Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box

Turbi (which is a Gabra village) was raided by (reportedly) armed men of the Borana tribe (in southern Ethiopia). The attack was (again reportedly) revenge for an earlier attack on the Borana by the Turbi villagers. Hundreds of armed men killed 76 people - mostly women and children.

The Independent (7/14/05) reports Tribal clash over water leaves 70 dead in Kenya:

"A brutal tribal conflict over water in arid north-east Kenya has left more than 70 people dead, after an Ethiopian bandit attack on children on their way to school prompted an apparent revenge killing by Kenyan tribesmen."

It is interesting to label "hundreds of armed men" as "bandits." I guess it is not completely inaccurate, but the ongoing conflict between the Borana and the Gabra is much more than an issue of "banditry," it is a battle for survival. Turbi has water and pasture. The Borana do not. The Independent reports:

"The police said that they had managed to recover some of the goats, sheep, cattle, camels and donkeys the bandits had stolen. Inter-tribal attacks and livestock raids occur frequently on Kenya's borders with Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia, but the violence has intensified in recent years. Arms smuggled into the country from war-torn south Sudan and Somalia have made the rivalry more deadly."

Such a simple thing water. Most of the "developed" world takes it for granted. Things like daily baths, flush toilets, swimming pools and hot tubs are "normal." Meanwhile in Turbi, armed gun open fire on a school and kill 22 children under the age of 10. Why a school? Perhaps because children of the Borana were killed in earlier conflicts. Perhaps, because they are the next generation of water users. Clearly, the idea of swimming pools is far from the minds of either Gabra or Borana. There the issue is simple (or not so simple) survival.

It is important to note that wealthy countries play many roles in these types of resource wars. In Africa in particular the arms trade booms - in fact much of the "aid" goes to arms and military - not to lessening poverty or developing critical needs like water resources.