Marsabit County Professionals Meeting KICC Shimba Hills Hall 14 Jan 2012 Key highlight and Resolutions of the

meeting Background Incensed by senseless killings in Moyale and elsewhere in the County, the Profes sionals from the County met on the said date at KICC to deliberate on how to cease hostilitie s in Moyale and come up with a road map for sustainable peace. The meeting brought together all the elected MPs in Marsabit County, Permanent Secretary (PS)-Ministry for the Development of Northern Kenya, Kenya s Ambassador to Austria and over 50 professionals and business people residing in Nairobi. This meeting was a follow up to an earlier meeting that was held on 23 Dec 2011 at Bomas of Kenya that also sought to intervene in the Moyale crisis. However, this meeting had an expanded attendance and brought on board most of the professionals and business people from the county. The meeting lamented that what started as a resource feud between Garre and Bora na communities in Ethiopia has spilled-over to Kenya bringing in its wake unprecede nted killings, displacements and loss of property. The meeting was informed that hundreds of Ke nyans have since fled to Ethiopia to take refuge as a result of the ongoing clashes. The meeting was also concerned that the skirmishes in Moyale might spill-over to the whole of the County if the conflict is not resolved the earliest possible. The meeting was also wary of the potential of the ongoing conflicts in the Count y to scuttle devolution and deny the citizens the full benefits of devolution. It was also no ted that competition over pasture and water are increasingly becoming the symptoms of lar ger conflict issues in the County and elsewhere, with political competition suspected to be o ne of the triggers of the current skirmishes. The present leaders urged all those eyeing for the various elective posts in the County to campaign in a peaceful way without necessarily stalking relations between commun ities and or groups in the County. Leaders were impressed upon to weigh their words before th ey utter them. For instance, the meeting could not understand why an innocent motor-cycli st (Boda Boda operator) was sprayed with eight bullets for no apparent reason. This motor

cyclist was

not looking for pasture or votes so there is need to investigate further the gen esis and forces behind the current wave of clashes in Moyale and areas around Marsabit town. stigate further the genesis and forces behind the current wave of clashes in Moyale and areas around Marsabit town. The meeting was also concerned that at least five schools remain closed in Moyal e and this is affecting education standards in the District unless a quick solution to halt th e hostilities is found. It was also disheartening to note that since the clashes in Moyale began, no sin gle person has been arrested or held responsible for the killings, arsons and displacements. Th e meeting was unhappy with the pace of the Provincial Administration and Security Agencies in responding to the clashes. Resolutions. Based on these highlights and acknowledging the fact that there is a serious pro blem in Marsabit County as evidenced by the ethnic clashes in Moyale and elsewhere, the meeting came up with the following resolutions. The committee of 10 Professionals (4 from Moyale and 2 each from North Horr, Sak u and Laisamis) that had been formed earlier was endorsed and mandated to spearhea d the peace process (caravan) That a Committee for Professionals residing in Moyale be also established to lin k up and work closely with the Nairobi based committee of professionals That the committees of the Professionals both in Nairobi and Moyale are to suppo rt and give impetus to the ongoing peace process in Moyale and elsewhere in the County That the committee to select 15 professionals, business people, leaders and elde rs to go and spearhead the peace processes in Moyale and elsewhere in the County That a series of peace dialogues be held in Moyale and Marsabit That the team from Nairobi to hold meetings with members of the respective Distr ict Security and Intelligence Committees (DSICs) in the County particularly Moyale. That a meeting be convened after the peace dialogues to evaluate results of such

dialogues as well as evaluate past and ongoing conflict management initiatives t o limit repeating the same mistakes/omissions others have committed/omitted and chart a way forward for subsequent peace processes That elders from non-conflicting communities (including cross-border neighbors) to be approached and urged to mediate the Borana Gabbra skirmishes in Moyale That the government should be seen enforcing the rule of law in a fair and impar tial manner in Moyale and elsewhere in the County in order to address impunity

 That there is a need to borrow a leaf from the North Eastern Province peace mode l where government officers and community leaders were held personally responsible for crime occurring in their areas of jurisdiction. That the government should consider transferring members of DSIC who have failed in their duties to prevent and or manage crime, including those who have since take n sides in the conflict That there is need to investigate further the root cause and genesis of the curr ent skirmishes, having in mind that Moyale has been peaceful in the last four years That crime should be individualized. The whole community should not be victimize d for crimes committed by individual That the public should be encouraged to name and shame warlords in the County That the National Cohesion and Integration Commission should take action against those spreading hate messages in the social networks That the government should identify and repatriate all foreigners in Moyale to t heir country of origin That professional should not corrupt government officers by way of raising money to bail out their kinsmen who have been arrested on suspicion of committing crime o r inciting violence That all the communities in the County to disband any militia group they may be harboring or seeking its services