Politicisation may worsen unrest in Kenya’s North Rift

Significance

Under this authority, the military has been deployed alongside police and multi-agency security forces to combat a spike in armed banditry that has resulted in over 100 civilians and 16 police officers killed in just six months.

Impacts

• The North Rift unrest risks spilling over into the borderlands with Uganda and South Sudan where other armed pastoral communities reside.
• Mineral and geothermal exploration in the region may also exacerbate conflict as rentier elites grab land for speculative economic ends.
• Opposition calls for nationwide protests may worsen instability and distract attention from long-term problems affecting the North Rift.