Community solutions to insecurity on Uganda–Kenya border

In the Karamoja and Turkana borderlands of Uganda and Kenya, there is widespread violence including armed robbery, rape and human rights abuses. The 4-page Policy Briefing “Community solutions to insecurity along the Uganda–Kenya border” (2023) highlights how different insecurities reinforce each other in ways aggravated by the international border. It stresses the need for fulfilment of the two governments’ commitments to cross-border solutions. It suggests that international policy actors can help communities gain leverage with governments towards building trustworthy and effective peace and security institutions.

Key messages:

Pastoralists in the Karamoja and Turkana borderlands describe five sources of insecurity: large-scale cattle raiding, armed robbery of homesteads, violence against women and girls, human rights abuses; and intercommunal conflicts.
The root cause is misgovernance: failure of authorities to work with communities on basic rule of law – and the reliance of national governments on a military solution to borderland instability.
Communities in the borderlands see the need to act both locally and regionally, using regional agreements and frameworks to hold governments to account.
Governments and civil society need to integrate pastoralists and their customary institutions into the search for solutions.

The briefing is based on work by the Karamoja–Turkana Community Research Team in the Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy & Trends (XCEPT) research programme funded by UK International Development. More details onthis case can be found in the 40-page Working Paper “Community solutions to insecurity along the Uganda–Kenya border” (Jan 2024).

Posted on 18 March 2024 in Pastoral Research & Innovation, Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism & Peacebuilding, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure, Pastoralism, Policy & Power