SUMMARY

At the heart of the conflict between the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu is access to land. In Kenya the access to land is central for most people. Different systems, corruption, and other problems have led to that many areas have double or triple registrations over the same land. This struggle for land is especially important in the densely populated Rift Valley region of Western Kenya. The Kalenjin sees the areas as their ancient homeland and feels that they should have control over it. However, the first Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta gave land in this region to many Kikuyu. The reason for Kenyatta was both to reward Mau Mau warriors that had taken part in the struggle for independence and to avoid the continuation of a Kikuyu civil war over land in Central Province. This led to that many landless poor Kikuyu settled on Kalenjin land in Rift Valley. The Kalenjin sees it has their homeland at the same time as the Kikuyu feels that they have the right to the land because it was given to them and because they had been living there for a long time. This leads to a hesitant situation that often takes political forms as many in the region votes for a candidate that it believes can offer them solutions to this land issue. Violence between different groups often takes place in relation to important elections.

The non-state conflict between the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu is first included in UCDP data in 1992. In December of that year fighting between the two groups led to more than 25 battle-related deaths.