Conflict of interests between refugees and host communities are a common place, but recent violent confrontations between Sudanese asylum seekers in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, and the resident Turkana villagers, which resulted in several deaths and destruction of property, suggested that there could be a deeper problem. AANA's Makur Kot Dhuor, has attempted to dig out some of the deep-rooted factors that could have formed the build-up to the fighting.

At Kakuma refugee camp, a fight broke out on June 18 between Sudanese refugees and the host community, the Turkana. Two Sudanese refugees were reportedly killed.

On June 20, one Turkana was killed by the refugees and thrown into a pit-latrine, in retaliation.

Come June 21, there was an armed attack on the camp. The ensuing skirmish resulted in the death of nine Sudanese refugees, two Turkana tribesmen, and one Ethiopian refugee.

Among the nine Sudanese refugees who died, two were killed on their way back from Nairobi, after being intercepted by the Turkana.

Three days later (June 24), a Sudanese resident in Lokichoggio, near Kenya's border with Sudan, threw a hand grenade into a Turkana home, killing one child and injuring a woman.

The incident provoked Turkana youths in the area. They ran amok and attacked the premises of Norwegian People Aid (NPA), and Presbyterian Relief and Development Agency (PRDA), claiming that the former had offered refuge to the Sudanese who had hurled a grenade into a Turkana homestead.

The latter (PRDA) was attacked because it belongs to the Presbyterian Church of Sudan. Here, the youth looted property and caused extensive damages.

A day after, the Turkana youths stormed UNHCR premises to protest. The grenade use had made them wary that the Sudanese were in possession of deadly arms.

The Lokichoggio incident is said to have been a spillover of what had happened at Kakuma refugee camp just a few days earlier. The grenade wielding Sudanese was, according to locals, avenging the killing of his fellow Sudanese at Kakuma by the Turkana.

This chronology of violent events within just one week portrays the precarious relationship between refugees in Kakuma, and the Turkana host community.

A comment by Margaret Yaar, a 42 year-old refugee mother of seven children at Kakuma camp reflects the present mood of asylum seekers in the camp.

Said she: "We escaped with our children from Sudan to Ethiopia because of war, and from Ethiopia after the fall of Mengistu, Haile Mariam.

Again, we escaped to Pochalla in southern Sudan, then to Narus and eventually, we found ourselves in Kenya with our children. Now it is the same children who are being killed by the Turkana."

She went on: "Why are we being killed? Where is the Kenyan Government?

Our relationship with the Turkana has proved bad, so we want to be taken to any part of Kenya, where we can establish good relationship with other ethnic groups."

Kakuma refugee camp is situated in northern Kenya, about 1,000 km of Nairobi. The camp has a population of 82,216 refugees of eleven nationalities, of which 71 percent are Sudanese. The vast camp occupies 25 km2.

Even though the government and UNHCR are jointly trying to bring the parties in conflict to negotiation in order to instill peaceful co-existence, events in the past indicate that the relationship between the Turkana and the Sudanese refugees has never been cordial.

Statistics indicate that 32 refugees were killed, several of them by the Turkana, between 1992 and September 2002.

Before the June fighting, a number of other events had occurred early in the year that boosted tension. A Sudanese girl was killed in February by the Turkana during an attempted rape episode. Another was killed in similar circumstances in March. Several Sudanese women have also been raped at gun point when fetching firewood.

Going by past statements, these hostilities could as well be a reflection of feelings by the Turkana that their land had been occupied by foreigners, mainly Sudanese.

Former Labour assistant minister, Ekwe Ethuro, said on July 16, 2002 that the refugees, mostly Sudanese, were a burden to the local community and should be moved elsewhere or repatriated.

The Turkana accused the Sudanese refugees of crimes such as theft, which they said, did not exist before the coming of the refugees to their area 11 years ago.

In May 1994, a meeting was held between Sudanese refugees and the Turkana, after the former complained that the latter were going to "finish" them.

During the meeting, the Turkana warned the Sudanese against engaging in intimate affairs with their (Turkana) girls, and against slaughtering goats, in the absence of a Turkana, who would be expected to take the legs, skin and the head of a slaughtered animal.

Sixty goats were paid to the Sudanese refugee community as a compensation of a Sudanese killed in cold blood by some Turkana the previous year. This does not seem to have resolved the conflict.

"Quick action must be taken before it is too late," says a Sudanese elder Akeec Nyatyiel, living in the camp.

He continues: "We cannot be returned to Sudan while the war is still going on. The peace is very fragile, so we want the Kenyan Government to give us up to date security. The solution lies in the Government looking into our re-location because we are being killed by the Turkana."

In an interview with AANA, UNHCR's Assistant Representative (protection), Rossela Pogliucli-lor, said cattle rustling between the Dinka of southern Sudan and the Turkana in Kenya, also played a central role in the conflict between the two communities.

For example, prior to the recent Kakuma attacks, there had been rumours that many Turkana had been killed in a cattle rustling incident. The fact that a cow was spotted within the refugee camp only made things worse.

Asked whether the UNHCR may consider relocating the camp in view of the circumstances, Rossela said: "Re-location of the camp is very complex because of the difficulty to locate an area," she said.

"Secondly, a lot of money has been invested in the already existing infrastructure in the camp.... It is not an easy affair to move about 85,000 refugees of different nationalities to a new camp," she continued.

According to Rossela, the government is drafting a system bill, which when passed, should considerably improve the security situation of the refugees.

	Copyright © 2003 African Church Information Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).