PEARL

Peace gives way to inter-communal trade By Koech Cheruiyot Denis Turkana communities have been in recurrent conflict for decades. This had led to loss of life, destruction of property and disruption of economic activities that the two communities used to engage in. Due to government and other actors’ interventions, the two communities have lived in peace for the past one year. This has provided an ample ground for the two communities to revert to their past economic activities.

Kenyan Communities Celebrate a Year and a Half of Peace By Koech Cheruiyot Denis The event brought together Pokot and Turkana communities, local and national governments. Photo: Denis Koech/Mercy Corps On 21 September each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world. The theme of this year’s commemoration is “The sustainable development goals: building blocks of peace” which aims to highlight the importance of all segments of society to work together to strive for peace. After three months of planning, Peaceful Empowerment in Arid lands (PEARL), celebrated the International Day of Peace Day in Lotongot, Kenya, with close to 1,500 people in attendance.

A thwarted attempt to disrupt the Pastoralists’ peace By Koech Cheruiyot Denis Joseph Lobei Loitwan aged 40 years clad in his Turkana attire holds his cheeks as he says, “Since May 2015, we have enjoyed peace with Pokot counterparts. The only incident that happened was the Kotaruk attack. On the wee hours of 20 th October 2015, when the Pokot raided Epuke, a kraal under Kotaruk sublocation in Loima. A middle aged man was killed with several livestock driven by Pokot from Lopet Location under Kiwawa location in North Pokot. The Turkana revenged by killing two Pokot of Kasei division, under Kamnono location in Kacheliba Sub-county. The Elders performed traditional peace rites and vowed this was never to happen again. As a resolution, since the Pokots were the aggressors, they paid back the stolen goats as compensation while their killed men were never paid for.  Since then we have just lived peacefully . ”

Some of PEARL's activity pictures By Koech Cheruiyot Denis Pictures by Koech Cheruiyot Denis/Mercy Corps

West Pokot and Turkana Sign Inter-county MOU on Peace and NRM By Koech Cheruiyot Denis Pokot and Turkana counties have signed a MoU on peace and natural resource management. The agreement was born out of a two day West Pokot and Turkana County leaders’ exchange forum in Kapenguria PEARL partners – Mercy Corps, Turkana Pastoralists Development Organization and West Pokot Youth Bunge County Forum organized the forum that brought together county and national government officials, MCAs, civil society, elders, women and youth representatives. The leaders were led by West Pokot Deputy Governor, Titus Lotee and his counterpart from Turkana, Peter Ekai Lokoel.

Turkana Farmers and Pastoralists agree to share Resources By Koech Cheruiyot Denis Turkana pastoralists and farmers living in Nakwamoru and Katilu in Turkana South Constituency have agreed to share natural resources. This follows months of brewing conflict between the two factions emanating from use of River Turkwel water. Pastoralists had claimed farmers had blocked their access to water of River Turkwel by cultivating along the river. Farmers, on the other hand, had claimed pastoralists were intentionally driving their livestock into their farms.