Thousands of young morans from different pastoral communities that often engage each other in fierce gun battle after clashing over livestock and limited water and pasture resources set aside their tribal differences and jointly participated in a peace marathon competition at Ltungai conservancy within Lolmolog area in Samburu central sub county for the first time.
The event that was organized by Northern Rangeland Trust (NRT) scheduled peace dialogues and bonding sessions for two days to unite the morans and their supporters ahead of a 15Km running race on the third day.
This comes after more than ten people were recently shot dead as others escaped death with severe gunshot wounds in different cattle raid incidences along Samburu and Isiolo counties after morans from Samburu and Turkana communities engaged each other in gun battle during cattle raid incidences.
A senior police officer was shot dead as three others escaped death with severe bullet injuries in a cattle raid incident along Charda-Marti area in Samburu North on April23 while on a mission to recover fifty cattle that had been stolen by morans from the two communities living in the region.
Four national police reservists were also reportedly shot dead by armed bandits at Buffallo springs in Isiolo County in cattle raid incident on early April.
After spending three days and nights together sharing food and each other culture through dancing and singing traditional songs, morans from Samburu and Turkana communities have resorted to shun cattle rustling and coexist peacefully.
“We have lost our beloved friends and livestock in cattle raids battles but this session has changed our attitudes towards each other, we have met new friends from Turkana and other communities and I hope this will help us end cattle rustling and restore peace in our county,” Emanuel Leakono, a resident of Ngilai Samburu North said.
However, women and elders have committed themselves to play a role in preventing their children engaging in cattle raids as a step towards peace restoration.
“Youths need advice from elders and women, we are therefore going to work together in a journey towards unity and peace restoration in our county by talking to our children,”Mrs Pauline Lolngojine, a resident of Archers Post said.
Morans from Borana, Rendile and Pokot communities living along borders of Samburu , Isiolo, Laikipia, Marsabit, Baringo and West Pokot counties under 32 community conservancies were invited to participate in the, sports for peace, an event that was aimed at enhancing ongoing reconciliation efforts between different ethnic groups in the region, which are being spearheaded by community conservancies.
Through a press release Nothern Rangeland Trust’s Chief Executive Officer Tom Lalampa said there is a need to enhance peaceful coexistence among communities and wildlife following an increase in frequent severe droughts that has led to hardship and conflict over resources.
“By creating a platform and open spaces for dialogue based on common values and teamwork can we mitigate future conflict while promoting peace, cohesion and partnerships among communities,” he said.
However government and other institutions have been challenged to unite communities and restore peace through social events instead of using force that has never yielded fruits in the past.
“Morans from different communities have peacefully spend three nights here and met friends for the first time, friends cannot fight their friends, we need government to foster their relationships and even build new relationships through social events like this one,” Mr Brian Esekon said.
The event was also attended by leaders among them Samburu county assembly speaker Solomon Lempere and the area MCA Shadrack Lesoipa who pledged their support saying that they would work with partners in ensuring peace initiatives have yielded fruits for their communities.
“As leaders and county government we are always there to unite these communities in all cross border areas where we have experienced conflicts, we have various peace initiatives under department of peace and disaster management, we will continue to foster relationships and unite these communities through teaching them on how to diversify their ways of income to avoid livestock conflicts,” Mr Lelempere said.
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