Conflict Scan in Marsabit County SRIC/ Government of Kenya joint publication In the process of being published Tentatively in May

2012, Manuscript 162 pages* Marsabit county (or District) is located in the northern frontier of Kenya, and borders Ethiopia. It is a remote, desolate, underdeveloped and expansive enclave, measuring some 71, 000 sq. kilometres. Being an arid region, it is inhabited by several pastoralist ethnic groups who have for generations fought internecine wars mostly over access to and control over scarce water and pasture as well as territorial integrity. Moreover, these communities have had to contend with frequent cross-border incursions from tribal groupings residing inside Ethiopia notwithstanding the fact that they have common affinities. In terms of the project rationale, it is important to note that this part of the country has continued to suffer governmental neglect since independence, and had been left to its devices. It is only now that the government is building the first ever bitumen road in the region! Some of the key findings in the book project involve that contribute to, exacerbate and perpetuate the ubiquitous incidence of insecurity, which include: incompatible ethnic interests and aspirations; widespread availability of illicit small arms and light weapons; long porous borders; lack of enabling development infrastructure and clan/ethnicity-based political inclinations. For more information, please visit www.srickenya.org