Residents hold peaceful demonstrations in Maralal town, Samburu County on Monday 26, 2024, following the killing of Angata Nanyekie Ward MCA Paul Leshimpiro.
The vast rugged plains of Samburu have long been home to rare wildlife, the Samburu five to be specific, vibrant cultural traditions, and adverse, armed conflicts.
In the past few years, sounds of gunfire echoed through the plains and valleys of the arid and semi-arid county, as cattle rustling, highway banditry, and ethnic tensions fuelled violence.
The gun violence peaked this year when Angata Nanyekie Ward Representative Paul Leshimpiro was shot dead by armed bandits while he was on his way home on Maralal-Baragoi road.
But today, guns are going silent in Baragoi, Samburu North and Pura in Samburu West, and the people are rebuilding their lives afresh following years of sheer anarchy.
Samburu has historically been plagued by armed conflict, largely driven by cattle rustling and competition for scarce resources, including pasture and water points.
While cattle raids were initially viewed as a tradition among pastoralist communities, they snowballed and became deadly in recent years with the proliferation of illegal firearms.
Women and children bore the brunt of gun violence and were often displaced and left vulnerable in its wake.
"The fights were brutal, I tell you. We lived in fear, and our children grew up knowing nothing but animosity and war," recalls William Nabei, who is the Assistant Chief of Muruakiring Sub Location in Samburu North.
Mr Nabei believes that the path to peace began with concerted efforts by local leaders, community elders, government officials, and even non-governmental organisations.
According to Mr Nabei, a series of peace dialogues brought together rival communities, providing a platform for candid discussions about the roots of the conflict and their solutions.
The official says that grazing committees that were formed to decide on the patterns of grazing turned out to be a game-changer.
"There are grazing committees that were formed and community elders took charge. The aim was to reduce constant conflicts and friction in the grazing fields and watering points," says Mr Nabei.
Insecurity
In addition, in the face of lingering insecurity in several parts of Samburu North, the government deployed the revered military unit —Special Operations Group (SOG), which later employed state-of-the-art technology to silence guns in the region.
Usually, armed bandits operate in rough, rocky, and mountainous swathes in the region, which makes them "untouchable" due to the police's difficulty in confronting them.
But the Special Operations Group, a crack military unit, used rarely seen modern technology to spot, trace and locate armed bandits even in caves and gorges— the reason why Samburu leaders and locals want its reinstatement in the region to stay.
The Special Forces used high-tech surveillance to spy on bandits' moves and activities, which easily led to the employment of countermeasures to contain them.
"It was a change of tact, and it worked very well. The Special Forces always got bandits flatfooted. It was easy to counter them, and that is why most of them surrendered their rifles," said a senior officer privy to the security operations across Samburu County, who, however, declined to be named because he is not authorized to issue Press statements.
The special forces used special drones with night vision cameras to monitor bandits' activities all through.
After locating them, they used Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) to confront armed bandits even in hard-to-reach areas.
The APC is always superior in any security operation due to its all-terrain capability with an automatic 360 rotation shooting design.
They used it to suppress gunfire from the bandits as the officers zeroed into caves in bandit territories.
The Special Operations Group proved effective, and locals in Baragoi and the entire Samburu North region enjoyed peace for close to two years, for the first time.
Samburu North MP Dominic Eli Letipila says that the enmity between communities in the region was so bad to the extent that there was an imaginary boundary that separated the town.
Other places in Samburu North that had an imaginary boundary include Marti along the Maralal-Baragoi road, Mbukoi, and Kawap, among others.
But, the legislator says locals in Baragoi and other places in Samburu North are eventually witnessing the fruits of mutually agreed peace between communities who used to fight.
He says that families who were scattered due to violence are now rebuilding their lives, drawn by the promise of peace and stability in Baragoi and the entire Samburu North region.
Animosity
"We are seeing the fruits of mutually agreed peace because people are living in Baragoi harmoniously for the first time in close to 30 years," the MP says.
"This region has been known as a war zone for a long time. But when we got into leadership, we started talking to our people, and we told them that we were not going to tolerate animosity but rather be the bridges of peace. We have done it through dialogue," the legislator adds.
According to Mr Letipila, peace dialogues involved talking to local elders in both communities living in Baragoi, warriors (locally referred to as morans), and the elites, and the efforts "are positive."
The peace talks have not stopped, according to Mr Letipila.
He reveals the initiatives of ending animosity and building new bonds and relationships that were broken three decades ago.
According to the MP, Baragoi town is witnessing an influx of investments for the first time in history, and there are signs of prosperity.
He reveals that mining companies are currently engaging locals in group ranches to undertake mining activities in the Samburu North region.
Some of the group ranches include Ngilai, Masikita, Nachola, and Marti.
"These places were battlefields. But we are seeing investors engaging locals to undertake mining activities."
The MP says that there is a sharp appetite for development in Baragoi and the entire Samburu North region, and locals are seeking to close in and have the region opened for the rest of the country.
He believes that Baragoi town is on the right track to gain municipality status due to the influx of investors seeking to set up mining sites, hotels, eateries, and shops.
"We have lost enough time fighting. We have to catch up with the rest of the country. Baragoi town is growing exponentially, and people who fled due to insecurity are coming back and the town is headed in the right direction," the lawmaker says.
Baragoi is an infamous town that jumped into notoriety due to its volatility index with the horrible deaths of hundreds of locals and even security officers.
The region has been ravaged by conflicts since the late 90s, and adjacent Suguta Valley earned the infamous name 'the valley of death.''
President William Ruto recently revealed that the government is set to redeploy the revered SOG to Samburu in a bid to stem any attempts by criminals to disrupt the existing peace and cohesion.
The Head of State was responding to pleas from Samburu leaders and locals who requested the government to reinstate the SOG in Baragoi and other volatile parts of the region.
"We will redeploy the SOG here so that we tame cases of banditry and cattle rustling completely. These [banditry and cattle rustling] acts do not have a place in our society. Let them move and find another place, not here," said President Ruto.
When they were deployed two years ago, the specialised forces complimented the efforts of the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) and Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) and silenced constant banditry in the Samburu North region.
Samburu Governor Lati Lelelit acknowledged that the specialised forces had done a remarkable job in restoring season-long banditry in the Baragoi area that had experienced instability for decades.
"When we had them [SOG] in Samburu North, we experienced peace for the first time. That is why we request that they be reinstated to quell any banditry attempts," said Governor Lelelit.
President Ruto maintained that the Kenya Kwanza administration is determined to eradicate cattle rustling in Samburu and several parts of Rift Valley that are constantly troubled.
President Ruto has continuously insisted that the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) will be stationed in the banditry-prone North Rift areas permanently.
The Head of State said that apart from restoring normalcy in the volatile areas, the officers will also take part in community projects to open up the region.
