Pastoralists’ approaches to peacebuilding in Ethiopia–Kenya borderlands

The Future Agricultures Working Paper 22 “The long conversation: customary approaches to peace management in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya” (2011, 24pp) by Patta Scott-Villiers et al seeks to contribute to a better understanding of peacebuilding among pastoralists. From a pastoralist perspective, it throws light on the achievement of peace in a five-year effort led by leaders of the Borana and Gabra peoples of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Gabra and Borana elders set the frame of the inquiry and its analysis, assisted by researchers from the Institute of Development Studies and Pastoralists Consultants International. Their study revealed four aspects of peace management among pastoralists in the Kenya–Ethiopia borderlands: moral consensus, information exchange, law and surveillance. It shows how these principles are understood, debated and acted upon by particular segments of society and with varying degrees of success in rural and urban areas and in different districts.

Posted on 15 February 2024 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism & Peacebuilding