Pokot Fear K'jongs

By David Ochami, New Vision (Kampala), 22 May 2001

Kampala - The Kenyan Pokot have asked the Government in Nairobi to deploy its army on the border with Uganda to protect them from Uganda's Karimajong warriors.

Meanwhile, Kenyan authorities have made fresh appeals to the Pokot to surrender the guns they are holding illegally.

The armament and disarmament of Pokot, most of who live in Kenya, but also straddle the international frontier lies at the heart of peace and security in Kenya's northern Rift Valley region.

Insecurity, manifested as cattle rustling and banditry, is often blamed on the Pokot of Kenya.

Efforts to disarm pastoralists at border regions is hampared by lack of inter-governmental cooperation which should affect all affected communities equally and concurrently.

Besides, the East African governments lack the capacity or political will to make pastoralists adopt alternative modes of production.

Kenya's Pokot are now raising the argument that to disarm them unilaterally before these issues are solved will be a disaster to them.

At the weekend their leaders and the Kenya Police failed to agree on the issue.