03-06-2017, 10:11 PM
*** 7-Mar-17 World View -- Herders invade ranches in Kenya, ambush and kill British ranch owner
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Herders invade ranches in Kenya, ambush and kill British ranch owner
****
![[Image: g170306b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g170306b.jpg)
A herder walks home with his camels in Kenya in January, after walking kilometers in search of pasture and water during drought. (The Nation)
Ranch co-owner Tristan Voorspuy, a British citizen and former British
army officer, was found shot dead on Sunday on his ranch in Laikipia
province in Kenya. Alongside him was the dead carcass of the horse he
had been riding. It's believed that Voorspuy was ambushed by herders
who for months have been invading ranches in order to get water and
grazing land for their animals, in the middle of a drought.
Voorspuy was co-owner of the 24,000 acre colonial era Sosian ranch in
Laikipia in the Rift Valley of Kenya, and owner of Offbeat Safaris
Ltd. The ranch is a wildlife preserve and tourist attraction.
On Saturday, Voorspuy went to visit the site where two cottages had
been burned down by herders on Friday. It appears that burning the
cottages was a trap to lure Voorspuy, as he was apparently ambushed
and killed when he arrived.
This weekend's attack on the Sosian ranch and murder of its owner were
not the first such event. Ranches and ranchers have been under attack
by invading herders for months, seeking water and grazing land for
their animals. This particular attack on the Sosian ranch has become
international news because Voorspuy was a British citizen and father
of two.
The perpetrators are believed to be from the Pokot and Samburu tribes.
Both of these tribes are described as "pastoralists," meaning that
they're a society of nomadic herders who move from place to place as
changes in weather require. The Pokot and Samburu tribes had fought a
very bloody war against each other in 2006, displacing thousands of
people and stealing each other's livestock, but now they've apparently
made up and they're joining together to attack ranchers. It's
believed that heavily armed militias of thousands of Pokot and Samburu
have been invading and attack ranches.
In January, herders attacked a 42,000-acre private ranch. According
to a witness:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"The entire property is being invaded by large numbers
> of armed people, overrunning it with cattle, sheep and goats. They
> have destroyed kilometers of fences, cut and stolen wires and dug
> out posts. Things become really bad yesterday. It is as if
> someone has been been paid to cut wire and pull out posts
> everywhere. We are getting reports from all parts of Laikipia that
> cattle are heading our way."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
The ranches in this county are the last stronghold of wildlife outside
Kenya's national parks and reserves, and is home to 6,000 elephants
and other animals including lions and the rare Grevy's zebra.
The Pokot and Samburu tribes are offshoots of the Kalenjin tribe.
There are five major tribes in Kenya: the Kikuyu (6,622,576), the
Luhya (5,338,666), the Kalenjin (4,967,328), the Luo (4,044,440) and
the Kamba (3,893,157).
Kenya's last generational crisis war was the Mau-Mau rebellion that
climaxed in 1956. In 2008, there was extremely brutal violence
between the Kikuya, Kalenjin and Luo tribes, and it's widely feared
that the new round of attacks by herders on ranchers in Laikipia is
the first sign of a new round of more widespread violence, and
possibly a full-scale war. Nairobi News and The Star (Kenya) and IRIN - United Nations and The Nation (Kenya-31-Jan-2017)
Related Articles
****
**** The ranchers (farmers) versus the pastoralists (herders)
****
What's happening in Kenya is a variation of something that I've
described many times -- the battle between farmers and herders.
Farmers and herders have two completely different lifestyles. Battles
between farmers and herders occur in country after country, as I've
described many times in Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi,
Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, and even America in the 1800s. The farmers
accuse the herders of letting the cattle eat their crops, while the
herders accuse the farmers of planting on land that's meant for
grazing. If the farmers put up fences, then the herders knock them
down.
The genocidal war in Sudan's western region of Darfur began in the
1980s as low-level conflicts between the light-skinned "Arab" herder
tribes and the dark-skinned "African" farmer tribes. The herders
turned into the Janjaweed militias who began, in the early 2000s, to
ride in on camels and horses and invade the Darfurian farms with a
scorched earth policy including mass murders, rapes and genocide.
The iconic genocidal war between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and
Burundi in 1994 was the culmination of centuries of generational
crisis wars between the two tribes, where the Tutsis were the herders
who controlled the land, and the Hutus were the farmers who worked for
the Tutsis.
The generational crisis civil war in the Central African Republic
began three years ago as a war between ethnic groups aligned along a
Muslim herder versus Christian farmer fault line. As we recently
described, the war in the central regions of the country around the
cities of Bambari and Bria is morphing from a religious war to an
ethnic war between the Fulani tribe, a nomadic herding ethnic group,
and the Gula and Runga tribes, which are primarily farming ethnic
groups. As both sides are Muslim, this is now primarily an ethnic
war. In fact, the Gula and Runga tribes are now allying with some
Christian tribes that are also farmers.
In Kenya, the recent attacks by pastoralist herders on ranches is a
variation of the age-old war between herders and farmers. Kenya's
last generational crisis war was the Mau-Mau rebellion that climaxed
in 1956. Now, 61 years later, Kenya is going deeper into a
generational Crisis era, and we can expect the war between
pastoralists and ranchers, and even between different ethnic groups of
pastoralists, to continue to worsen.
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Kenya, Laikipia, Rift Valley,
Tristan Voorspuy, Sosian ranch, Offbeat Safaris,
Pokot tribe, Samburu tribe, Mau-Mau rebellion,
Kalenjin tribe, Kikuyu tribe, Luhya tribe, Luo tribe, Kamba tribe,
Rwanda, Burundi, Hutu tribe, Tutsi tribe, Sudan, Darfur, South Sudan,
Central African Republic, Banbari, Bria,
Fulani tribe, Gula tribe, Runga tribe
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Herders invade ranches in Kenya, ambush and kill British ranch owner
- The ranchers (farmers) versus the pastoralists (herders)
****
**** Herders invade ranches in Kenya, ambush and kill British ranch owner
****
A herder walks home with his camels in Kenya in January, after walking kilometers in search of pasture and water during drought. (The Nation)
Ranch co-owner Tristan Voorspuy, a British citizen and former British
army officer, was found shot dead on Sunday on his ranch in Laikipia
province in Kenya. Alongside him was the dead carcass of the horse he
had been riding. It's believed that Voorspuy was ambushed by herders
who for months have been invading ranches in order to get water and
grazing land for their animals, in the middle of a drought.
Voorspuy was co-owner of the 24,000 acre colonial era Sosian ranch in
Laikipia in the Rift Valley of Kenya, and owner of Offbeat Safaris
Ltd. The ranch is a wildlife preserve and tourist attraction.
On Saturday, Voorspuy went to visit the site where two cottages had
been burned down by herders on Friday. It appears that burning the
cottages was a trap to lure Voorspuy, as he was apparently ambushed
and killed when he arrived.
This weekend's attack on the Sosian ranch and murder of its owner were
not the first such event. Ranches and ranchers have been under attack
by invading herders for months, seeking water and grazing land for
their animals. This particular attack on the Sosian ranch has become
international news because Voorspuy was a British citizen and father
of two.
The perpetrators are believed to be from the Pokot and Samburu tribes.
Both of these tribes are described as "pastoralists," meaning that
they're a society of nomadic herders who move from place to place as
changes in weather require. The Pokot and Samburu tribes had fought a
very bloody war against each other in 2006, displacing thousands of
people and stealing each other's livestock, but now they've apparently
made up and they're joining together to attack ranchers. It's
believed that heavily armed militias of thousands of Pokot and Samburu
have been invading and attack ranches.
In January, herders attacked a 42,000-acre private ranch. According
to a witness:
> [indent]<QUOTE>"The entire property is being invaded by large numbers
> of armed people, overrunning it with cattle, sheep and goats. They
> have destroyed kilometers of fences, cut and stolen wires and dug
> out posts. Things become really bad yesterday. It is as if
> someone has been been paid to cut wire and pull out posts
> everywhere. We are getting reports from all parts of Laikipia that
> cattle are heading our way."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
The ranches in this county are the last stronghold of wildlife outside
Kenya's national parks and reserves, and is home to 6,000 elephants
and other animals including lions and the rare Grevy's zebra.
The Pokot and Samburu tribes are offshoots of the Kalenjin tribe.
There are five major tribes in Kenya: the Kikuyu (6,622,576), the
Luhya (5,338,666), the Kalenjin (4,967,328), the Luo (4,044,440) and
the Kamba (3,893,157).
Kenya's last generational crisis war was the Mau-Mau rebellion that
climaxed in 1956. In 2008, there was extremely brutal violence
between the Kikuya, Kalenjin and Luo tribes, and it's widely feared
that the new round of attacks by herders on ranchers in Laikipia is
the first sign of a new round of more widespread violence, and
possibly a full-scale war. Nairobi News and The Star (Kenya) and IRIN - United Nations and The Nation (Kenya-31-Jan-2017)
Related Articles
- Kenya settles into low-level violence on the way to Rwanda (01-Feb-2008)
- Increasing violence in Kenya revives fears of tribal war (07-Jun-2016)
****
**** The ranchers (farmers) versus the pastoralists (herders)
****
What's happening in Kenya is a variation of something that I've
described many times -- the battle between farmers and herders.
Farmers and herders have two completely different lifestyles. Battles
between farmers and herders occur in country after country, as I've
described many times in Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi,
Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, and even America in the 1800s. The farmers
accuse the herders of letting the cattle eat their crops, while the
herders accuse the farmers of planting on land that's meant for
grazing. If the farmers put up fences, then the herders knock them
down.
The genocidal war in Sudan's western region of Darfur began in the
1980s as low-level conflicts between the light-skinned "Arab" herder
tribes and the dark-skinned "African" farmer tribes. The herders
turned into the Janjaweed militias who began, in the early 2000s, to
ride in on camels and horses and invade the Darfurian farms with a
scorched earth policy including mass murders, rapes and genocide.
The iconic genocidal war between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and
Burundi in 1994 was the culmination of centuries of generational
crisis wars between the two tribes, where the Tutsis were the herders
who controlled the land, and the Hutus were the farmers who worked for
the Tutsis.
The generational crisis civil war in the Central African Republic
began three years ago as a war between ethnic groups aligned along a
Muslim herder versus Christian farmer fault line. As we recently
described, the war in the central regions of the country around the
cities of Bambari and Bria is morphing from a religious war to an
ethnic war between the Fulani tribe, a nomadic herding ethnic group,
and the Gula and Runga tribes, which are primarily farming ethnic
groups. As both sides are Muslim, this is now primarily an ethnic
war. In fact, the Gula and Runga tribes are now allying with some
Christian tribes that are also farmers.
In Kenya, the recent attacks by pastoralist herders on ranches is a
variation of the age-old war between herders and farmers. Kenya's
last generational crisis war was the Mau-Mau rebellion that climaxed
in 1956. Now, 61 years later, Kenya is going deeper into a
generational Crisis era, and we can expect the war between
pastoralists and ranchers, and even between different ethnic groups of
pastoralists, to continue to worsen.
Related Articles
- Ban Ki Moon blames Darfur genocide on global warming (19-Jun-2007)
- Generational history of Hutu and Tutsi tribes (30-Apr-2015)
- Central African Republic war morphs from religious to ethnic war (01-Mar-2017)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Kenya, Laikipia, Rift Valley,
Tristan Voorspuy, Sosian ranch, Offbeat Safaris,
Pokot tribe, Samburu tribe, Mau-Mau rebellion,
Kalenjin tribe, Kikuyu tribe, Luhya tribe, Luo tribe, Kamba tribe,
Rwanda, Burundi, Hutu tribe, Tutsi tribe, Sudan, Darfur, South Sudan,
Central African Republic, Banbari, Bria,
Fulani tribe, Gula tribe, Runga tribe
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
