, but
sustained severe injuries -- broken limbs and burns.
The trip had marked the first joint mission by the legislators to quell
ethnic violence.
"We need a lasting peace in the area; we need our people to be safe. We
do not need action only after lives have been lost. It is important for
the government to address the root cause of the fighting," said Fatuma
Gouyaye, who lost her mother and two sisters in a village raid in the
Marsabit district last year.
"Without this, we will continue living in pain," she told IPS at her
aunt's house in Nairobi.
Last week in Samburu district, also in northern Kenya, four people died
in further violence that also forced a number of people to flee their
homes.
Five of the deceased MPs, including deputy opposition leader Bonaya
Godana, were from the warring communities. The sixth MP, Mirugi Kariuki,
hailed from Nakuru district in the western Rift Valley; he was on board
in his capacity as assistant minister for internal security.
The inter-clan fighting in the north has its origins in competition over
water and pasture. However, the conflict has also taken on a political
dimension, according to Abdullahi Abdi, chief executive officer of
Northern Aid: a development organisation that operates in the area.
He claims the creation of new constituencies in the region has taken
place along clan lines, accentuating the animosity between communities
which might have shared resources such as grazing land prior to the
demarcation of political boundaries.
The extent of tensions was shown during clashes in Marsabit last July in
which 90 people were killed - reportedly the most serious instance of
ethnic violence to take place in Kenya since the country won
independence in 1963.
Armed raiders said to have been members of the Borana ethnic group
attacked villages inhabited by the Gabra community in the Turbi area of
Marsabit, bordering Ethiopia. An estimated 6,000 people fled their homes
following the incident.
The hostility in northern Kenya is also believed to be fuelled by
tensions in Ethiopia.
"Both the Gabra and Borana from the Oromo community in Ethiopia have
close connections with the Gabra and Borana in Kenya, and this
relationship has affected the situation here," said Abdi.
As IPS reported previously, Godana blamed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)
rebels from Ethiopia for the Turbi massacre - saying the OLF had been
angered by the Kenyan Gabra's refusal to support the movement's cause
(see 'RIGHTS-KENYA: In the Aftermath of a Massacre').
The OLF launched an insurgency against the Ethiopian government in 1993,
in a bid to gain autonomy for Oromo peoples living in the south of the
country, including those from the Gabra and Borana.
IPS also quoted anthropologist Paul Goldsmith, who has studied Kenyan
ethnic groups, as saying that ahead of the Turbi killings, Kenyan Gabra
had been accused of supporting Ethiopian authorities. This led to
attacks by the Borana, sparking tit-for-tat retaliation which culminated
in events at Turbi.
Godana and Goldsmith's theories were dismissed by others in the Kenyan
government, and the OLF.
What few dispute, however, is that there has been an influx of weapons
into the region: rudimentary spears and clubs have been replaced with
AK-47 rifles and bazookas, giving the ethnic violence an especially
lethal edge.
"In one single attack in the case of the Marsabit massacre, we lost 90
Kenyans. In the past, we could not lose even half of that," observed
Abdi.
Widespread under-development has compounded the region's problems. There
are no tarred roads linking Marsabit with the rest of the country, while
clinics and schools are few and far between.
Authorities have now pledged to remedy this situation. In a press
release issued Wednesday, Vice President Moody Awori said government
would start digging boreholes in the area immediately, to ease the
scramble for resources.
Shortly before his death, Godana accused government of dragging its feet
over the situation in the north. Previous efforts by civic groups,
religious leaders and officials to bring peace to the region have
yielded little success.
"This is because we do not address the root cause of the problem. We
should not act as an ambulance service," said Abdi, himself the former
chairman of a peace initiative that was formed after the Marsabit
killings.
"Let us find long-lasting solutions, which include developing the area."
This week's plane crash marked another set back to efforts at addressing
inter-clan hostilities. Since the accident, flags have been flying at
half-mast in Kenya, and parliament has been adjourned until next week.
Kariuki will be buried Apr. 15. The other five were MPs were buried
earlier this week (Apr. 12) at their rural homes - in many senses, the
latest casualties of Kenya's troubled north. (END/2006)
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