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P 201257Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0724
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUZEFAA/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUZEFAA/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 NAIROBI 001770 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.12958: N /A 
TAGS: PREL PBTS EAID KCRM KE ET
 
SUBJECT: Pastoralists Gather for Peace in Maikona 
 
REF: A. Nairobi 1259 
¶B. Nairobi 1242 
¶C. Nairobi 1238 
¶D. Nairobi 551 
¶E. 08 Nairobi 2721 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. Kenya's upper Eastern province continues to be 
caught in a cycle of inter-tribal violence driven by 
competition for scarce resources.  Two of the 
opposing groups, the Borana and Gabra, are closely 
related communities that speak the same language and 
intermingle along the Kenyan-Ethiopian border.  Poor 
infrastructure, weak governance, and sparse 
population density in this region mean that 
community-based dialogue using traditional 
peacemaking mechanisms may be one of the more 
effective ways to help stabilize the situation.  A 
Mission Team recently traveled to Maikona, in the 
northwestern reaches of Kenya's Eastern province, 
for a peace gathering that brought together members 
of the Borana and Gabra communities from Kenya and 
Ethiopia to discuss violence and boundary issues. 
We will continue to promote peacemaking efforts by 
community members' customary justice and governance 
systems of this marginalized region, and support 
local elected officials in their efforts to play a 
constructive role in promoting peace in ways that 
respect the customary value systems that have a high 
potential to resolve conflicts efficiently.  End 
Summary. 
 
------------------------------ 
Background on Peace Gatherings 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. Kenya's upper Eastern province continues to be 
caught in a cycle of inter-tribal violence driven by 
competition for scarce resources.  Two of the 
opposing groups, the Borana and Gabra, are closely 
related communities that speak the same language and 
intermingle along the Kenyan-Ethiopian border.  Both 
groups are Cushitic and closely related to 
Ethiopia's Oromo people.  The presence in this area 
of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a guerilla and 
political organization that has been fighting 
against the Government of Ethiopia since 1973, adds 
a political dimension to the conflict.  The July 
2005 massacre of 60 Gabra (including 21 children) in 
the relatively well-watered and pastured area of 
Turbi, Kenya was widely blamed on the Borana and the 
OLF and served as a tipping point for long-simmering 
tensions between the two groups.  After a brutal 
revenge attack by the Gabra during the same month 
that left ten churchgoers (including two children) 
dead, 6,000 people from the Turbi area fled their 
homes.  Gabra and Borana elders from Kenya and 
Ethiopia eventually started a peace initiative, 
which eventually led to a ceasefire in November 
¶2008.  The agreement, which became known as the 
Dukana-Dillo Declaration (named after the two 
villages that came together to negotiate the deal) 
details the community-agreed and -imposed penalties 
for stealing animals, injuring or killing a person, 
inciting violence, or protecting the culprit of 
animal thefts.  (Note: The Government of Kenya is 
beginning to recognize the utility of such 
traditional conflict resolution mechanisms, and 
established the National Steering Committee on 
Peace-Building and Conflict Management (NSC) to 
provide policy direction and support to District 
Peace Committees throughout Kenya. See refs A, C, 
and 
http://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/pdf/20080 9240439 
51_large.pdf End Note.) 
 
¶3. In order to spread peace along the border, in 
June the elders who initiated the peace initiative 
hosted 130 people from Ethiopia and Kenya in the 
Kenyan border village of Dukana to hear about the 
initiative.  The Dukana gathering included men, 
women, and youth from Dire, Miyo, Dillo and Teltele 
districts in Ethiopia and from Chalbi and Marsabit 
districts in Kenya.  By the end of the gathering, 
elders, participants, and representatives from both 
the Kenyan and Ethiopian governments fully endorsed 
the Dukana-Dillo accords. (Note: After the Dukana 
 
NAIROBI 00001770  002 OF 005 
 
 
meeting, Kenyan Gabra from Forole were given 
immediate access to Borana boreholes in Magado, 
Ethiopia. End Note.) 
 
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Participation at Maikona Gathering 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4. The Maikona gathering, which took place July 17- 
19, was planned as a way to cement the peace process 
more firmly in Kenya and Ethiopia by inviting 
representatives from the Sololo, Walda, Uran, and 
Rawan settlements, who did not participate in 
Dukana.  (Note: Many of the pastoralists and 
Ethiopian government representatives blamed their 
non-participation in Dukana on pressure by members 
of the OLF living in those communities.  End Note.) 
Each of these communities sent representatives to 
the Maikona gathering.  Also present were 
representatives of the Samburu and Rendille 
communities who are struggling to deal with their 
own inter-communal conflicts with the Borana and 
Somalis in Isiolo and Samburu Districts (refs A, B, 
C, and D).  A few Turkana representatives were also 
present, and keen to replicate the process.  In 
total, 250 pastoralists and community members 
attended the meeting, including more than 40 women 
and 20 youth. Several high-level politicians and 
local, district, and provincial officials attended 
as well. 
 
¶5. While the UK-funded Democracy, Growth and Peace 
for Pastoralists (DGPP) provided some infrastructure 
support for the gathering, members of the invited 
communities organized the event and carried it out 
in a traditional manner.  Elders led the 
proceedings, women provided entertaining songs and 
dances (and participated freely in the proceedings), 
and translators ensured that observers and the media 
could understand the proceedings. 
 
¶6. Seated under the shade of an acacia tree, 
individuals from each of the communities stood to 
share their perspectives on the violence and how to 
move forward. After considerable debate, it was 
agreed that past wrongs and cross-accusations would 
be put aside and a collective way forward sought. 
Several speakers talked about the difficulty of 
attending such meetings because people back home 
assumed that the attendees went solely for the 
purpose of collecting per diem, an unfortunate 
backlash to years of well-meaning but marginally 
effective NGO-sponsored workshops. (Note:  With the 
exception of some of the Kenyan government 
representatives, who received high-paying per diems, 
and overnight travelers, who received enough for 
lodging and food on the road, Maikona's participants 
funded their own travel and stayed in tents set up 
by an outfitter at the site. Traditional meals were 
also provided to participants. End Note.) Numerous 
women spoke, including one of the chiefs, and seemed 
to appreciate their inclusion in the discussion. 
The youth participants seemed well-versed on the 
issues and shared ideas during meals and sideline 
discussions, but none were recognized to speak 
during formal deliberations.  In addition to the 
community members, there was also representation 
from the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Equity 
Bank.  KCB set up a booth and provided music one 
night and an Equity Bank representative spoke on how 
peace attracts investment.  Many of the community 
speakers encouraged the others in attendance to 
implement any agreement to come from the meeting. 
 
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Outcome of Maikona Gathering 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7. The two elders presiding over the meeting were a 
Kenyan Gabra, Gadana Molo Galgallo and an Ethiopian 
Borana, Nura Dida, who served as the respective 
chairmen of the Pastoralist Shade Initiative (Kenya) 
and the Oromia Pastoralists' Association (Ethiopia). 
Meeting organizers aimed to provide a forum for 
dialogue between the Gabra and Borana, while also 
giving the Samburu and Rendille observers who were 
present an idea of whether or not the process could 
work further south in the Isiolo/Samburu districts, 
and west in the Turkana/Pokot areas. 
 
NAIROBI 00001770  003 OF 005 
 
 
 
¶8. Neighboring tribes discussed points of contention 
in detail during breakout sessions (e.g., Kenyan 
Gabra and Rendille, Kenyan Samburu, Turkana, and 
Massai, and Ethiopian Boran and Gabra.)  The 
chairmen summarized the main problems as each group 
saw them, potential solutions to those problems, and 
implications of those solutions.  Each group had 
very similar concerns.  First, every group agreed 
that the overall conflict was causing death and loss 
of property and that it was the responsibility of 
the groups to restrain the ''bad ones'' in their 
ranks.  Secondly, there was general agreement that 
national and tribal boundary disputes were a source 
of problems and resource conflicts.  There also 
seemed to be general agreement on removing armed 
individuals from the border regions. 
 
¶9. After being agreed to at Maikona, and organized 
with a sense of urgency, another gathering was held 
within a week.  Held at Walda in Sololo District, 
Kenya, near Turbi and Moyale, the gathering convened 
to address the remaining Borana-Gabra ''conflict 
fault line,'' in the Sololo-Turbi area. About 160 
pastoralists gathered on July 27-28 and joined other 
Borana and Gabra communities living along the 
Ethiopia-Kenya border. They arrived at a peace 
declaration which included the traditional justice 
mechanisms outlined in the Dukana-Dillo Declaration 
(summarized above in para 2). The communities also 
agreed to start sharing grazing and water resources. 
By July 29, around 400 cattle, 1500 sheep and goats 
and many camels from Turbi were using the water at 
Rawan, near Walda - a 10km distance, rather than the 
80km they had had to travel since the Turbi massacre 
in 2005.  The Walda gathering was organized by 
community leaders without external support apart 
from limited assistance in transporting some 
participants. (Note: none of the Walda attendees 
received any allowance, including senior government 
officials. End Note.) 
 
¶10. The final agreement, known as the Maikona-Walda 
Peace Declaration, includes a statement of peace 
between the Borana and Gabra and a pronouncement of 
equal access to resources between the two groups. 
The Declaration also establishes an elder's 
committee to ensure that the communities engage and 
interact, an agreement to return animals that stray 
from one community to another, an acknowledgement of 
the government?s purview over boundary issues, and a 
recognition that the tribes can sort out their own 
day-to-day issues without the help of government. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Politicians' role in the Process 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶11. Local politicians are widely believed to support 
inter-tribal violence routinely (ref E).  The 2006 
crash of an aircraft in Marsabit carrying seven 
Kenyan officials (including five Kenyan MPs) to a 
peace gathering served as a major setback to the 
inclusion of lawmakers in the peace process.  Ref E 
discussed the Ambassador?s efforts in November 2008 
to get local politicians re-engaged in promoting 
peace.  While Minister for the Development of 
Northern Kenya and Other Arid Lands, Mohammed Elmi 
and Laisamis District MP Francis Chachu, a Gabra, 
were receptive and supportive from the beginning, 
Marsabit District MP and Assistant Minister for the 
Development of Northern Kenya and Other Arid Lands 
Hussein Sasura, a Borana, proved more difficult to 
win over. However, Sasura since has become a vocal 
supporter of inter-ethnic peace processes.  By the 
time Maikona organizers invited them to attend the 
July gathering, all three were publicly supportive 
of peace. 
 
¶12. On the first day of the Maikona gathering, Elmi 
spoke on the important conditions for peace, 
including: politicians playing an active role, the 
State protecting its citizens, policy coordination 
with the border state (Ethiopia), and the 
community's responsibility to change attitudes and 
ways of thinking that promote violence.  He also 
stated that the communities will not have peace 
until it becomes unacceptable for the sons of the 
communities to kill and then be allowed to come home 
 
NAIROBI 00001770  004 OF 005 
 
 
and celebrated. 
 
¶13. Sasura also spoke at the Maikona gathering and 
encouraged the pastoralists gathered to move beyond 
words and act on the peace initiative at home.  He 
emphasized the role of limited resources in 
exacerbating the conflict and explained to the group 
that conflict was keeping the region from 
developing. 
 
¶14. Chachu applauded the Maikona gathering?s 
attendees for organizing the July 17-19 event, since 
the elders, and not the government or the MPs, had 
organized it. He explained that the MPs from the 
greater Marsabit District wanted to see peace and 
were already ''going around preaching peace'' in their 
constituencies.  Chachu also stated that the elected 
officials in the region were ready to strengthen the 
peace process that the pastoralists had started. 
Like Sasura, Chachu expressed to the crowd that 
without peace, there would be no development. (Note: 
The Ambassador is planning to provide another 
platform for the MPs to hit the ''no development 
without peace'' theme by traveling north again to 
announce OFDA's recently-launched Pastoralist 
livelihoods program. End Note.) 
 
¶15.  Representatives from the Maikona and Walda 
Peace Gatherings traveled to Nairobi for a meeting 
with the NSC (para 2) on August 3. The NSC has shown 
great interest in affirming and supporting the 
expansion and deepening of such community-driven 
peace processes. The NSC oversees the Kenyan 
representative of the IGAD-based specialized 
institution CEWARN - the Conflict Early Warning and 
Response Network, headquartered in Addis Ababa. 
 
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Comment 
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¶16. There are several promising aspects to this 
series of  gatherings that bode well for conflict 
mitigation in Kenya's arid north: the broad 
community ownership in the process (e.g., 
participants generated their own funding for food 
and transport, and women and youth attended the 
proceedings), the positive comments by politicians 
encouraging peace, and the immediate benefits to 
communities once such peace agreements are 
concluded, such as the water access granted to the 
Gabra by the Borana after the signing of the Dukana- 
Dillo Declaration.  What remains to be seen is how 
enforceable and enduring these agreements will be 
once participants return home. 
 
¶17. There are levels of complexity to this dialogue 
we were unable to see or evaluate.  For example, it 
was apparent at certain sensitive times that local 
interpreters left out some of the participants' 
remarks to ensure the proceedings were spun in a 
positive way for the outside observers (cross- 
community accusations of OLF recruitment, and 
financing of revenge attacks by remote wealthy 
members of sub-clans, for example).  There were also 
rumblings of resentment about the ''typical behavior'' 
of politicians, but it appeared that community 
leaders took control of the peace process and 
asserted the role of the customary governance 
systems.  (Note: Kenyan MPs appeared late on the 
first day of the meeting, reneged on a promise to 
stay for the entire gathering, and attempted to 
influence the date of the Walda gathering.  Some 
participants interpreted the attempt to change the 
date as a way for the politicians to exert control 
over who could participate at Walda.  As politicians 
are more often criticized for their complete absence 
from such discussions, we view their presence and 
involvement as a net positive.  End Note.) Finally, 
the lack of youth participation in the formal 
dialogue may not have provided the peaceful outlet 
for frustration and social inclusion they so 
desperately seek. Youth engagement needs to be 
addressed, as does the identification and bringing 
to justice of the spoilers and criminal elements. 
 
¶18. Nevertheless, we see the Maikona gathering, and 
its ilk, as a positive step forward in stabilizing 
Northern Kenya's security environment that other 
 
NAIROBI 00001770  005 OF 005 
 
 
warring communities, the Samburu and Rendille in 
particular, may try to replicate (see Ref A).  These 
developments take place in the context of intensive 
efforts by the Ambassador and Mission team to 
encourage conflict resolution in this region (Ref 
E).  We will continue to encourage both the 
political class and local communities to engage in 
dialogue to stop the cycle of violence.  End 
Comment. 
RANNEBERGER