Oil and Emerging Conflict Dynamics in the Ateker Cluster: The Case of Turkana, Kenya

Abstract

Resource wealth is linked to conflict, particularly where institutions are weak. This may occur through a number of mechanisms, including grievances of communities over inequality and threatened livelihoods, exacerbated by resource extraction. This article looks at the early stages of oil exploration moving towards extraction in Turkana county, Kenya, which is part of the wider conflict-prone pastoralist Ateker cluster. It argues that resource extraction is already a source of conflict on several levels in the county and could, together with other factors, potentiate armed conflict or crime and violence on a larger scale. Moreover, the livelihood needs of pastoralists is a crucial recurring theme throughout.