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Viewing cable 06NAIROBI1237, MISERY LOVES COMPANY: DROUGHT AND CONFLICT IN

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06NAIROBI1237 2006-03-17 10:22 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Nairobi
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNR #1237/01 0761022
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 171022Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0400
INFO RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 8311
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM PRIORITY 4550
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI PRIORITY 4038
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA PRIORITY 1233
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1909
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1885
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA  PRIORITY
UNCLAS NAIROBI 001237 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SENV PINS ECON MARR KE
SUBJECT: MISERY LOVES COMPANY: DROUGHT AND CONFLICT IN 
MANDERA 
 
REF: NAIROBI 1019 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Harsh drought conditions in Mandera 
district are having a devastating effect on livestock and 
their owners. While the deprivations of the drought have 
alleviated some of the causes of inter-clan conflicts in the 
area, the loss of livestock (and the income generated 
thereby) is resulting in the displacement of erstwhile 
herders which threatens to heighten tensions in the future. 
However, increasing educational opportunities may mitigate 
this problem in the longer-term by presenting viable 
alternatives to pastoral systems. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Poloff and Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa 
(CJTF-HOA) Civil Affairs Team-A615 Leader toured torrid, 
dusty Mandera District (estimated pop. 250,000), one of four 
districts in North Eastern Province, March 5-6. Mandera 
District is home to ethnic Somalis who are nomadic 
pastoralists or agro-pastoralists, and located at the 
intersection of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. The team 
visited Mandera Town, a hodgepodge collection of dusty 
concrete one-story structures and mud huts and the seat of 
the district government that borders Somalia and Ethiopia. 
They also traveled to the isolated town of Takaba, in Mandera 
West constituency, to dedicate a CJTF-HOA-funded school 
project. 
 
In Desperate Need of Water 
-------------------------- 
3. (SBU) North Eastern Province has received no significant 
rainfall for the past three years. The ensuing drought is 
taking its toll on both the environment and people of Mandera 
District. Water must be trucked into Mandera, but given the 
harsh road conditions throughout the district, water 
deliveries are few and far between. Shipments that do reach 
the population are insufficient to adequately meet its needs. 
Aid workers and government officials lament the frequent 
breakdowns of delivery vehicles due to deplorable road 
conditions. In Takaba, all water for the population of 
10-20,000 is trucked in on abysmally poor roads from over 120 
kilometers away, with each household receiving a meager 
Weekly ration of only 20 liters. (NOTE: 20 liters is the 
target Daily water ration for a single refugee in UNHCR 
camps, including the Dadaab camps in North Eastern Province. 
END NOTE.) The price for two liters of water in Mandera Town 
has risen from USD .70 several months before to over USD 
1.40. More isolated areas of the district report dramatic 
price increases of up to 650 percent for water. 
 
4. (SBU) The drought has devastated agriculture, inching the 
population toward the brink of famine. Food is scarce in 
Mandera. A tour of the local market in Mandera Town revealed 
little on offer, save for a few measly potatoes and onions. 
Locals report that practically all foodstuffs must be 
imported from other parts of Kenya. Action Against Hunger 
(AAH), a U.S. NGO that began a nutrition program in Mandera 
in 2004, has witnessed malnutrition levels soar in recent 
months. Their therapeutic and supplemental feeding centers 
were originally targeted to treat small children; however, 
recently they have begun to administer to increasing numbers 
of severely malnourished adults. AAH reports that food 
assistance lay abandoned by the roadside because people lack 
the water necessary to cook the food provided. AAH,s 
nutrition programs officer reports rising malnutrition is 
causing greater vulnerability to disease: water-borne 
diseases are on the rise as desperate residents resort to 
drinking the only local water available, often roily and 
fetid, and some parts of the district are experiencing 
large-scale outbreaks of measles. 
 
Loss of Livestock 
----------------- 
5. (SBU) Pastures for livestock, the primary source of income 
for people in Mandera, have all but disappeared. Locals 
estimate 50-60 percent of all livestock have perished. The 
few emaciated goats and sheep observed in Mandera Town were 
seen foraging through piles of rubbish, with one animal 
scavenging a prize plastic bag of khat. Aid workers report 
that herdsmen are seeking pastures deep inside Ethiopia. 
Traditionally, the ethnic Somalis of Mandera keep vast herds, 
the only measure of their wealth. The drought has made it 
impossible to sustain these large herds. Local government 
 
officials are urging the population to salvage what they can 
and devote scarce resources to a few animals, keeping them at 
home and feeding them available vegetation. However, given 
that herd numbers are their only source of wealth, few are 
embracing this message. In a desperate attempt to save their 
livestock, some owners are feeding food aid and nutrition 
supplements to their animals. Unfortunately, the animals are 
unable to digest the materials and subsequently die due to 
blockage. The bloated, festering carcass of a donkey littered 
the main street in Mandera Town. 
 
6. (SBU) The loss of entire herds is resulting in growing 
numbers of &pastoralist drop-outs,8 posing significant 
challenges to the social structure and economy of the region. 
Those who have lost their herds to the drought are at a loss 
for alternatives to their way of life. These drop-outs could 
potentially pose risks to regional security in the future. 
Regardless of whether the rains arrive, Mandera officials 
recognize that long-term solutions are needed to address this 
significant challenge to the pastoralist communities and 
their livelihood systems. In conversations with poloff, 
however, it was clear that no such solutions were forthcoming. 
 
Nothing Left to Fight Over 
-------------------------- 
7. (SBU) The region is notorious for insecurity arising from 
inter-clan conflict within the ethnic Somali community, which 
often spills over into (or in from) neighboring Somalia 
and Ethiopia. According to the Mandera District Officer 1 
(DO1), Mr. Galgalgo, and Major Charles Odour, Commander, B 
Company, 1st Kenyan Rifles, clan clashes primarily arise over 
competition for scarce resources.  However, they report such 
conflicts are increasingly rare and they do not expect any 
trouble in the immediate future.  Why? Because there is 
nothing left for clans to fight over. All clans are equally 
devastated by the drought and currently lack the energy to 
make war on their neighbors. 
 
More Open Doors than Secure Borders 
----------------------------------- 
8. (SBU) As a border town, Mandera experiences a daily flow 
of Somalis crossing into Kenya through the official border, 
identifiable by the colorful array of plastic bags impaled on 
the fencing. According to the Mandera border crossing 
Immigration Official, Joseph Mbuthia, most of the Somali 
movement into Mandera Town is foot traffic or donkey carts 
headed to the markets. Despite the drought, numerous carts 
filled with khat (mirrah) cluttered the main street in 
Mandera Town, illustrating one aspect of the brisk 
cross-border business. Mbuthia explained that to obtain 
visas, Somalis must write to the Immigration Department in 
Nairobi for permission prior to entering Kenya, a process few 
choose to follow. Poloff witnessed a small stream of people 
crossing in both directions, but did not witness any 
inspection process. (NOTE: The DO1 had to call ahead to 
ensure an official was present at the border immigration 
office to receive poloff. END NOTE.) Mbuthia justified the 
lackluster inspections regime to poloff saying, "these people 
are all relatives so we cannot treat them disrespectfully." 
 
9. (SBU) Nevertheless, security remains a concern.  When 
queried about the strength of government security forces in 
the area, the DO1 hinted at a large, interagency force and 
replied that &it was enough8 to see to the security needs 
of the region. During a call on the Mandera Town Police 
Commissioner, Joshua Omukata (at his fortress-like 
headquarters), poloff was told not to be alarmed by the 
sounds of gunfire at night. Omukata explained that the 
gunshots would be coming from Somalia, which he dismissed as 
"a whole other country." 
 
Expanding Educational Opportunities 
----------------------------------- 
10. (SBU) In Takaba, CJTF-HOA Chief of Staff Colonel Trafton, 
Captain Johnson, incoming CJTF-HOA Chief of Staff, Major 
Collier, and poloff attended the dedication ceremony of the 
completed CJTF-HOA Civil Affairs Takaba school project. 
Following the government's 2003 commitment to the provision 
of free primary education, the demand for secondary schooling 
has increased across Kenya. This CJTF project expanded the 
capacity of the only secondary school in Mandera West 
constituency (estimated population of 70-80,000.) The project 
 
involved the construction of 4 additional classrooms, 
allowing the school to increase its capacity by 120 students, 
and the construction of an additional dormitory to allow 
students from throughout the constituency to enroll in 
school. The new classrooms will enable the school to enroll a 
second stream of students, eventually doubling the number of 
students. Despite the new airy facility, the accommodation 
still felt cramped, with several bunk-beds crammed into each 
of the new rooms. Civil Affairs projects such as this fuel 
the hopes of Mandera residents that the increasing number of 
boys receiving a secondary education will help ensure greater 
economic development for their communities. This may even 
serve to provide alternatives to the questionably sustainable 
pastoral way of life. 
 
11. (SBU) Conspicuously absent in all of the gracious 
expressions of gratitude and pleas for future assistance to 
the school was any mention of the plight of Mandera West's 
girls.  Women themselves were scarce at the ceremony, though 
three were represented on the school's board off governors. 
Girls were singularly absent from among the throngs of young 
boys gathered to observe the event. There is no secondary 
school for girls in the entire constituency.  Mandera West's 
District Officer, C.S. Siele, appealed for USG assistance in 
providing access to secondary education for girls.  If left 
to their own devices, he said, community leaders would 
never contribute the necessary funds to establish a school 
for the female population. 
 
12. (SBU) COMMENT:  While in the short term, the deprivations 
of drought are having an ameliorating effect on tensions in 
this historically volatile region, their effects will cause a 
lasting disruption to the traditional way of life for people 
of Mandera. There is rising resentment of those wealthy 
enough to purchase livestock from their poorer neighbors, who 
are forced to sell at far below market prices. This, coupled 
with the loss of income for many and disputes over the 
distribution of assistance, may pose significant challenges 
to stability and security in the region in the future. END 
COMMENT. 
ROWE