BURNT villages, mutilated bodies and displaced communities once again loom large in Kenya. A spate of killings in the Tana river delta, which lies 120 miles north of the coastal city of Mombasa, has left more than 100 people dead and driven thousands from their homes. Six months before Kenyans go to the polls, it is a tragic reminder of the violence that took the country to the brink of civil war after a disputed election four years ago, and of the potential for instability in east Africa’s largest economy.
Ostensibly the latest unrest is an escalation of long-standing tensions between two tribes, the Pokomo and Orma, over water and grazing rights. The Orma are semi-nomadic people who roam in search of pasture for their cattle; the Pokomo are smallholders who grow cash crops in the riverine area. In the past their disputes have often been settled peacefully by community elders. This time the elders complain of being sidelined by politicians.
The death toll since August has been unprecedented. Survivors of the tit-for-tat clashes describe terrifying slaughter; villages surrounded, people massacred by gangs of youths armed with guns, machetes and spears. Many locals have blamed the severity of recent fighting on politicians whom they believe have stoked the violence for their own gain.
Kenya’s largest and longest river flows from the Aberdare Mountains into the country’s biggest wetland ecosystem on the Indian Ocean coast. In recent years the fertile Tana delta has been carved up by commercial interests eyeing sugar, rice and bio-fuel crops. Some 60% of the delta has been taken over by large-scale agriculture. Big projects mean big earnings for those with political control over the area.