Northern Kenya is again facing the onslaught of droughts, having received scant rain in the last two years. The tell-tale signs are growing malnutrition, rising grain prices and falling cattle prices. The government of Kenya has been too slow to acknowledge the crisis. Only recently did it ask for help from the United Nations World Food Programme to feed about 500,000 people, most of them nomads. For Kenya's 3.5 million pastoral nomads, the main problem is availability of land which becomes especially acute during droughts.
"The government only serves the interests of agriculturists," said Boru Bonaya, a Boran tribe elder. "We elders have been complaining for a long time about overgrazing. There are too few water resources left. But we can't stop outsiders -- other nomadic tribes -- coming in to graze their cattle... We don't have rights any more," he added.
Criticising the government, Abdi Umar, leader of the Kenya Pastoralist Forum, said, "Two-thirds of all Kenya's territory is inhabited by pastoralists; 70 per cent of all wild animals live in pastoralist areas, where tourists come with their hard currency. And our cattle are becoming more and more important for the national economy. We have a powerful position but we don't use it yet."
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