Prime

Cattle auction puts tribal truce to the test

Cattle from Kajiado County graze on the Ukunda-Lungalunga road near Tanzania. Sections of Maasai community in Tanzania said the animals were too many and were depleting their pasture. PHOTO FILE | NMG

By  JOSEPH NGUNJIRI

When a group of Maasai herdsmen from Kenya recently crossed over to Tanzania in search of pasture for their cattle, the unexpected happened. The herders from Loitoktok in Kajiado County were arrested by Tanzanian authorities and some 1,325 cattle seized.

The animals would later be auctioned in a move that set in motion a flurry of diplomacy and strained relations between two Maasai communities.

Be the First to Know

Get the stories shaping East Africa — delivered straight to your inbox

Conflict

  1. PRIME A regional war: Ethiopia troop pullout plan puts Somalia security under new strain

  2. Explainer: Why new war in Ethiopia’s Tigray threatens to trigger wider conflict

  3. Ethiopia, Sudan junta bicker again over RSF support claims

  4. PRIME East Africa’s oil rivalry is missing the bigger energy security question

Latest

  1. PRIME US rekindles interest in Lobito Corridor with $3m grant for hydropower expansion

  2. PRIME Iran conflict dents African start-up funding

  3. PRIME Region in efforts to clean up trade routes as cargo volumes increase

  4. PRIME Tanzania to close schools early as El Niño rains loom

In the headlines

View All