Guía o mapa conceptual del capítulo metodológico.

The Turkana are a nomadic pastoralist group inhabiting the Northwestern part of Kenya (Gulliver 1958:900; Akabwai n.d: 3). The Turkana refer to each other as ‘Ng’iturukana’ and their language ‘Ng’aturukana’ (Ohta 1989:1). A majority of the Turkana reside in Turkana County. Substantial populations of the Turkana can also be found in Samburu, Marsabit, Isiolo and Laikipia Counties. Among the Turkana of Baragoi, the only two clans are represented: the Ng’ibilai and the Ng’issir sections. These groups reside on the Turkana side of today’s Baragoi. The exact time of the movement of Turkana into Baragoi is difficult to ascertain. However, available literature attributes the movement of the Turkana into Baragoi to two major reasons; the Turkana, led by war leaders such as Ebei, constantly ventured into Baragoi to raid livestock from the Samburu. Lamphear (1976) and Mburu (2001) noted the emergence of diviners who through their ability to predict the future consolidated the power to organise for expansionists raids that enabled the Turkana to acquire livestock and move into distant lands during times of drought. Secondly, the movement of the Turkana into Samburuland is attributed to drought in Turkanaland (Stigand 1910; Lamphear 1976). The role of war leaders especially of Ebei is legend that the Turkana of Baragoi still speak very proudly of. Lamphear traces Turkana movement to Baragoi to 1903. According to Lamphear (1976: 231-232), the Turkana, led by their war leaders, were forced by drought to move across “Loriu mountains” into Baragoi plains to exploit abundant pasturelands.

Similarly, Stigand (1910) has argued that the Turkana migrated to Baragoi due to drought and limited pastures in Turkanaland. Indeed Stigand (1910) noted the presence of the Turkana in Baragoi when he made his journey from Nairobi to Abyssinia through Northwestern Kenya.

35 While on his way from Lesirkan to Baragoi, Captain Stigand was informed by Ogiek elders that “The Turkana and Samburr at Baragoi, it appeared, had fallen out over grazing grounds, and war between them was imminent” (Stigand 1910: 79). Stigand’s account of a meeting with Samburu elders along Baragoi River revealed the simmering tension between the two groups:

“It appeared from their accounts that the Turkana wished to oust them from their grazing ground, and from the well-grassed plains of Em Barta, threatening to fight them if they did not go. They said that they were not strong enough to fight with the Turkana, and they could not move, for they had nowhere else to go” (Stigand 1910: 79).

It seems that when Stigand visited Baragoi on his way to Addis Ababa, the Turkana were already settled in Samburuland. This perhaps explains him being approached by Turkana chief Longelich and Samburu chief Legarbes to resolve the grazing land disputes that contributed to warfare between the two groups. Captain Stigand recorded his verdict to the Turkana and Samburu people as follows:

“Therefore I say to you, Turkana, you must not cross this stream and build your kraals on the same side as the Samburr, and I charge you, Samburr, that you do not move your kraals likewise to the west side of the stream. “Now, this is my decision: You, the Samburr, graze your cattle on the east side of Baragoi, and when you come to water, approach from the east, and water your cattle from that side, and do not let even one lamb cross over to drink from the other side, You, the Turkana, graze your cattle on the west side, and likewise water from that side, and not one man or animal must cross to this side.” Now as to grazing grounds, take this stream as your boundary, and after the stream take this big tree of Baragoi and the rocky peak of doinyo ngiro you all see before you, and let this line be a boundary to you that neither tribe may cross to the other side”. (Stigand 1910: 82-83).

According to Lamphear (1976: 233), the Turkana, under severe ecological pressure occasioned by one-year long drought, moved into Baragoi again and “captured most of it by 1911”. Their movement and war strategy was once again led by Ebei, the war leader. The violent nature of Turkana migration and settlement into Baragoi shows the incapacity of the nacent colonial

36 administration at this time. The role of Ebei, the war leaders is further captured in Lamphear’s records of Turkana raids in 1913:

“In the meantime, Ebei continued to defy the British in the south. From the end of 1913, he led his armies against the Samburu, driving them entirely out of the lands south of the Lake, and then attacking them and their Rendille allies east of the Lake and threatening the Administration's lines of communication between Marsabit and Loivangoleni” (Lamphear 1976: 237).

Turkana expansion into Marsabit and Samburu districts was therefore driven mostly by the need to escape colonial administrators control pastoralists movements in Northern Kenya. Further migration of the Turkana into Baragoi area was also occasioned by droughts that drove the Turkana to seek and conquer pasturelands in Samburu district. To comprehend the dynamics of violent conflicts among the Samburu and Turkana of Baragoi, the next section delves into the history of violence and factors that have contributed to this among the two communities.