Mount Elgon Armed Conflict and Violation of Women’s Rights, 2004-2008
Keywords:
Mount Elgon Land conflict, Sabaot Land Defence Force, Moor Land Defence Force, Women rights violations
Abstract
This paper attempts an investigation into human rights abuses against women perpetrated during the Mount Elgon land conflict. Drawing upon concepts of
feminist analyses of wartime human rights violations, the authors illustrate how Mount Elgon's armed conflict exacted a high toll on women and society between
2004 and 2008. It integrates critical political economy ideas on contemporary armed conflict and reveals that the Sabaot Land Defence Force-led war, which was later
countered by the Moor Defence Forces and Kenya's military, subjected women to rape and brutalization, including destabilization, resulting in massive human
misery, loss of life, internal displacement, and resource devastation, the majority of which disproportionately harmed women's livelihoods.
References
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Create Space Independent Publishers,
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Republic of Kenya, 2008. “The Task Force on Resettlement of Beneficiaries of
Chepyuk Phase III Settlement Scheme in Mount Elgon.” In The Kenya Gazette,
Vol. CX, No. 93, Special Issue, Nairobi, 4th December.
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Sorrenson K., 1968. Origin of European Settlement in Kenya. Nairobi: Oxford
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True J., 2010. “The Political Economy of Violence against Women.” In The Australian Feminist Law Journal. Vol. 32, No. 1, 2010, pp 39-59.
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Wapukha P. J. “Historicization of Intra-Ethnic Conflict among the Sabaot Community of Mt. Elgon Kenya.” In Iconic Research and Engineering Journals. Vol. 5, No. 7, January 2022, pp303-309.
https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1703155.pdf
World Scientific Publishing Company, (2012). International Journal of Development and Conflict Vol. 2, No. 3, 2012, pp?
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Others
Sunday Standard, Sunday 6, 2007. “Kenya: Insecurity in Mt Elgon Costs Pupils First Term.”
Daily Nation, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. “Man Accused of Having Illegal arms is set free.”
Daily Nation, December 12, 2006. “Where Cave Men Kill and Maim Over Land.”
Kenyan News, April 5, 2018. “Land is the Main Source of Conflict in Mt. Elgon, Senate Committee on Security has been told.”
East African, 7 August 2007. “Kenya: Hundreds of Thousands Displaced by Mt. Elgon Ethnic Clashes.”
KNA, 1982. “Bungoma District Annual Report for the year, 1982.”
KNA/DC/EN/3/2/4. “Political Records: Ethnology.”
Amakiri, P. Sex and Marriage: An African Perspective. https://www.academia.edu,
Anne-Emmanuele Calves, Marginalization of African Single Mothers in the Marriage Market: Evidence from Cameroon, in Population Studies. Nov., 1999, Vol. 53, No. 3, November 1999, pp 291-301.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2584700.accessed on 10/10/2023
Amnest International, 2004. Lives Blown a Part: Crimes against Women in Times of Conflict. London: Amnesty international publications.
Andreasson, S. et al., 2011. “Land Liberation and Compromise in Southern Africa.” In The Journal of Modern African Studies. Vol. 49, No. 1, January 2011, pp 167-168. DOI:10.2307/23018882
Anseeuw W. & C. Alden, 2010. The Struggle over Land in Africa Conflicts, Politics and Change. Pretoria: World Rights
Bertrand J. & O. Haklai, 2014. Democratization and Ethnic Minorities: Conflict or Compromise. New York: Routledge.
Bhattacherjee A., 2012. “Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices.” Florida, np.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=oa_textbooks
Butaki R.C., 2009. “Report of the Discussion by Koony Council of Elders on Chepyuk Settlement Scheme Problem and Suggested Solutions”.
Cheptora, L.C., 2006. The Ugly Beautiful Tale of a Stupid, Stupid Heart. Nairobi:
Create Space Independent Publishers,
Cawthorne Andrew, 2008. “Kenyan army accused of mass torture in Mt. Elgon.” Reuters, April 27, 2008. https://www.reuters.com
Claire Médard, “Elected Leaders, Militias and Prophets: Violence in Mount Elgon (2006-2008).” In The East African Review. p 349-370.
https://doi.org/10.4000/eastafrica.749
Enrick, J. et al., 2023. “We are our land Ogiek of Mount Elgon, Kenya: securing community tenure as the key enabling condition for sustaining community lands,” In Fauna & Flora International. Cambridge University Press.
https://www.forestpeoples.org. Accessed on 2/12.2023
EU-UN, Kaye and Mohamed Yahya, 2012. Land and Conflict: Toolkit and Guidance for Preventing and Managing Land and Natural resources Conflict.
https://www.un.org/en/land-natural-resources-conflict, accessed on 15/11/2023
Firestone, S., 1971. The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. New York: William Marrow and Company, Inc.
Fitzgerald, M. A., 2002. Throwing the Stick Forward: The Impact of War on Southern Suddenness Women. Nairobi: UNIFEM,
Human Rights Watch, 2023. “All the Men have Gone: War Crimes in Kenya’s Mt. Elgon.” https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/07/27, accessed on 10/11/2023
Gona G. & M. Mungai, 2013. (Re)Membering Kenya: Interrogating Marginalization and Governance. Nairobi: Twaweza Communications Limited.
ISS, 2010, Militia, Rebels and Islamist Militants. Pretoria: Institute of Security
Studies.
IRIN News, 2007. “More deaths, displacement reported in Mt Elgon.” Conflict News, 27 November. https://shop.un.org/rights. Accessed on 19/02/2023
Jane L. Parpart, 1986. “Women and the State in Africa.” Department of History, Dalhousie University, Halifax Canada.
https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnaax586.pdf
Kalpers J., 2001. Armed Conflict and Biodiversity in Sub- Saharan African, Washington D.C: Biodiversity Support Program.
Kanyinga K, 2009. “The Legacy of the White Highlands: Land Rights, Ethnicity and the Post-2007 Election Violence. In Kenya.” In Journal of Contemporary African Studies. Vol. 27, No. 3 2009, pp 325-344.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02589000903154834
Kate Millet K., 1969. Sexual Politics, New York: Columbia University Press.
Kenny, M. G., 1981. “Mirror in the Forest: The Dorobo Hunter-Gatherers as an Image of the Other.” In Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. Vol. 51, No. 1, 1981, pp 477-495
Kenya Forestry Research Institute, 2018. “Report on Kenya's Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (WaTER) Programme Biodiversity Status of Mount Elgon Forest Eosystem Component: Science to Inform Design of Community-Level Actions and Policy Decision.”
Kenya National Commission of Human Rights, 2008. “The Mountain of Terror: A Report on the Investigation of Torture by the Military at Mt. Elgon.” Nairobi: KNCHR
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, 2006. “Behaving Badly: Deception, Chauvinism and Waste during the Referendum Campaigns.” Nairobi:
KNCHR.
KNCHR, 2012. “Realising Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Kenya: A Myth or a Reality? A Report of the Public Inquiry into Violations of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Kenya April 2012.” Nairobi: KNCHR
Kikechi B.M., 2018. “Effects of Ethnic Conflict on Women and Children in Mount Elgon Region, 2008-2012. Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment for the Postgraduate Diploma in International Studies.
Kipkorir B.E. & F. B Welbourn, 1973. The Marakwet of Kenya: A Preliminary Study. East African Educational Publishers Ltd.
Kimkung, P. “The Gender Dimensions of Violence and Conflict: The Case of Inter-Ethnic Land Conflict in Mt. Elgon, Kenya¤,” in International Journal of Development and Conflict Vol. 2, No. 3 (2012).
https://genderandsecurity.org, accessed 21/11/2023
Kimkung, P. “The Gendered Effects of Land Conflict: The Case of the Inter-Ethnic Land Conflicts in Mount Elgon District of Western Province of Kenya,” M.A. Project Submitted in School of Sustainable International Development, Brandeis University, 2015
Kutlu, A.G., 2014. Armed Conflicts and Sexual Violence against Women: An Inevitable Accompaniment?
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/251838, accessed 22/02/2023
Kwalia, B., 2009, “Nullify Land Deals, Appeal Leaders,” Daily Nation, Tuesday
January, 27.
https://www.nation.co.ke
Lambach, D., 2004. “State in Society: Joel Migdal and the Limits of State Authority.” Paper presented at the Conference of Political Concepts beyond the Nation State: Cosmopolitanism, Territoriality, Democracy, Danish Political Theory Network Conference, University of Copenhagen, and Department of Political Science Copenhagen
https://www.researchgate.net,
Lindsey, C., 2001. Women Facing War, Geneva: ICRC,
Medecins sans Frontiers, 2007. The Hidden Crisis of Mount Elgon in Kenya: We Eat from the Hands of Others, Project Update,
https://www.msf.org,
Médecins Sans Frontières, 2008. “Mount Elgon: Does Anybody Care? MSF takes stock after one year in the heart of the crisis in Mount Elgon.” https://archive.crin.org/en/docs/MSF_MtElgon.pdf, accessed 16/11/2023
Ndiku, Judith Achoka and Kennedy Onkwar, 2013. “Professionals, Victims or Sympathizers: Teachers and Violent Conflict in Mt. Elgon Region, Kenya.” In Journal Research in Peace, Gender and Development. Vol. 3, No. 6, August 2013, pp 80-89.
http://www.interesjournals.org/ JRPGDDOI:http:/dx.doi.org/10.14303/jrpgd.2013 accessed Mar 17 2024.
Ngeywa G., 2008. Chronology of the Sabaot History and Land Dilemma”, Presented to the Task Force on Resettlement of Beneficiaries of Chepyuk Phase III Settlement Scheme in Mount Elgon.
Okin, M.S., 1989. Justice, Gender and the Family, New York: Basic Books.
Ong’anyi, P. Obino and, Ngala, O. Consolata, 2023. “Contextualizing High Teenage Pregnancies and Its Effects on Education in Mt. Elgon Area, Kenya.” In International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS). 2023.
https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.70763
Ogenga P.A. et,al., 2011. “Violent Conflict on Secondary School Students Wastage in Mount Elgon District Kenya.” in International Journal of Current Research. . https://journalcra.com/article/impact-violent-conflict-secondary-school-students%E2%80%99-wastage-mount-elgon-district-kenya
Relief web, 2007. Kenya: Thirty Die of Diseases, more Displaced in the West, 23 February. https://reliefweb.int, accessed on 19/02/2023
Republic of Kenya, 2002. Bungoma District Development Plan 2002-2008. Nairobi: Government Printer.
Republic of Kenya, 2003. The 1999 Population and Housing Census: Counting our People for Development Volume 1 Nairobi: Government Printer.
Republic of Kenya, 2009. Ministry of Planning and National Development, Mount Elgon District Development Plan 2002-2008. Nairobi: Government Printer.
Republic of Kenya, 2008. “The Task Force on Resettlement of Beneficiaries of
Chepyuk Phase III Settlement Scheme in Mount Elgon.” In The Kenya Gazette,
Vol. CX, No. 93, Special Issue, Nairobi, 4th December.
Ryanga H., 2015. “Conflict in Mt. Elgon: Assessing the Impacts of Insecurity on the Economy,” A Paper Presented At the 3rd Regional Academic Seminar, Kemu Mombasa Campus, 7th October.
https://www.researchgate.net. Accessed on 19/02/2023
Simonse S., 2004. Participatory land use and planning: An Assessment of Conflict Management in the Kerio Valley Kenya. Nairobi: Pax Christi.
Sorrenson K., 1968. Origin of European Settlement in Kenya. Nairobi: Oxford
University Press.
Struss A., & J. Corbin, 1990. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publishers.
Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, 2011. “Public Hearing Transcripts-Western Mt. Elgon. Women’s Hearing.”
https://digitalcommons.law.seattle.ed/tjrc.core
Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission, 2011. “Public Hearing T Public Hearing Transcripts- Western-Mount Elgon.”
https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/tjrc-core/122/ accessed on 2/12.2023
True J., 2010. “The Political Economy of Violence against Women.” In The Australian Feminist Law Journal. Vol. 32, No. 1, 2010, pp 39-59.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241764665, accessed on 21/03/2023
UN, Geneva Convention, 1949. Practice of recruiting children is a violation of the Additional Protocol II, Article 4, which prohibits the use of children under 15 as fighters.
Wapukha P. J. “Historicization of Intra-Ethnic Conflict among the Sabaot Community of Mt. Elgon Kenya.” In Iconic Research and Engineering Journals. Vol. 5, No. 7, January 2022, pp303-309.
https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1703155.pdf
World Scientific Publishing Company, (2012). International Journal of Development and Conflict Vol. 2, No. 3, 2012, pp?
https://genderandsecurity.org, accessed on 18/02/2023
Others
Sunday Standard, Sunday 6, 2007. “Kenya: Insecurity in Mt Elgon Costs Pupils First Term.”
Daily Nation, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. “Man Accused of Having Illegal arms is set free.”
Daily Nation, December 12, 2006. “Where Cave Men Kill and Maim Over Land.”
Kenyan News, April 5, 2018. “Land is the Main Source of Conflict in Mt. Elgon, Senate Committee on Security has been told.”
East African, 7 August 2007. “Kenya: Hundreds of Thousands Displaced by Mt. Elgon Ethnic Clashes.”
KNA, 1982. “Bungoma District Annual Report for the year, 1982.”
KNA/DC/EN/3/2/4. “Political Records: Ethnology.”
