Red Cross Lauds Pokot, Marakwet Cooperation

UN Integrated Regional Information Network, 25 May 2001

The Pokot and Marakwet communities, traditional adversaries who have frequently fought each other in times of stress, have worked together and with the ICRC to build a new gravity-fed water supply system for the residents of Kapsait, in the highlands on the border between West Pokot and Marakwet districts, the Red Cross reported on Wednesday. The water system, built with communal labour, would supply 500 families from both communities, who have fought each other in the past and whose lowland counterparts are still involved in clashes, it said. Women and children in the area previously had to go deep into the valley to fetch water and haul it up steep hills, and the Pokot and Marakwet communities both appreciated being shown the importance of working together to solve common problems, the ICRC stated.

Previous raids between the communities for livestock, pasture and water had led to the displacement of entire communities, and the Kapsait residents resettled in the area in August 1998 following a period of calm in the highlands, according to the Red Cross. The agency's aid programme in this area, drawn up in conjunction with the American Red Cross, is intended to restore access to water, education and markets in order to help the displaced regain some stability and self-sufficiency. So far, three schools have been renovated, roads graded, wells sunk and dams cleared of silt.