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?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, May 4, 2017
Inequality, drought and the deadly fight for precious grazing land in Kenya
Arrival of hundreds of poor tribesmen seeking grazing lands for their cattle has triggered outbreak of violence in Laikipia
Herders have struggled to find water for their cattle in Laikipia. Photograph: Xinhua/SIPA USA/PA Images--An elephant carcass found at a Laikipia waterhole. The animal had been shot. Photograph: Laikipia Farmers’ Association
A dried-up pond in Laikipia county in March. Photograph: Alamy-- Kuki Gallmann in hospital after she was attacked. Photograph: Reuters
Jason Burke Africa correspondent-Wednesday 3 May 2017
Early one morning last week, Richard Constant drove across the 24,000-acre ranch that he part-owns on a high plateau in central Kenya to discover what remained of his home.
In March, Constant’s friend and business associate Tristan Voorspuy, a British army officer turned safari operator, had been shot dead on his horse while inspecting the damage caused by armed herders who had driven tens of thousands of cattle on to the ranch.
Constant, a 62-year-old Yorkshireman, arrived as the day’s first rays of
sun fell on the ground. He heard distant gunshots, a reminder that the
deadly unrest that has pitted major landowners, local smallholders and
security forces against armed cattle herders for more than three months
was far from over.
He found his home in ruins, burned to the ground.
“I looked at my house and felt sad that Kenya, which I regard as home,
has got into such a state,” he said. “But a house can be rebuilt. I
can’t get my friend back, nor the two security guards who were shot on
the neighbouring ranch.”
The violence in Laikipia, one of the most spectacularly beautiful areas
of Kenya, was triggered by the arrival of hundreds of poor tribesmen
from drought-hit regions searching for grazing lands for their cattle.
Boris Johnson expressed concern about the unrest during a flying visit in March. The foreign secretary said the causes of the unrest were “complex”. This was an understatement.
Once known only to a few, Laikipia’s profile was boosted when Prince
William proposed to Kate Middleton at a log cabin there in 2010. Tens of
thousands of tourists have since travelled to the area’s ranches and
reserves. Now the lucrative industry, and the livelihoods of thousands
of local people, are threatened. British diplomats, among others, have
called on the Kenyan government to restore the rule of law.
Estimates of the number of people killed in the violence so far range
from 25 to 50, with many more wounded. One of the most high-profile of
the injured is Kuki Gallmann, a best-selling author whose book I Dream
of Africa was made into a film starring Kim Basinger. Gallmann, 73, was shot by herders on her 150-sq mile estate in late April.
But although international media attention has focused on Gallmann and
Voorspuy, the vast majority of the dead have been Kenyan farmers. An
unknown number of the tribesmen who illegally drove tens of thousands of
cattle on to privately owned estates have also been killed in clashes
with security forces.
There have long been tensions over land and grazing in the region. About
a third of the land in Laikipia county is owned by private ranchers who
mix cattle breeding with high-end tourism. Many of the owners of the
biggest properties are white. Some have been farming locally for many
generations. Others are more recent arrivals or, in some instances, live
overseas in Europe or the US. Local herders from the Maasai tribe have
been allowed to graze cattle on parts of these vast estates when times
are tough, a practice that has, until now, kept tensions to a minimum.
Farmers and officials say the current situation is unprecedented. “We
were one of the first properties to be taken over. At its peak there
were 50,000 head of cattle [on the ranch]. They moved on after about a
month, but there was a lot of damage to property and the wildlife
suffered hugely,” said Josh Perrett, a manager on Mugie ranch.
Across the region dozens of elephants have been killed and their tusks
removed, as well as thousands of buffaloes, antelopes and other game.
Centuries-old trees have been cut down for firewood or fodder.
One reason for the violence is drought, which the Kenyan government said in October was affecting about 1.3 million people.
But ranchers like Constant said previous droughts had not caused such
problems. “The difference this time is a number of politicians who
promised 10,000 pastoralists with 500,000 head of cattle that if they
came here and drove us out they would get to keep the land,” he said.
Kenya has a general election in August, and a new devolution of powers has made local political competitions particularly keen.
Others said opportunistic politicians were merely fuelling a fire that
had burned for years. A steep population increase in Kenya, as elsewhere
in Africa, has led to massive pressure on land.
Economic growth, the emergence of a new class of “cattle barons” and
years of sufficient rainfall have boosted cattle numbers, and poor
management has meant grazing in the north is now insufficient for the
huge herds.
Some local media have been critical of the invasions, describing
“heavily armed local bandits – disguised as herders – [who] ravage
through multimillion-dollar investments”.
Though ranches owned by both white and black people have been overrun,
and powerful Kenyans including a former chief of the army and a former
speaker of the national assembly have seen their holdings occupied by
armed raiders, the conflict has also been framed by some as between
white “haves” and black “have-nots”.
An article in the Nation,
a local paper, published after the Gallmann attack, said: “In one
corner [of Laikipia], rich aristocrats sip European champagne in
cottages that are hired for Sh1 million [£7,500] a week, yet in another
corner, half-naked weary women trek for kilometres in search of water.”
Many ranches were acquired during the period of British colonial rule,
some as early as 1900, according to a government report. Others were
purchased after Kenya became independent in 1963.
Constant, a former businessman, bought a share of the Sosian ranch 17
years ago. Other ranches are owned by extremely wealthy Europeans or
Americans overseas; some by rich black Kenyans from other parts of the
country.
Paula Kahumbu, one of Kenya’s leading conservationists, said that
although “white landowners might have an argument, they would not get
much sympathy from many Kenyans”.
“This is a historical land issue, as much as anyone would like to see
this differently … but just because there has been a historical
injustice that has not been resolved does not mean that taking up arms
is justified. These things need to be solved in the courts or there will
be more violence. The government has failed to protect both large and
small landowners,” she said.
The Nation described the problems in Laikipia as “social and political”
and said they brought to the fore “the inequalities in land ownership”.
“The herders are incited by some politicians to invade the ranches with
the belief that the land belonged to their forefathers and was forcibly
taken away from them by the colonial administration. Land ownership is a
powder keg and requires just a trigger to explode,” the newspaper said.
Experts said the invading herdsmen did not have any historical claim to
Laikipia. Constant said the white farmers were victims of “inverse
racism” and “old prejudices”.
“We came here and invested and the people who work for us are truly
grateful. We have built schools, given medical care. It’s not
colonialism … it’s about building a modern business,” he said.
Gallmann is a polarising figure. A former Italian socialite, she moved
to Kenya more than 40 years ago with her second husband, who bought a
huge estate. Already widowed by a car accident, she lost her teenage son
to a snake bite. The tragedy inspired her to turn the property into the
Laikipia Nature Conservancy, which includes community projects and a
tourist business.
Gallmann was trying to assess damage caused by herders who had burned down one of her lodges when she was attacked.
“If I write something expressing my sympathy for her being shot, I’ll
get attacked; if I don’t, I’ll get attacked too,” said Kahumbu, the
environmentalist. “There are two very divergent narratives and there
doesn’t seem to be any connection … and that is a very dangerous
situation to have.”
For the moment there is widespread hope that rains due in the coming
weeks will lower tensions, and that once the election is out of the way
there will be calm.
But Kahumbu said this was unlikely. “The problem of land distribution
will not go away. Even after the election it will continue to fester and
erupt. As long as people think there has been an injustice, there will
be a problem.”