SUMMARY

The Borana and the Samburu are frequently engaged in cattle raids against each other and against other tribes. With the increased availability of modern weapons, such cattle raids became more violent and deadly. Those clashes can furthermore be characterized by a circular pattern since in order to assure survival, raided tribes must retaliate against other tribes to replenish lost livestock.

In addition to traditional cattle raids, the conflict between the Borana and the Samburu resulted from recurrent droughts in the late 1990s and the early 2000s in the Borana homelands. The group lost almost 80 % of their livestock and an estimated 98 % of their crops. Water shortages forced them to wander hundreds of kilometers and partly leaving their homelands, which sparked clashes with the neighboring Samburu whose territory they came to enter.

The non-state conflict between the Borana and the Samburu is first included in UCDP data in 2001. In February of that year fighting between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.