Internal threats to security are a major challenge in many developing countries. Since the end of the Second World War, seventy-five percent of the world’s armed conflicts have been internal rather than interstate wars, and many of them took place in developing countries.1 Civil wars have significantly affected society in the underdeveloped countries in Africa and Asia in particular “by destroying essential infrastructure , decimating social trust, encouraging human and capital flight, exacerbating food shortages, spreading disease, and diverting precious financial resources toward military spending.”2 Indeed, this is the case for East Africa , which is “the most conflict ridden region of Africa” and “holds the continental record for inter and intra-state wars.” There are a number of armed opposition groups fighting domination and injustice, making the region “a chaotic laboratory for would-be state builders.”3
Some of these include ethnic -based liberation struggles, fighting exclusion and chronic marginalization of historic proportions. Many states in the region were formed based upon either wars of expansion or colonial manipulation leading to monopolization of economic and political power by favored groups at the exclusion of the rest, which brought about considerable mistrust between the state and the masses. Indeed, Paul Zeleza argues that “There is hardly any zone of conflict in contemporary Africa that cannot trace its sordid violence to colonial history and even the late nineteenth century.”4 People were forced to organize themselves according to their respective ethnic groups, in fighting for justice , equality, and freedom. Governments , on the other hand, have religiously focused on regime survival and entrenching political and economic power rather than providing security and protection to the people.
The major causes of such armed ethnic conflicts in Africa continue to baffle both scholars and policymakers. Whereas many consider the situations to be simple, they are in fact complex; subsequently, as David Lake and Donald Rothchild argue, “The most widely discussed explanations of ethnic conflict are, at best, incomplete and, at worst, simply wrong.”5 Some researchers and most policymakers, as well as the media, misinterpret the underlying causes by attributing “ancient hatreds ” as the major culprits.6 The Darfur conflict, for example, “is usually attributed to ethnic hatred”7 between Arabs and non-Arabs .
Other scholars state that some ethnic groups have a “long history of conflict ,” ignoring their history of peace. This is particularly the case for the Kenya’s Tana Delta conflict between the Oromo (mainly the Orma branch) and the Pokomo . Several respected world media outlets, including the leading Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation and the US-based Africa News Service, have stated that the Oromo and Pokomo “have a long history of conflict ” over natural resources of the region .8 The French government -owned international news outlet France 24 went as far as to purport that “The roots of the Pokomo-Orma conflict date back centuries to one of history’s oldest clashes of civilization between nomads and sedentary peoples. Pokomo farmers and traditionally nomadic Orma herdsmen have long fought over access to pasture.”9
Researcher Pilly Martin , who conducted fieldwork among both ethnic groups, also stated, “The Pokomo and Orma /Wardei inhabitants of Tana River district have had perennial conflict since time immemorial.”10 Arguing that there is no “real peace” between them and that “their lives are full of tensions and suspicions” other than when they meet at market centers, Martin Pilly claims:
The farmers always suspect their neighbours of ‘being up to something.’ For instance, when a group of pastoralists is seen, word spreads out very fast in Pokomo villages, and the youths are organized to guard the village in case of an attack (a group of pastoralists walking together is always taken to mean that they are bandits ). Besides they seem to blame the pastoralists for the cause of general insecurity in the district. The farmers seem also to have a resigned mood of ever achieving sustainable peace in the district, expecting the government to help them have this craved peace; unfortunately the government seems to stand by as people slaughter each other.11
Another researcher, Uli Pickmeier , in considering whether land acquisitions contributed to Oromo –Pokomo conflict in the delta, also stated that “A long history of conflicts and irregular violent outbreaks between these communities is characterizing the area.”12 If they had forever been enemies, how had the Pokomo section called the Korokoro become completely assimilated to the Oromo ?13 The Oromo do not have a history of domineering power over other groups and are the most open and welcoming nation in Eastern Africa.14 The Pokomo language contains many Oromo loanwords, and the two have good commercial relations extending back many centuries. Moreover, the Pokomo have several Oromo clan names, an Oromo political system, similar architecture, as well as Oromo personal names.15
Indeed, the Oromo and Pokomo have a long history of peace. Before 1991, no major organized armed clashes occurred between them, including during the colonial era. With social institutions to handle resource-related disputes and having maintained good relationships, these two groups have successf...