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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Contemporary Banditry in the Horn of Africa: Causes, History and Political Implications
Author:Mburu, NeneISNI
Year:1999
Periodical:Nordic Journal of African Studies
Volume:8
Issue:2
Pages:89-107
Language:English
Geographic term:Northeast Africa
Subjects:boundaries
organized crime
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Law, Human Rights and Violence
History and Exploration
Ethnic and Race Relations
Politics and Government
Suk
External link:https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/636/459
Abstract:Although banditry can be ignited by economic and political instability within a State, it is the epitome of a wider phenomenon where there is a symmetrical connection between poverty, political instability, and lawlessness. This article traces the causes, history, and implications of four families of brigands that exist along the border regions of each State of the Horn of Africa: the Kafagne, who operate along the Ethiopia-Sudan and Ethiopia-Eritrea border; the Faloul, bandits of Sudan's border with Eritrea and Ethiopia; the Ngoroko, bandits of the Ilemi triangle and Kenya's Turkana and Pokot districts; and the Shifta, who engage in banditry along Kenya's border with Ethiopia and Somalia. It traces the motives, means and opportunity for lawlessness to proxy wars and civil strife that started during the Cold War, and identifies ecological factors as having a debilitating effect on the pastoral economy, making lawlessness an alternative means of livelihood. Notwithstanding, banditry is sustained by weapons that are steadily percolating into the area, and the continued insulation of certain regions from within by their States and from without by the international community. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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