Warring communities along Kenya-Ethiopia border resolve to end conflict

Two communities living in Mandera County and neighbouring Ethiopia have unanimously resolved to end their four-week hostilities that claimed several lives in the Malkamare area along the Kenya-Ethiopia border.

Elders of the Garre and Degodia communities who were drawn from Kenya and neighbouring Ethiopia who attended the two-day conflict resolution meeting that began on Saturday in Banisa resolved to coexist harmoniously.

The peace meeting ended the hostility that began on August 29 after four people were killed by suspected gunmen in a settlement in Banisa Constituency situated along the Kenya-Ethiopia border.

Hussein Yussuf, the Mandera county chief officer for cohesion and conflict management, said the two-day intra-community dialogue meeting organised by the county government and partner organisations for the Garre and Degodia communities was successful after both sides accepted to end the animosity that existed for the past few weeks.

“We organised these meetings following the resolution by the county leadership to undertake a fact-finding mission in our quest to bring peaceful coexistence between the two communities," he said.

Elders at a peace meeting in Banisa, where the Garre community also resolved to end the conflict, on Sunday, September 22, 2024. (Photo: Issa Hussein)

Hussein stated that both communities have agreed to bring an amicable, lasting solution to end the recurring conflict along the Kenya-Ethiopia border.

He appreciated the support by Boresha Nabad, Vision Corps Initiative, and RACIDA organisations for the conflict resolution meeting that he said will help to restore peace between the two pastoralist communities.

Mohamed Sheikh Hassan, a peace committee member in Banisa who participated in the peace talk, said both communities have resolved to stop retaliatory attacks and ensure the safety of roads that were rendered impassible due to fear of attacks.

He said more similar peace meetings were proposed to take place at Dawa and Liban in neighbouring Ethiopia, where the Ethiopian government will also be engaged to enforce the implementation of the peace declarations.

Recently, political leaders from Mandera led by Senator Ali Roba visited the Banisa constituency, addressing the warring communities to end the conflict.

“We must ask ourselves why the conflict in Banisa constituency along the border keeps on occurring without a lasting solution; we need to stop this hostility that claimed the lives of many innocent people who were killed in retaliatory attacks," he said.

Elders at the Malkamare meeting on Sunday, September 22, 2024. (Photo: Issa Hussein)

He called for the need to foster intra-dialogue whenever killings occurred without going for retaliatory attacks that further fuelled the skirmishes.

Hesbon Kajesi, the Deputy County Commissioner for Banisa sub-county who attended the leaders' meeting, also condemned the endless ethnic feud that was recurring along the Kenya-Ethiopia border.

“In December 2022, February 2023, such incidents occurred here, and again we are witnessing the same; we need to have a lasting resolution with the involvement of the communities and the government of the neighbouring Ethiopia," he noted.

The two warring communities live in Mandera County and neighbouring Ethiopia, complicating security interventions during attacks.

Mandera County Chief Officer for Cohesion and Conflict Management Hussein Yussuf addresses the Degodia community peace meeting at Mubarak settlement on Monday, September 23, 2024. (Photo: Barack Oduor)