African pastoral tribe threatened with extinction after brutal police raid

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) accused the police in Kenya on Tuesday of grossly violating the human rights of the Samburu pastoral tribe and of destroying the means of life of the native people. Hundreds of police using helicopters have been attacking suspected cattle-thieves since 25th February 2009 in the north of the country. The security forces have been committing murder and torture and confiscating all the cattle of the nomads, reported the human rights organisation, calling on Kenya’s President, Mwai Kibaki, to stop the police action immediately. The herds of cattle must be given back straight away. The GfbV has appealed to the European Union and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, to exercise pressure on the Kenyan government to end the violence.

Officially the police are on duty to combat cattle-theft, which has a tradition among the nomadic tribes of East Africa. The security forces have the task of confiscating illegal weapons. It is reported however that the police are rounding up indiscriminately all cattle, sheep, goats and camels and giving them to other groups.

The GfbV Africa consultant, Ulrich Delius, reported that more than 3000 head of cattle have been confiscated. Anyone protesting is shot. Women and children are being beaten by the police. The people are being systematically intimidated by gunfire. More than 2000 Samburu have already fled from the violence. The police have in their brutal action ignored an appeal for peace from the Anglican bishop of the town of Nyahururu in the north of Kenya and a directive of the Supreme Court of the country. "For the Samburu nomads the loss of their herds means the extinction of their life, for the cattle provide not only their means of subsistence, but are at the centre of their culture and way of life, their currency and life insurance”, said Delius.

The 150,000 Samburu living in the north of Kenya are the most well-known Nilotic ethnic group apart from the Masai. Hard hit by the consequences of the climate change, the nomads have been struggling for years for their survival. In the year 2006 85 percent of their cattle were destroyed in the drought. Many of the animals now confiscated had been bought with the aid provided after the drought by international aid agencies. The collapse of tourism following the violence in Kenya at the beginning of 2008 was also a severe blow for the nomads. Many have now become so poor that there has been a sharp increase in prostitution.

"The brutal action of the police is symptomatic of the way in which Africa’s governments deal with nomads”, criticised Delius. In neighbouring Uganda also the authorities have also acted so ruthlessly against the Karamojong nomads that the UN condemned the campaign. Only a few days ago the UN criticised the Kenyan police for the systematic murder of critics of the regime.