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Summary: Cross-border armed conflict over resources among Turkana pastoralists in northeastern Kenya has increased following the severe drought ravaging parts of the Horn of Africa.
Besides rampant malnutrition, the desperate competition has led to increased livestock theft, shootings and forced migration. With greater pressure on fewer resources, the consequences have been particularly dire for pastoralists, who make up 60 percent of the population in Turkana district. Natoo Lore, an elder, said: "This drought is very severe for everyone. We have very small herds. I lost 100 goats and sheep in the past two months." Animals are dying from starvation now that the pastures are dried out, but also from a lack of regular access to water. Cattle die mostly because when they finally reach a water point, they drink too much, too fast. "Only camels don't die," Lore said. "We lost a lot of people these last months, mainly children and elders," said Lodoe, the chief of the pastoral community now in Naporoto, who declined to give his last name. "We don't count them because it is a shame for our community," he said. Pastoralists' nutrition is mostly based on milk and animal blood, supplemented with wild fruits. During the dry season, people can die from very minor diseases because they are so weak, according to James Lokai, a nurse at the Lokichoggio hospital. Most Turkana depend solely on livestock, and do not trade goods or save money. More than half the population was already dependent on food aid before the drought, and the number is now increasing with the crisis, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP). "The droughts are now coming more frequently and they are coming for longer periods than they used to," said Elizabeth Nabutola, head of WFP in Lodwar. She said the agency was scaling up its activities by providing supplementary feeding for 15,000 mothers and children under five. With malnutrition now affecting most household members, "WFP decided to put the whole family under the feeding programme," Nabutola said.