Leaders pin hopes of end to tension on survey team

Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi Mohamad. Photo/NJERI RUGENE

What you need to know:

  • During a security meeting two weeks ago, Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi Mohamad asked the national government to urgently send a team of surveyors to help mark the boundary between the two devolved units.
  • The Garre and Degodia have been fighting for years, but with the coming of regional governments the hostilities between the two had subsided until last month.

Failure to solve the Mandera-Wajir boundary dispute, leaders from the two counties say, sparked the latest fighting between two rival peoples.

Although calm has returned to the two counties, the arrival of surveyors is expected to reduce tension between the Garre and Degodia, as their grazing areas will be clearly defined.

“Failure to demarcate the boundary has caused the conflict between the two peoples to become explosive,” Mr Ahmed Sheikh, an executive committee member in charge of Conflict Resolution, Cohesion and Integration in Mandera County, told the Nation Friday.

During a security meeting two weeks ago, Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi Mohamad asked the national government to urgently send a team of surveyors to help mark the boundary between the two devolved units.

Mr Mohamad (above) said the border dispute had fuelled the clash that left more than 30 people dead.

However, others say the fighting between the two rival peoples was due to the political realignments ahead of the next General Election.

They have asked the police to arrest and charge some politicians with incitement.

Yesterday, the Mandera County Commissioner, Mr Michael Tialal, said the surveyors were expected any time soon.

He said the demarcation had been agreed on by leaders from the two counties during a series of meetings they held in a bid to end the fighting.

The Garre and Degodia have been fighting for years, but with the coming of regional governments the hostilities between the two had subsided until last month.

The fighting erupted again after the Wajir County government started constructing a road, with the Garre complaining was cutting across their territory.
The fighting had raged along the border in Takaba and only came to an end after the national government imposed a 12-hour curfew in Wajir.

Residents of Mandera are the ones who have borne the brunt of the clashes as they cannot travel by road to Nairobi through Wajir, which is the main route.