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‘War is Good for Thieving!’ The Symbiosis of Crime and Warfare Among the Kuria of Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Michael L. Fleisher
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Abstract

Among the agro-pastoral Kuria people of East Africa, whose population straddles the border between Tanzania and Kenya, many young men are engaged in an illicit, violent livestock trade in which cattle stolen in Tanzania are sold to Tanzanian or Kenyan buyers for cash. This raiding is inextricably bound up with the phenomenon of warfare between mutually antagonistic Kuria clans, which not only serves to legitimise raids on the enemy's cattle herds so long as the fighting rages but which also fosters and sustains an atmosphere of inter-clan enmity that lends support to cattle raiding, particularly on the herds of former adversaries, even after hostilities have ended. Clan warfare emerges as both a cause and an effect of raiding as well as serving as a training ground for novice raiders. On the basis of field research in the Tarime District lowlands, the article argues that although Kuria cattle raiding, oriented to the cash market, owes its existence to capitalist penetration and is driven by the rising demand for cattle, particularly in Kenya, it remains heavily dependent on inter-clan warfare, which has two main causes: animosity engendered by commercialised cattle raiding, and boundary adjustments initiated by the government, either for administrative reasons or, paradoxically, in an effort to resolve existing disputes over access to pasture, grazing and water.

Résumé

Chez les Kuria, peuple agro-pastoral d'Afrique orientale dont la population s'étend de part et d'autre de la frontière entre la Tanzanie et le Kenya, de nombreux hommes jeunes se livrent à un commerce violent illicite de bétail volé en Tanzanie et vendu contre de l'argent à des acheteurs tanzaniens ou kenyans. Ces vols sont inextricablement liés au phénomène de guerre entre clans kuria mutuellement antagonistes, qui sert non seulement à légitimer les vols du bétail de l'ennemi tant que le conflit se poursuit, mais qui également entretient et maintient un climat d'hostilité entre les clans qui étaye les vols de bétail, notamment le bétail d'anciens adversaires, même après que les hostilités aient pris fin. La guerre des clans apparaît à la fois en tant que cause et conséquence des vols, ainsi que servant de terrain de formation des voleurs débutants. Sur la base de travaux de recherche menés sur place dans les plaines du District de Tarime, l'article affirme que les vols de bétail kuria, orientés vers le marché de l'argent, bien que devant leur existence à la pénétration du capitalisme et étant motivés par la demande croissante de bétail, notamment au Kenya, continuent d'être étroitement liés aux conflits entre les clans qui ont deux causes principales : l'animosité engendrée par les vols de bétail commercialisés et la redéfinition des frontières engagée par l'Etat, soit pour des raisons administratives, soit, paradoxalement, pour tenter de résoudre les conflits existants à propos de l'accès aux pâturages et à l'eau.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , February 2002 , pp. 131 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2002

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