By Bruno Mutunga
Monday April 14, 2025
After decades of bloodshed, displacement, and broken promises, communities from four volatile wards in Northern Kenya have come together with a clear and urgent message: Enough is enough.
At a high-stakes peace-building forum held in Archer’s Post, community elders, morans and women from the conflict-prone Chari and Ngaremara wards in Isiolo County, Waso ward in Samburu County and Laisamis ward in Marsabit County demanded genuine commitment from leaders and stakeholders to end the endless cycle of violence.
Representing pastoralist communities such as the Borana, Rendille, Turkana, Samburu, and Dorobo, they spoke of lives lost, opportunities missed, and generations raised under the shadow of fear.
“For years, we have held countless meetings, signed resolutions, and posed for photos. Yet our people continue to suffer,” said Mohamed Abduba, Chairperson of the Merti Sub-County Peace Committee.
“Our people already struggle to find water and pasture in this dry land—but now, we have taken on an even more difficult task: killing each other.”
The meeting, part of a three-day inter-county peace forum under the RANGE Programme by the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC), focused on shared resources and recurring clashes, mainly cattle rustling and territorial disputes, that have stunted the region’s growth and stability.
Soyana Lembara, the RANGE Programme Manager, emphasized that long-term peace will only be achieved if every stakeholder, county government, national government administrator, and community moves from firefighting to prevention.
“These perennial conflicts are not just about cattle or borders—they’re about mistrust, exclusion, and unresolved grievances,” Lembara said. “We are working to shift that dynamic.”
In a significant shift from past peace efforts, the forum deliberately included groups often overlooked in such conversations: morans, women, and smaller communities like the Dorobo.
“If we keep excluding those who hold the weapons or those who bear the pain, then we are simply postponing the next clash,” Lembara added.
At the end of the forum, the stakeholders are expected to sign a peace pact that outlines specific roles for every actor. The document will serve as a community-led roadmap toward lasting peace in Northern Kenya, one that its people hope will finally replace decades of violence with stability and progress.