Cattle Raiders

The rains have come, and so have the cattle raiders.

With so many people having lost most – if not all – of their livestock, cattle raiding has become a popular way to restock. Livestock is the currency by which these people live, and stealing the preferred method.

Paul told me about his tribe the Turkanas and how they raided cattle. Much of the fighting is done at night, with the whole village “riling up” their warriors for the raid. With small arms having infiltrated the area (the US being the #1 exporter in the world), the conflicts have escalated in intensity.

What once used to be a competition and way of life is quickly turning into a bloodbath. Already 15 people have been killed. Tragically, a peace mission to one of the troubled regions ended terribly when a plane carrying all of the area’s MPs (members of parliament) crashed and killed all of them onboard.

The conflict is cross-border, involving persons in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia. Most of the time men are the casualties, but recently women and children have died as well. Please be praying for this troubled region. It is so much easier to resort to survival of the fittest rather than cooperate together when resources are scare and the situation so dire.

Read more about the situation from Oxfam and the BBC.