Governing by Use of Parallel Security Regimens: The Case of Pastoral Communities Along the Elemi Triangle

Elemi Triangle, a region along the Kenya, South Sudan, and Ethiopia border, has long been considered a theatre of violent conflicts over pasture, forage, and land. Communities from each of the three countries are pastoralists who, by and large, remain relatively marginalised by their national governments. This has seen the communities develop and rely on their indigenous governance and security provisioning systems. The use of traditional security systems involves reliance on elders and cultural norms. With regard to cattle rustling, elders and cultural demands determine when and with whom the raiders are to engage in war. Superimposed within this indigenous security regimen are national state-centric instruments of security, which are hardly recognised and appreciated by the pastoral communities. This chapter interrogates the opportunities and challenges of using parallel security systems, namely indigenous and contemporary security regimens, within the context of increased cases of cattle raiding along the Elemi Triangle. The study relied on descriptive and analytical methods to achieve this, and data was analysed through a qualitative methodology. Based on the findings, the chapter argues that the governments have marginalised the region; therefore, the pastoral communities have preferred relying on indigenous conflict mediation mechanisms. This has created conflict between the traditional mechanisms and the state-sponsored mechanisms. Therefore, there is a need for a multipronged approach that integrates traditional approaches, national and regional mechanisms, to promote peace building in the region.