PEACEW RKS

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN 

DYNAMICS IN KENYA

Ngala Chome 

[ [
Cover photo: University students join a demonstration 

condemning the gunmen attack at the Garissa 

University campus in the Kenyan coastal port city of 

Mombasa on April 8, 2015. (REUTERS/Joseph Okanga/ 

IMAGE ID: RTR4WI4K)

The views expressed in this report are those of the 

author alone. They do not necessarily reflect the 

views of the United States Institute of Peace.

United States Institute of Peace

2301 Constitution Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20037

Phone: 202.457.1700

Fax: 202.429.6063

E-mail: usip_requests@usip.org

Web: www.usip.org

Peaceworks No. 123. First published 2016.

ISBN: 978-1-60127-630-8

© 2016 by the United States Institute of Peace

About the Repor

This report, which is derived from interviews across three 

Kenyan counties, explores the relationships between 

resilience and risk to clan violence and to violent extremism in the northeast region of the country. The research 

was funded by a grant from the United States Agency 

for International Development through the United States 

Institute of Peace (USIP), which collaborated with Sahan 

Africa in conducting the study. 

About the Autho

Ngala Chome is a former researcher at Sahan Research, 

where he led a number of countering violent extremism 

research projects over the past year. Chome has published 

articles in Critical African Studies, Journal of Eastern African Studies, and Afrique Contemporine. He is currently a 

doctoral researcher in African history at Durham University. 

The author would like to thank Abdulrahman Abdullahi for 

his excellent research assistance, Andiah Kisia and Lauren 

Van Metre for helping frame the analysis, the internal 

reviewers, and two external reviewers for their useful and 

helpful comments. The author bears responsibility for the 

final analysis and conclusion. 
PEACEWORKS • OCTOBER 2016 • NO. 123

CONTENTS

History ... 5

Conflict Trends in Northeast Kenya ... 6

Concepts and Terms ... 10

Community Structure, Clan Conflict, and Violent Extremism ... 12

Conclusions and Recommendations ... 22

[The continued escalation of clan conflict in the northeast, 

driven by political devolution, risks pushing aggrieved clans 

into the ranks of al-Shabaab if and when the group develops 

its credentials as a reliable ally in wielding violence.]

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VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

Summary

■ Recent political and social developments in the northeast of Kenya are threatening to 

weaken communal resilience capacities to violent extremist activities.

■ Somalia-based Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen continues to influence the politics of 

the region and has proved adept at exploiting community risk factors in gaining a foothold 

in the region.

■ The relationship between violent extremism and clan-based conflict is complex and has no 

neat overlap.

■ Extremist recruitment in northeast Kenya is not based on clan membership, but extremist 

actors can take advantage of the close ties across the Kenya-Somalia border and the porous 

nature of the border to operate in both countries.

■ Factors driving clan-based conflict produce a fertile ground for violent extremism, but the 

two are correlated rather than causally related.

■ To weaken the influence of clanism, al-Shabaab leaders are circulating a narrative of victimization and alienation that attempts to unify Somalis and Muslims against the Kenyan 

government and mainstream society.

■ Al-Shabaab’s success in convincing Kenyan Somalis to join its ranks is determined by the 

interplay of resilience and risk factors in Kenya’s northeast.

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VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

History

The rise of violent extremism in the Horn of Africa region is associated with the emergent 

regional security threat posed by Somalia’s al-Shabaab. Kenya, Somalia’s neighbor to the southeast, has been particularly vulnerable to the group’s activities and has been the target of most of 

its attacks outside Somalia.1 Within Kenya, al-Shabaab has had the most success in the northeast in recruiting new members, launching attacks, and spreading an extremist ideology.

Al-Shabaab’s increased activity in Kenya comes in the wake of Kenya’s intervention in Somalia in 2011 and of a purge within al-Shabaab leadership ranks by the late Ahmed Abdi Godane 

in June 2013.2 After the purge, Godane ordered a reorganization of the group’s military wing, 

Jaysh al-Usra, as part of a strategy to expand its jihad beyond Somalia’s borders. The commander in the Lower and Middle Juba regions, the late Mohamed Kunow Dulyadeyn—known as 

Gamadhere—began to expand his operations into Garissa and Wajir counties at the same time 

that Adan Garar, his counterpart in the Gedo region of Somalia, had begun to expand his into 

Mandera County. The membership of Kenya’s al-Shabaab franchise, al-Hijra, whose leadership 

ranks had been depleted, was largely swallowed into a new military unit, Jaysh Ayman, which 

is made up of Kenyan, Ugandan, and Tanzanian nationals tasked with waging attacks in those 

countries.3 This strategy is part of al-Shabaab’s latest reinvention—from an Islamist rebel group 

controlling territory in southern Somalia to a leaner and much more coherent organization focused on waging an insurgency in Ethiopia, southern Somalia, and Kenya’s northeast.4

Consequently, al-Shabaab activities within Kenya (2013–16) have become much more sophisticated and lethal, as is clear from the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi in 2013, the 

Lamu County attacks in June and July 2014, the Mandera bus and quarry attacks in November 

2014, and the Garissa University attack in April 2015. In the northeast region, as elsewhere in 

Kenya, al-Shabaab has been able to exploit a combination of political realities, socioeconomic 

factors, and individual characteristics that render many people—and youth in particular—

vulnerable for recruitment.

A simultaneous trend of politically instigated violence is on the rise in the northeast especially in the period between the promulgation of a new constitution in 2010 and during and 

after the 2013 general elections. The constitution introduced a devolved system of government 

and created new political constituencies (parliamentary districts), change that translated into 

an introduction of three new political seats at the local county level: county governor, county 

senator, and county female representative and member of county assembly (formerly ward 

councillor). In a country where political and ethnic identities align, voting and political patronage networks compete along ethnic lines.

Resilience and Risk

This report focuses on the relationships between resilience and risk to clan violence and to 

violent extremism in northeast Kenya. The question is whether capacities that make a community resilient to clan-based violence are used to mitigate or prevent extremist violence and 

activities in a community. A related issue is the role of contextual factors (geographic location, 

the operation of kinship networks, county-specific factors) in building or weakening resilience 

against clan violence and violent extremism, and—most importantly—to inform policy priorities and programming by supporting the development of a truly preventive approach to violent 

extremism in the region by empowering local communities and amplifying existing capacities.

The question is whether 

capacities that make a 

community resilient to 

clan-based violence are 

used to mitigate or prevent 

extremist violence and 

activities in a community. 
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PEACEWORKS 123

In the northeast of Kenya, a combination of local and national government initiatives to 

end conflicts and build peace appeared to reduce armed conflict for a time after 2005, though 

with highly variable results by location. However, the upsurge of communal conflict and violent extremism since 2011 is clear, and in districts (now counties) where remarkable levels of 

peace had been achieved (such as Wajir), conflict reappeared in 2014. These trends suggest that 

communities in the northeast have been able to exploit a number of resilience factors against 

violence for at least a time. In particular, the establishment of clan civic associations that worked 

with formal government officials in conflict mitigation, national pressure to resolve conflict, and 

accommodation of rivals’ interests among different clans after periods of conflict all worked to 

reduce levels of violence in the region. However, local capacities have been weakened by recent 

developments—both political devolution and the emergence of al-Shabaab as a security threat.

Although no evidence of a neat overlap between extremist recruitment and clan membership exists, counties in northeast Kenya inhabited by clans with close cross-border ties with 

clans in Somalia, especially Garissa and Mandera, are also more at risk for extremist recruitment and clan-based conflict. Although this report does not establish a clear correlation between successful conflict mitigation and successful curtailing of violent extremist activities, 

it does suggest that the interplay of risk and resilience factors for clan-based violence affects 

violent extremist activity in the three counties of the northeast.

The research methodology for this report was qualitative, consisting of field research that 

included twenty-five in-depth interviews conducted in April 2016 with key informants across 

the three northeastern counties of Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera. The results were triangulated 

and analyzed during an extensive desk review. Unless otherwise cited, statements and conclusions in this report are drawn from fieldwork interviews.

Conflict Trends in Northeast Kenya

Since Kenya gained its independence in 1963, the northeast of the country has experienced 

civil strife and state-instigated violence, at times seeing casualty and displacement levels typically associated with civil wars.5

 The politics of the region have been predominantly shaped by 

three historical trends—restriction of movement, denial of political voice, and militarization.6

These trends are key to understanding how Nairobi-based central governments (both colonial 

and postcolonial) have dealt with the northeast region.7 The historically contentious border 

with Somalia was settled in 1925, when the British offered Italy (which had colonized part of 

the country) a huge chunk of southern Somalia (the Trans-Juba area) that had been part of 

British East Africa in the World War I Treaty of London.8

During the colonial period, what was referred to as the Northern Frontier District (NFD) 

was made up of six districts: Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Moyale, Marsabit, and Isiolo. Restriction 

on movement by both the colonial and postcolonial governments ensured that Somalis’ westward 

movement was halted from Somali-dominated Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera to Moyale, Marsabit, 

and Isiolo, districts dominated by other pastoral and a few agricultural groups (see map 1).

Much of the colonial history of northern Kenya is marked by restrictions on movement, as 

noted, and rangeland demarcation by land, a strategy that was meant to reduce communal conflict over grazing areas. In actual terms, the policy of rangeland demarcation established a link 

in the political imagination of northern Kenyans between political-administrative boundaries 

and the lines demarcating exclusive clan rights to land.9

As independence neared, the British appointed a commission to gather public views on 

the question of the secession of the NFD.10 The commission consequently reported that the 

Since Kenya gained its 

independence in 1963, the 

northeast of the country 

has experienced civil 

strife and state-instigated 

violence, at times seeing 

casualty and displacement 

levels typically associated 

with civil wars.
USIP.ORG 7

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

majority of the population—about 80 percent—favored secession and joining what was referred to 

as Greater Somalia. This view was held almost unanimously in Mandera, Wajir, parts of Moyale, 

and most of Garissa.11 However, the British colonial government did not grant secession to the 

region and declared that NFD would instead become the northeastern province of the newly 

independent state of Kenya. Soon after independence, the new postcolonial administration 

declared a state of emergency in the province, which would not be lifted until 1991. This declaration lit the spark for the Shifta conflict (1963–68) that consolidated the Kenyan government’s 

militarization and securitization policy of the northeast region throughout much of the period 

before 1990. In addition, Somali clan-identity politics, animosities, and jingoism frequently spilled 

over into the province, affecting its politics, undermining cohesion, and triggering communal conflicts.12 This reached a zenith in the late 1970s during the Ogaden War between Somalia and 

Ethiopia, fueled by Siad Barre’s continued irredentism in south Ethiopia and northeast Kenya. 

Marsabit

Moyale

Isiolo

Wajir

Mandera

Garissa

Legend

Target Counties

Part of Colonial Northern Frontier District

Map 1. The Northern Frontier District
8 USIP.ORG

PEACEWORKS 123

Anxieties by Kenyan security officials led to a series of arrests and deportations, which also occurred under the context of state disarmament operations in the northeast that resulted in massacres in Garissa (1981), Mandera (1983), and Wajir (1984).

The most well-known is the Wagalla massacre of 1984, which took place at an airstrip in 

Wajir district, where men of the Degodia clan were killed by security officials. The exact number of people who died at Wagalla is contested, reports ranging from more than five hundred 

to more than three thousand. Most important, existing memories of state violence in the region—such as during the Shifta conflict of the 1960s and the massacres of Garissa, Mandera, 

and Wajir in the 1980s—have particularly been central in the current victimization narrative 

that al-Shabaab has circulated in the region.

Clan Conflicts in the 1990s

Political liberalization in the 1990s and the collapse of the Barre regime in Somalia in 1991 offered a new context for violent conflict in northeast Kenya. The opening of the political space in 

Kenya in 1991, occasioned by the repeal of Section 2A of the former constitution, which allowed 

for a return to multiparty politics, gave traditional conflicts over territory—grazing land and 

water sources—a renewed meaning. The fall of the Barre regime offered ammunition for this 

conflict, where a proliferation of arms and migration of people from Somalia meant that political violence in the region became more volatile and lethal. Ken Menkhaus, in a recent conflict 

assessment of the region, lists the drivers of conflict in the 1990s as follows:

• communal competition for resources;

• land and long-term migrations and expansionism;

• poverty, unemployment, and youth bulge;

• breakdown of justice and cycles of violence;

• commercialized and politicized livestock raiding;

• business rivalries;

• refugee crises;

• small-arms proliferation; and

• state weakness or poor governance.

Menkhaus also notes that a combination of local and national government initiatives to end 

conflicts and build peace across northeast Kenya seemed to have reduced armed conflict and 

restored public security by 2005, and in places like Wajir since the mid-1990s.13 Communal conflicts, he explains, were generally managed effectively by local community efforts. For instance, in 

Garissa County, the Pastoralist Peace and Development Initiative (PPDI) was formed in 2000 

to resolve a conflict between the Aulihan and the Abudwak in 1999 and remained as a suitable 

platform through which hostilities between the two subclans of the Ogaden clan would be managed. Mahmoud Saleh, who was appointed as provincial commissioner for 2001 through 2003, 

was widely credited for reducing cross-border banditry due to his local knowledge of the area. 

A few years later, the town of Garissa was named by INTERPOL the “safest city in East and 

Central Africa in 2010.” Relatedly, northeastern residents surveyed during an Afrobarometer 

survey in 2006 reported one of the lowest levels of communal violence of any region in Kenya.14

In Mandera County, Garre clan accommodation of the Murule clan after the 2004–05 conflict, 

which invited wide national condemnation and pressure for conflict resolution, ensured a relative period of peace that was broken in 2012 with political devolution. In Wajir County, the 

Wajir Peace and Development Committee formed in 1995 maintained its role throughout the 
USIP.ORG 9

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

2000s as the main platform for conflict management. It is this trend of peace and conflict mitigation that has been disrupted with a recent upsurge in both communal and violent extremist 

activities in northeast Kenya since 2011.15

Table 1 presents a summary of clan conflicts and violent incidents in the northeast in 2013 

–15, which are representative of the dynamics in the region.

Date Incident Place Details

2013

January 4 Grenade attack Garissa Two killed, seven injured

January 16 Al-Shabaab attack Garissa Five dead, three injured

March 2 Interethnic clashes Mandera Four killed, forty injured in 

attacks between Garre and 

Degodia clans

April 18 Shooting incident Kwea hotel, Garissa Six killed, more than ten injured

May 11 Interclan fighting Bula village, Rhamu, Mandera Eight killed, three injured

June 23 Raid Chorog, Banisa area, Mandera Fifty militia attacked Administration Police camp and burned 

tents 

July 15 Interclan fighting Gabbra settlement, Antuta One killed in militia attack, 

believed to be Boranas 

August 28 Interclan clashes Oda and Hellu near Moyale, 

Marsabit County

Three killed, eight injured

December 4 Interclan fighting Moyale town, Garissa One killed, eleven injured

2014

May 19 Raid Garre village in Baricha, 

Mandera

Three killed, five injured

May 29 Attack Gunana, Waji-Mandera border Twelve killed

May 30 Revenge attack Wabir village, Wajir Twenty houses burned in 

protest

June 20 Intercommunity rivalry Eldas, Wajir Five killed, lorries set on fire, 

looting by suspected Degdia 

militia

June 21 Clan violence Wajir-Mandera county border Twenty killed, five injured, 

thirty-five houses burned down

August 4 Grenade attack Government offices, Mandera Eight armed men, no deaths or 

injuries

August 26 Interclan conflict Rhamu, Mandera Two killed, forty-three injured as 

fighting between members 

August 30 Al-Shabaab grenade attack Mandera No deaths or injuries

September 19 Interclan conflict Rhamu, Mandera Three killed in revenge attack

November 22 Al-Shabaab massacre Arabiya, Mandera, near KenyaSomalia borderTwenty-eight killed, all nonMuslims, mostly teachers, on a 

Nairobi bound bus

December 1 Grenade and gunfire attack Wajir One killed, eleven injured

Table 1. Incidents in Northeast Kenya 2013–15
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PEACEWORKS 123

Concepts and Terms

Clan conflict. Scholars writing about Somalia have also been engaged in ethnic identity debates between, on the one hand, scholars who see clan and ethnic identities as primordial and 

unchanging and, on the other, those who see identities and ideas in constant evolution and at 

times instrumentalized by cultural entrepreneurs and politicians to access modern goods at the 

disposal of the modern state. A general view of a clan is as a segmentary lineage model. However, some scholars see it as a primordial institution originating from precolonial Somalia that 

remains uninfluenced by modernity. Others argue that the clan system has constantly evolved 

since the mid-nineteenth century and has become a platform for political organization and mobilization, especially since the 1950s.16 In northeast Kenya, clan identities are a major organizing 

principle in the social and political life of its residents, especially in regard to communal claims 

to land and political representation.17 The malleability of clan identities in northeast Kenya are 

also significant, specific contexts usually determining what degree of clan identity becomes salient. Nonetheless, the hardening of clan identities in the northeast has its origin in the colonial 

period, and took on another level of significance in the early 1990s.

Violent extremism. The 2011 White House strategy to counter domestic extremism defines 

violent extremists as “individuals who support or commit ideologically-motivated violence to further political goals.”18 This report also considers the appeal or pressure of violent extremist groups 

and moves beyond isolated individuals who may become radicalized. Accordingly, the report 

focuses on groups who are widely believed to be motivated by an inflexible, extremist ideology.

The distinction between clan conflict and violent extremism is particularly important for 

northeast Kenya for two main reasons. First, violent extremism is primarily presented as a clash 

of ideas, one by a noncompromising, all-encompassing worldview (ideology) that presupposes 

its political and social truth, seeking to violently decimate opposing worldviews. Clan conflict, 

on the other hand, is mainly a conflict between identity groups, driven by a host of drivers including contestations over land or resources (or both). In this way, clans might form their own 

violent groups (militia), but these cannot necessarily be described as violent extremist organizations because their chief aim is to protect the local interests of their respective clans, such as 

those relating to land or resources, against those of other clans. Second, a neat overlap between 

extremist recruitment and clan affiliation does not exist in northeast Kenya.

Date Incident Place Details

December 2 Al-Shabaab massacre Quarry near Koromey, Mandera Thirty-three killed, three survivors, all victims non-Muslim

December 2 Club shoot-out Ngamia club, Wajir One killed, thirteen injured

2015

February 5 Grenade attack Mandera Three critically injured 

May 19 Village raid Garre, Baricha, Mandera Three killed, five injured, two 

hundred camels taken

April 2 Terrorist attack Garissa University College, 

Garissa

One hundred forty-eight killed, 

seventy-nine injured

Source: Author’s compilation

Table 1. Incidents in Northeast Kenya 2013–15 cont.
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VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

Community resilience and risk factors for violence. This report adopts the stresses model 

of the 2011 World Development Report, which states that the risk of conflict and violence 

arises from a range of external stresses—including cross-border conflict spillovers, the operation of global terrorist and criminal, including human smuggling, networks—interacting with 

internal stresses such as low income levels, youth unemployment, corruption, and human rights 

abuses. A systems approach, introduced by USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and 

Mitigation in 2013, helps bridge the levels of analysis problem, and illuminates the complexity 

of resilience: “Instead of detailing a linear cause and effect relationship, the complex systems 

approach examines the behavior of interacting factors in response to a shock or stress.”19 Rather 

than focusing at the individual and group level, which is common with current countering 

violent extremism thought and practice, this report therefore takes a systems approach.

Resilience, to quote Ami Carpenter, “generally refers to the ability [of a community] to 

cope successfully in the face of extreme adversity or risk. Resilience to violence,” she continues, 

“is about preventing conflict escalation so as to prevent accompanying changes in how people 

think about themselves and each other.”20 In other words, resilience refers to communal strategies communities adopt to mitigate the conflict or control the activities of violent extremist 

organizations, preventing them from taking hold within the community. The concept of resilience mostly refers to the activation of a set of existing communal capacities, such as a shared 

belief in the collective power to achieve desired results, which can then be used to address a 

disruptive shock such as electoral conflict, clan conflict, or violent extremism. Although causal 

pathways on the road to extremism for individuals and communities are numerous, a systems 

approach helps illuminate the varied nature of the risk factors and the factors of resilience in 

particular situations.21 In northeast Kenya, a number of risk and resilience factors proved relevant in understanding the different levels of clan conflict and violent extremism in the three 

counties under study.

Resilience Factors

Local networks of civic engagement. Wajir County, which has the least clan conflict and violent extremism, also has established local networks of civic engagement that are interclan and 

associational. Ashutosh Varshney, who studied the relationship between ethnic conflict and the 

structure of civil society in six Indian cities, concludes that interethnic or interclan networks 

were a critical factor in determining why certain cities experienced communal violence and 

others did not. Varshney also notes that associational (organized) forms of engagement between different communities (in Wajir, the establishment of an umbrella council of elders and 

peace committee system representing all the clans) proved sturdier in withstanding disruptive 

shocks than the everyday forms of engagement.22 The other Somali-dominated counties of 

the northeast, Mandera and Garissa, which did not have the civic engagement structures that 

Wajir had from the mid-1990s forward, not only had higher levels of clan conflict but also appeared more vulnerable to the operations and activities of violent extremists.

Nature of collective action. The presence of a relatively legitimate and trusted council of 

elders representing all clans, elaborate community-based peace committee system, and early 

warning systems meant that the clans in Wajir had a more proactive collective action strategy. 

Marshall Wallace and Mary Anderson’s comparative case study of bright spots—communities 

that should have succumbed to violence, due to proximity or shared characteristics (demography, economic status, and so on) with warring neighbors, but did not—identified a set of 

common capacities and strategies that enabled them to opt out of war.

Resilience refers to 

communal strategies 

communities adopt to 

mitigate the conflict or 

control the activities 

of violent extremist 

organizations, preventing 

them from taking hold 

within the community. 
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PEACEWORKS 123

One of the factors Wallace and Anderson identify is the nature of collective action. Communities able to resist violence analyze, strategize, and respond using an inclusive and transparent process. They calculate the costs of violence versus nonviolence, develop options, adopt 

a pragmatic nonwar identity that resonates with local culture, and communicate group values 

that distance them from war and violence. In Wajir, which experienced the worst levels of clan 

conflict in the northeast region in the early 1990s, interviewees reported a combination of 

conflict fatigue and negative impact on local development. A drought in 1994 and 1995 saw a 

group of market women coming together and establishing a peace movement that eventually 

incorporated community elders and youth, and that was later supported by Oxfam (an international nongovernmental organization) and the Kenyan government, eventually bringing back 

peace to the county.

Nature of social capital. Self-organization in Wajir County was driven by the nature of its 

social capital, that is, its sense of citizen participation and community attachment that enables 

people to work together for a common purpose.23 Asked why Wajir was markedly different 

from Mandera and Garissa, respondents identified several reasons, including the higher levels 

of education among Wajir residents (the oldest primary school in the northeast region is in 

Wajir) and insulation from Somalia and Kenyan mainstream politics. Most importantly, respondents mentioned weak ties with Somalia as a significant factor.

Risk Factors

External stresses—in particular, cross-border conflict spillovers, global terrorist and criminal 

networks (including human smuggling), government activity, refugee communities, close ties 

to and hence the impact of Somalia politics and economy to local communities, and so on—

play an equal and perhaps greater role in the conflict and security situation of northeast Kenya 

than elsewhere in the country. In addition, conflict and violent extremism are more likely in 

areas with a previous history of division and violence. Indeed, it is the specific interplay of these 

risk factors and one or more of the described resilience factors (such as civic engagement networks or the nature of collective action and social capital) that determine community resilience 

or vulnerability to clan conflict and violent extremism.

Community Structure, Clan Conflict, and Violent Extremism

After security and order had been reestablished in northeast Kenya, two key developments upset 

the situation: a new constitution that introduced political devolution in August 2010, and the 

military operation Linda Nchi (Protect the Country) launched in Somalia in October 2011.

A well-established logic of clan, territory, and conflict has always existed in Kenya’s northeast, driven primarily by competition for resources—conflict that has often been accentuated 

during periods of increased political competition. Disagreements on political and administrative boundaries between rival clans peaked between 2010 and 2013, the period between the 

review of Kenya’s internal boundaries, a new constitution, and a general election. Not unlike 

politics in Somalia, “the interplay of clan-ism and political entrepreneurship remains the creative force behind factionalism” in northeast Kenya.24 Analysts have already drawn attention 

to the potential of political devolution reigniting traditional conflict fault lines in the region, 

gravitating around clan-based competition for resources in the hands of newly established 

county governments.25
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VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

Additionally, the Kenyan government announced on October 16, 2011, that it was sending 

the Kenya Defence Forces to Somalia to root out al-Shabaab from its key bases in the southern 

part of the country. Some have pointed out that the involvement by Kenya’s military in Somalia 

was motivated by a desire to bring order to Kenya’s northeast region and the northern coast region from the chaos across its border, ease a huge refugee burden, and curtail the radical influence 

of al-Shabaab.26 Despite the security imperatives behind Operation Linda Nchi, Kenya has since 

been exposed to a series of steady and more frequent al-Shabaab attacks, especially between 2012 

and 2015. The northeast region has suffered the full brunt of the al-Shabaab backlash and the 

corresponding state violence supposedly meant to tame the al-Shabaab threat. In this context, 

what are the clan dynamics relating to violent extremism in northeast Kenya?

The place of religious discourse is significant. Ken Menkhaus, writing in 2002, pointed out 

that “popular practice of Islam among Somalis is far from fundamentalist and is best thought 

of as ‘a veil lightly worn.’”27 Other scholars, such as Abdullahi Mohamed Diriye, note that 

Somali politics has tended to be secular and that Somalis are not scrupulous in their religious 

observance. “The exigencies of Somali pastoral life,” Abdullahi argues, “have ensured that pragmatism has ruled over religious doctrine.”28

This is certainly true of northeast Kenya, respondents indicate, where the affinity is close 

between clanism and Sufism—the greatest obstacles so far of religious fundamentalism in the 

region. However, to weaken the influence of clanism and Sufism and to create a wider audience among Kenyan Somalis, al-Shabaab leaders have circulated a narrative of victimization 

and alienation of Somali (and Muslim) interests by the Kenyan government and its Western 

allies. Political debates such as the historically tumultuous relationship between Kenyan Somalis and the Kenyan state are increasingly interpreted using religious imagery. This is more 

common of the limited but powerful circulation of the Salafist-Jihadist doctrine reminiscent 

of al-Shabaab, which attempts to go beyond the appeal of clan so as to unify all Somalis (and 

Muslims) against the Kenyan government and mainstream Kenyan society.29 The nature of 

recent al-Shabaab attacks in the region (where the group also seeks to stoke an insurgency) follows a similar logic in that they have mainly targeted government workers, security officials, civilians from up-country Kenya, and university students, most of whom are Christian. However, 

al-Shabaab’s success in convincing Kenyan Somalis to join its membership ranks using the 

victimization narrative is determined by the interplay of identified risk and resilience factors.

Garissa County

Garissa County is dominated by ethnic Somalis from the Ogaden clan. Subclans of the Ogaden resident in Garissa include the Aulihan and the Abudwak or Audak. The latter are closely 

related to the Abdallah, who are also found in the southern parts of the county bordering 

Lamu and Tana River Counties.30 Other groups in the county, and which are also considered 

“corner tribes,” interviewees report, include the Mohamed Zubeyr, Makabul, and a few members of the Degodia. Garissa County also has six political constituencies that, under the new 

devolved political system, also constitute the county’s subcounty units. These include Garissa 

Township, Fafi, Balambala, Lagdera, Dadaab, and Ijara. Following the general logic between 

clan identity and territory in the northeast region, residence in these constituencies neatly 

overlap with subclan identities (see table 2).

To weaken the influence 

of clanism and Sufism and 

to create a wider audience 

among Kenyan Somalis, 

al-Shabaab leaders have 

circulated a narrative of 

victimization and alienation 

of Somali (and Muslim) 

interests by the Kenyan 

government and its 

Western allies. 
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PEACEWORKS 123

The alignment of subclan identities and constituency boundaries essentially creates ethnic 

homelands whose composition is often not questioned. However, at certain periods (especially 

during periods of drought or political competition) subclans move from these to other areas, 

sparking conflict. Politics sometimes means that a certain group fears the growing numbers 

of a rival group and hence engineers its forceful removal. The Ogadenis in Garissa also have 

links with Ogadenis of southern Ethiopia, and Garissa has historically offered a safe haven for 

members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), but this has also meant that the 

conflict between the ONLF and the Ethiopian government has more often than not spilled 

over into Garissa Town, occasioning a number of assassinations of members of the ONLF 

living there.

Since 2010, several factors have threatened to overwhelm locally instituted mechanisms for 

resolving conflict or addressing conflict escalation. First, the 2011 famine in Somalia saw an 

upscale in the numbers of migrants into Garissa, a development that has been linked to a spike 

in Garissa of regular but violent crime. Second, new political boundaries have given rise to a 

number of disagreements, particularly between Aulihan and Abudwak subclans. Third, political 

devolution is threatening to raise political competition to conflict levels. Fourth, Kenya’s military 

operation in Somalia invited retaliatory al-Shabaab attacks, and Garissa was adversely affected.

Elders, as they do in all counties in the northeast, are a powerful and influential group, and 

usually provide solutions to most conflicts in the county (or cause them). The most well-known 

organizational platform in Garissa County that brought together notable elders from all Ogaden subclans resident in the county was the PPDI, established to resolve a conflict between 

the Aulihan and the Abudwak. However, with recent developments—especially political devolution—Aulihan and Abudwak suspicions have escalated, threatening to overwhelm the 

effectiveness of such interclan associations in resolving conflict.

Clan Conflict

Conflict and security dynamics in Garissa County are heavily affected by events in southern 

Somalia. The main change over time is the increased movement of people and goods, both illicit and legal, across the Somalia-Kenya (Garissa) border. Clan ties across the border provide 

much of the basis for these movements. The Aulihan, in particular, have historically occupied 

the Trans-Juba area from Garissa to Afmadow and the Lower Juba Valley in southern Somalia, 

which is also one of the top sites of cattle-based pastoralism in the Horn of Africa.31

Constituency Subclan

Fafi Abudwak

Balambala Abudwak

Lagdera Aulihan

Dadaab Aulihan

Ijara Abdallah

Garissa Township Mixed

Source: Author’s compilation

Table 2. Political Constituencies and Subclans in Garissa County
USIP.ORG 15

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

With the collapse of the Siad Barre regime of Somalia in 1991 and the consequent disorder that followed, most Aulihan (followed by other Ogadenis from southern Somalia) moved 

into Garissa, especially Dadaab, Liboi, and Dhobley, where they had close relationships with 

other Aulihan. Today, Garissa is host to three refugee camps at Dadaab. According to the 2009 

census, Garissa County has 623,000 residents and a refugee population estimated at 340,000.32

This movement of people into Garissa has undoubtedly affected local politics given that most 

(especially the Aulihan) are understood to have acquired Kenyan identity cards and hence 

citizenship. Whether Aulihan or Abudwak, close clan ties on both sides of the Somalia-Kenya 

border in Garissa County serve as the foundation for the operation of a host of other crossborder activities, especially trade (illicit and legal), criminal, and extremist activities.

Matters came to a head around 1998–2000 during the Aulihan-Abudwak clashes over grazing areas. The conflict caused thirty deaths but also led to the establishment of the PPDI, an 

umbrella group of Garissa notables that worked with the government, other clan leaders from 

Wajir and Mandera, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to resolve the conflict. With 

the signing of the Modogashe Declaration in 2001, which brought together traditional and 

government leaders from the counties of Isiolo, Garissa, Wajir, and Marsabit to institute alternative conflict resolution mechanisms in northern Kenya, Garissa experienced considerable peace. 

In addition, Abudwak accommodation of the Aulihan, whose numbers in Garissa have increased over time, ushered in a period of Abudwak dominance of local politics and the economy.

This trend was broken during the run-up to the 2013 general elections and the aftermath. 

In 2010, conflict between the Abudwak and Aulihan subclan erupted at Bula Sabul and Masalani villages, resulting in two deaths and the displacement of about six hundred people. In 

particular, respondents indicated, shifting political boundaries to create new constituencies (see 

table 2) led to several deadly conflicts between the Abudwak and Aulihan over towns dominated by one clan assigned to constituencies dominated by the other.

These disputes need to be understood in the context of not only new political boundaries 

but also increasing political competition ignited by the new devolved structure of government. 

In Garissa County, the Abudwak subclan has historically dominated local politics, and some (if 

not all) of Garissa’s most influential individuals and families are also Abudwak. These notables 

usually determine who is elected into leadership positions in the county.

Despite the Abudwak dominance, an Aulihan, Nathif Jama, won the seat of county governor during the 2013 general elections, defeating the Abudwak candidate. This has been the 

source of much consternation among the Abudwak, who fear losing their historical dominance 

in the county. The member of parliament from Garissa Township, Aden Bare Duale, who is 

also the head of government business in parliament and a senior national politician, is seen as 

the symbol of Abudwak resistance to emerging Aulihan dominance. Duale is also son-in-law 

to retired general Mahmoud Mohamed, a senior figure in the county, and it is instructive that 

another son-in-law, Ali Buno Korane (an Abudwak), is campaigning for the governor’s position in the 2017 general elections.33 Coupled with the numerous border disputes and increasing 

in-migration of people from southern Somalia and elsewhere, these developments are already 

threatening to overwhelm the capacity of local institutions and systems to manage conflict.

Violent Extremism

In recent years, the numbers of pastoral dropouts in northeast Kenya has increased, respondents 

citing the impact of climate change. Garissa County has seen an increase in urbanization. The 

increased urbanization in Garissa Town and Dadaab has created an enabling environment 
16 USIP.ORG

PEACEWORKS 123

for the operation of criminal gangs, smuggling networks, contraband trade, and extremist 

actors. A synthesis of UN Monitoring Group for Somalia and Eritrea reports and a report 

on illegal trade in southern Somalia by the Journalists for Justice organization have revealed 

that Garissa County (Dhobley, Liboi, Dadaab, and Garissa Town) is an important transit 

zone for goods smuggled into Kenya, including vehicles, pasta, cooking oil, shoes, rice, and 

some petroleum products.34 Reports on sugar smuggling (arguably the most lucrative of the 

contraband trade in the region) state that this trade creates an interesting web for al-Shabaab, 

the Kenya Defence Force, and its Somali allies in which all parties benefit.35 It is also through 

networks such as these that extremist operations (recruitment and attacks) operate.

One key individual in al-Shabaab activities in Garissa County was Mohamud Kunow, 

or Dulydeyn, commonly known as Gamadhere. Gamadhere was a Kenyan Somali-Ogaden 

who began life as a madrassa teacher in Garissa Town and died in June 2016 in a drone attack 

in Farwamo, southern Somalia, while leading al-Shabaab operations.36 Gamadhere was the 

main suspect behind an attack at the local university in Garissa Town on April 2015 that saw 

the killing of 148 students. He was largely influenced by the Wahhabi brand of the Salafist 

doctrine propagated by Saudi Arabian–funded charitable work in the 1990s, and of political 

developments in Somalia. He worked for the al-Haramain Foundation from 1993 to 1995 

and became a teacher and principal at Madrasa Najah in Garissa between 1997 and 2000, the 

year in which he was believed to have joined radical Salafist groups in Somalia. In Somalia, he 

would later become motivated by the ideology of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).37

Gamadhere’s trajectory gives insight to the path taken by a number of young Somali men 

in Garissa beginning in the 1990s, but also after 2006, when al-Shabaab emerged as a dominant force in southern Somalia. The initial movement by a section of the county’s youth to 

Somalia to join the ICU received considerable communal support, because the ICU was seen 

by many in Kenya’s northeast as a legitimate organization that brought order in a region long 

bedeviled by conflict. Respondents spoke of a time, from 2005 to 2007, when young people 

in Garissa would publicly be urged to go to Somalia to search for employment opportunities, 

mostly with the ICU. Following the overthrow of the ICU in 2007, Kenyan Somalis, including other Kenyans from up-country ethnic communities, continued to migrate to Somalia to 

join the emerging resistance against the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.

This means that Abudwak accommodation with the Aulihan and of the role played by the 

PPDI in managing clan conflict did not curtail, and might have even supported, the initial 

movement of young people from Garissa to join extremist groups in Somalia. Additionally, 

this initial movement to Somalia, which did not lead to an immediate rise in al-Shabaab attacks in Garissa or elsewhere in Kenya until after October 2011, was made possible by a host 

of other cross-border clan ties between Garissa and southern Somalia. Many if not most of 

these fighters traveled through Garissa and were funneled toward al-Shabaab’s Majimmo 

sector in southern Somalia.38 It is also believed that the majority of al-Shabaab attacks in 

Garissa, which spiked after October 2011 (as part of retaliatory attacks in Kenya), were carried out by graduates of the Majimmo sector and former students of Madrasa Najah, where 

Gamadhere had taught in the 1990s.

These recruits were drawn from close family and kinship networks found on both sides of 

the Kenya-Somalia border in Garissa, including the refugee camps at Dadaab.39 Close clan ties 

with Somalia, the porous Kenyan border with Somalia at Garissa, the presence of smuggling 

networks, and corrupt border officials ensured an easy flow of arms and al-Shabaab personnel 

in and out of Kenya after 2011.40 This situation persists and the county’s leadership remains 

Close clan ties with 

Somalia, the porous Kenyan 

border with Somalia at 

Garissa, the presence of 

smuggling networks, and 

corrupt border officials 

ensured an easy flow 

of arms and al-Shabaab 

personnel in and out of 

Kenya after 2011.
USIP.ORG 17

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

divided, especially over the spoils of political devolution. Most of the respondents during fieldwork lauded the appointment in 2015 of Ambassador Mohamud Saleh, a former provincial 

commissioner, as the coordinator of the activities of the national government in the northeastern region. However, the hope placed on Mohamud Saleh in taming the insecurity of the 

region suggests that there is a weakness in institutionalized capacities.

Wajir County

The main clans in Wajir County—all ethnic Somali—are the Degodia, Ajuuran, and Ogaden. 

The Ajuuran consider themselves the original inhabitants in the county and had unchallenged 

dominance in Wajir West during the colonial period. Over the years Wajir has encountered 

inward migratory pressures, mostly from the neighboring counties of Isiolo, Marsabit, Mandera, 

Garissa, and, in the 1990s, Somalia. For instance, settlements in the county rose from four in 1940 

to more than seventy-one in 2008; twenty-six new settlements were established between 1996 

and 2008.41 These migratory patterns are what over the years brought into the county members 

of the Ogaden and Degodia clans. Currently, the county is divided into six constituencies: Wajir 

West, Wajir East, Tarbaj, Eldas, Wajir North, and Wajir South. The settlement patterns within 

these constituencies follow the common clan and territory logic presented in table 3.

Clans such as the Degodia and Ogaden have ties with kin in Mandera and Garissa counties as well as in Ethiopia and Somalia. Such ties—spanning the county’s borders and spillover 

conflict—have at times been cited as the main cause of communal conflict in the county. At the 

same time, existing civic-government arrangements have done much to mitigate clan conflict 

and prevent conflict escalation. In this case, risk factors, such as cross-border and spillover conflict, are met by a local environment well predisposed to conflict mitigation. The Wajir Peace 

and Development Committee (WPDC) formed in 1995 is the main associational platform in 

the county that brings together government officials and civic leaders (including clan elders) 

representing all clans in the county and special interest groups such as businesspeople, youth, 

and women.42 The committee is chaired by the county commissioner (the head of national government activities within the county) and includes representatives from the County Security 

Constituency Subclan

Wajir East Degodia

Wajir West Degodia

Wajir North Ajuuran

Wajir South Ogaden

Tarbaj Degodia

Eldas Degodia and Ajuuran

Source: Author’s compilation

Table 3. Political Constituencies and Clans in Wajir County
18 USIP.ORG

PEACEWORKS 123

Committee, heads of national and county government departments, NGOs, elders, women, 

youth, religious leaders, businesspeople, and the county’s six members of parliament.43 The 

WPDC is therefore the county’s umbrella peace organization, and has been used as a model 

for peacebuilding activities in other areas of the country with varying outcomes.

Clan Conflict

Wajir County continues to enjoy more peace than Garissa and Mandera counties do, largely 

because of the effectiveness and legitimacy of the WPDC in managing clan conflict and preventing regular and violent crime. However, as a number of observers and interview respondents 

have pointed out, the WPDC has not been able to resolve the underlying causes of clan conflict, 

such as access to grazing land and resources. It has been more successful at managing conflict. 

Thus, isolated spurts of clan conflict continue to occur, though these are quickly resolved. In 

addition, debate among respondents was considerable as to whether the WPDC and other 

communal strategies at forestalling conflict will soon be overwhelmed by increased political 

competition over the resources of the new county government and new political boundaries.

Wajir County has seen the most deadly episodes of state and communal violence in the 

northeast region. The most widely known and most serious was the massacre by security officers in February 1984 of more than five hundred men of the Degodia clan at the Wagalla 

airstrip.44 In 1991, the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in Somalia, the consequent migration 

of people and arms into Wajir, and the withdrawal of government security from the region and 

rescinding of emergency laws prepared the ground for the longest and most protracted communal conflict in Kenya (from 1992 to 1996).

The spark was provided by the 1992 general elections, the first multiparty election in Kenya 

since 1969. Initially, the Wajir Women for Peace Group was formed to stop the fighting and 

expanded to include other women in the town. The market group was joined by a group of 

professionals who formed the Wajir Peace Group, whose members represented all the clans in 

the county.45 The women’s group, together with the professionals, organized a meeting of clan 

traditional elders from all the lineages in the county in a meeting at a madrassa that led to a declaration named after the school, the al-Fatah Declaration, that would resolve the conflict. The 

al-Fatah meeting established a clan elder system of thirty-six elders appointed by clan members who undertook a host of peacebuilding and conflict resolution activities, including early 

warning. Soon after, these efforts would be supported by Oxfam and the Kenyan government, 

eventually bringing back peace to the county. In 1994, the new district commissioner (county 

commissioner after 2010) sought to work with these groups, establishing a rapid response team 

as an early warning mechanism strategy, and eventually formalizing the inclusion of the communal groups into the government’s district development committee. The establishment of the 

WPDC in 1995 was the zenith of this incorporation into state structures of civic-led and traditional mechanisms for conflict management and violent crime prevention.

The WPDC has retained its position as an umbrella organization for peace activities in 

the county. According to respondents, the new county government has established a directorate for peace and cohesion that works closely with traditional elders (the al-Fatah Council 

of Elders) that in turn works closely with the office of the county commissioner. In this way, 

civic and traditional groups normally not given a voice in formal government affairs in other 

parts of the country—elders, women, and youth—are accorded an important place in civicgovernment collaboration.46
USIP.ORG 19

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

The introduction of political devolution and the increase of political constituencies in Wajir 

during the 2013 general elections, however, are threatening to weaken these local capacities. Respondents indicate that despite equal sharing of political positions in the new devolved system 

of governance, ensured by a pre-electoral pact among the county’s leadership in 2013, concern 

over Degodia dominance in Wajir threatens to break the balance, especially during the run-up 

to the 2017 general elections. In addition, Wajir continues to be vulnerable to the spillover of 

conflict from other counties, in particular from Mandera County as witnessed in mid-2014.

Violent Extremism

Violent regular crime is quite low in Wajir and has been comprehensively addressed by the 

proactive peace strategies in the county. Violent extremist activities are also low, though the 

evidence does not prove a causal relationship between successful mitigation of clan conflict and 

success in curtailing violent extremist activities. In Mandera and Garissa, which face challenges 

in addressing clan conflict, extremist activity is also higher than in Wajir. However, Mandera 

and Garissa are exposed to exogenous risk factors enabled by cross-border clan ties, such as 

cross-border trade, migration, smuggling networks, and corrupt border security officials.

Wajir is not a high density zone of cross-border interactions, making it easier to police borders 

and the community. In addition, the community in Wajir, which has strong local and interclan 

associational institutions, is more inward looking than its counterparts in Mandera and Garissa; 

Wajir residents are far removed from politics in Somalia and up-country Kenya. The Ajuuran 

in the west and north of Wajir and the Degodia in the east and west have no kinship networks 

with Somalia. The only clan that does is the Ogaden in Wajir South, but their interactions with 

Somalia are activated mostly through Garissa County, where the clan dominates.

These features have meant that al-Shabaab proselytizers and recruiters face a more challenging environment in Wajir that prevents them from swiftly embedding in the community. This 

difficulty does not by any means suggest that al-Shabaab has not been able to recruit from Wajir 

County, however. Our respondents stated that some (albeit fewer than in Mandera and Garissa) 

have joined al-Shabaab, but also that these individuals were recruited from outside the county—

from the Nairobi neighborhood of Eastleigh, for example. Since al-Shabaab’s reorganization in 

mid-2013, attacks in Wajir County have followed a similar trend: cross-border attacks aimed 

at government installations, bars, and restaurants frequented by Christian, up-country Kenyan 

nationals. The scale and frequency of al-Shabaab attacks in Wajir remain low, however, compared with those elsewhere, especially Nairobi, Garissa, and Mandera.

Mandera County

Mandera County is inhabited primarily by ethnic Somali clans of Garre, Degodia, and Murule. 

In recent years, the Marehan have increased their numbers. The county had, from 1963 to 1988, 

two constituencies, Mandera East and Mandera West, after which Mandera Central was carved 

out of Mandera East. After 2009, with new political boundaries, Mandera was divided into 

six constituencies—West, East, North, South, Lafey, and Banisa. Clan claims on land are not 

particularly well established and are much more contested. Following recent developments and 

the outcome of the 2013 elections, the current clan and territory logic in Mandera follows the 

lines presented in table 4.

Al-Shabaab proselytizers 

and recruiters face a more 

challenging environment 

in Wajir that prevents them 

from swiftly embedding 

in the community. 
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PEACEWORKS 123

Most if not all of the clans in Mandera County have a physical presence (or close clan ties) 

with clans in Somalia, Ethiopia, and neighboring counties in Kenya. The Garre have a physical 

presence in the Gedo region of Somalia in Mandera’s east, and southern Ethiopia in Mandera’s 

north. The Murule have close clan ties with the Marehan clan of Gedo region in Somalia. The 

Degodia have a physical presence in Wajir County to Mandera’s south. The county’s leadership 

has been deeply divided, mostly over competing clan claims to territory and political representation. This local-level competition is usually compounded by the influence of political events 

in Somalia, Ethiopia, and up-country Kenya. This factionalization, which recently resulted in 

the establishment of a powerful twenty-one-man Garre Council of Elders in 2012, complicates the position and effectiveness of institutions such as the older Mandera District Peace 

Committee that draws membership from representatives of all the clans in Mandera.

Clan Conflict

The county’s main clans—the Garre, Degodia, and Murule—have been fighting periodically 

since the 1920s. Clan settlement in Mandera has largely been contentious, determined by 

bare-knuckle politics, where more aggressive, better-armed, and more organized clans push 

weaker ones out either of desirable territory or to dominate county politics. The most notable 

clan conflicts in Mandera include those between the Garre and the Murule in 2004 and 2005 

and between the Garre and the Marehan in 2005. The latest, between the Garre and Degodia 

in 2013 and 2014, was directly related to political devolution. All highlight the significance of 

cross-border clan ties and spillover conflict on local conflict dynamics.

Mandera was notably peaceful until the mid-2000s. Between December 2004 and March 

2005, however, Garre and Murule fighting near the Kenya-Somalia border at El Wak led to 

about ninety dead and thirty thousand displaced. The conflict was triggered by unresolved 

disputes over rangeland and sparked by the attempts of Garre herders to move their livestock 

into areas they claimed belonged to them, after which the Murule resisted, leading to a spiral 

of attacks and revenge killings that lasted three months.47 News coverage of this conflict—

particularly of the last attack on a Garre village that saw the massacre of twenty-two, sixteen 

of whom were children—led to national pressure to resolve the conflict. The resolution was 

led by Muslim leaders under the auspices of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, and an 

accord was reached to allow open access to pasture throughout the county.

Constituency Dominant Subclan

Mandera West Garre

Banisa Garre

Mandera North Garre

Mandera East Murule

Mandera South Garre

Lafey Murule

Source: Author’s compilation

Note: This dominance is pegged to voting trends when certain clans did not win a single political 

position. It does not mean that these clans are not resident in Mandera, but that certain clans dominate 

a constituency.

Table 4. Political Constituencies and Clans in Mandera County
USIP.ORG 21

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

Meanwhile, another conflict, between the Garre and the Marehan to control the border 

town of El Wak, saw more than ninety die between April and July 2005 and seventeen thousand 

displaced. In a third and final round of fighting, a unit of Marehan militiamen from the Juba 

Valley Authority in Kismayo took control of the town, leading to thirty deaths. This ended the 

fighting. Since then, the Marehan have largely exercised unquestionable authority in El Wak 

town (which spans both sides of the Kenya-Somalia border) and El Wak district in Somalia.

Advantages accruing to the Marehan during the Siad Barre regime (1969–90), and the precence of a larger Marehan elite in the diaspora, has increased the clan’s power in the regional 

politics of what is known as the Mandera triangle.48 The Garre, the numerically stronger clan, 

with its links to the Ethiopian government, has also increased its firepower, and have been used 

by the Ethiopians to control the activities of the ONLF on the Ethiopian-Kenya border.

The increased Garre power was bruised when a Degodia candidate, Abdikadir Mohamed, 

won the Mandera Central parliamentary seat in the 2007 elections, a seat traditionally won by 

the Garre. On the run-up to the 2007 general elections, the Garre Council of Elders was formed 

in Nairobi to vet and select Garre candidates they would endorse for each elected position. Conflict between the Garre and the Degodia erupted in 2013, respondents explained, and took place 

across a wider area in the county, because both Degodia and Garre brought in their kinsmen 

from Somalia, Ethiopia, and Wajir to shore up their voting strength in Mandera.

The conflict proceeded until mid-2014 and spilled over into Wajir County. In the end, the 

Degodia did not win a single political seat in Mandera County; Garre won four of the six constituencies (the Murule took the other two), the county governorship, the county senatorial seat, 

and the county female representative’s position.49

Most of the conflicts in Mandera have also been fought along important border towns 

(Rhamu and El Wak), through which considerable cross-border camel trade and transit trade 

crossing from Somalia into Kenya is conducted. For instance, in February 2012, during the 

Garre-Degodia conflict, the border town of Rhamu was the scene of fighting that resulted in 

the burning down of half of the town.50 It is also in these border towns (such as El Wak) that 

extremist actors have concentrated their activities.

Violent Extremism

Since al-Shabaab’s reorganization in mid-2013, Mandera County has been the target of numerous al-Shabaab attacks. On November 22, 2014, al-Shabaab attackers stopped a commuter bus heading to Nairobi from Mandera town along the Kenya-Somalia border and shot 

twenty-eight non-Muslims dead after forcing the passengers to leave the bus and recite verses 

from the Quran.51 The following week, on December 2, al-Shabaab attackers descended on 

a quarry at Koromey, fifteen kilometers from the town of Mandera, and shot dead thirty-six 

quarry workers (others were beheaded), all of whom were Christian Kenyan nationals from the 

up-country.52 The al-Shabaab spokesperson said that the attacks were in retaliation for operations in Mombasa to flush out al-Shabaab members from mosques and for Kenyan military 

operations in Somalia.

In Kenya, the Mandera attacks sparked wide outrage, especially against the inability of 

the state to provide security, leading to the resignation of Kenya’s internal security minister 

and inspector-general of police. It was clear that al-Shabaab was introducing a new form of 

ideologically inspired violence and was taking advantage of Mandera’s usual exposure to events 

and politics in Somalia through both legal and illegal cross-border clan ties and trade to embed 

itself in the local community.

Al-Shabaab was introducing 

a new form of ideologically 

inspired violence and 

was taking advantage of 

Mandera’s usual exposure 

to events and politics in 

Somalia through both legal 

and illegal cross-border clan 

ties and trade to embed 

itself in the local community.
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Unconfirmed media reports asserted that al-Shabaab members easily crossed the KenyaSomalia border by issuing bribes to security officials before the late 2014 attacks. Respondents 

added that corruption at the border was a common practice, especially in zones of high commercial and human traffic such as El Wak, Rhamu, and Bula Hawa near the town of Mandera.

The county governor, Ali Roba, was also a target of al-Shabaab attacks. Four attempts at 

his life were made between July 16, 2014, and March 13, 2015.53 Highlighting the significance of interclan polarization in the county’s politics, and also how al-Shabaab is accentuating local political conflict, some respondents rejected the notion that it planned the attacks 

on the governor and argued that these were staged by the governor’s rivals, or by the governor 

himself to justify the transfer of the county headquarters from the town of Mandera on 

grounds of insecurity.

Whatever the truth is, al-Shabaab’s success in Mandera is taking place under the context 

of increased interclan rivalry and conflict, especially the competition between a Garre-Murule 

alliance and a possible Degodia-Marehan opposing alliance.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The local conflict landscape in northeast Kenya varies in scale and lethality across counties. 

Extremist actors are both implementing their strategies and simultaneously seeking to expand 

their membership within Kenya and to stoke a wider insurgency against the Kenyan government in the region. Clan conflict and violent extremism are enabled by a conjunction of risk 

and resilience, such as the effect of spillover conflict, and continued operation of smuggling 

and criminal networks with local factors, such as a locally divided leadership and lack of collective action in addressing communal problems. The continued escalation of clan conflict in 

the northeast, driven by political devolution, risks pushing aggrieved clans into the ranks of 

al-Shabaab if and when the group develops its credentials as a reliable ally in wielding violence.

More attention has been placed on the role played by clan-based competition in the region for resources than on a possible relationship between such competition and ideologically 

motivated violence. Given al-Shabaab’s historic practice of exploiting clan divisions in its recruitment efforts in southern Somalia, this relationship merits further exploration. In addition, 

a deeper investigation of the role played by more situational factors (geographic location, the 

operation of lesser kinship networks, and county-specific factors) is crucial, and will require a 

deeper understanding of cultural and social factors. In eastern Africa, and especially Kenya, 

these contextual factors appear especially significant, because it is these that al-Shabaab has 

determinedly exploited.54

Strengthen civic-government partnerships. The role played by political, civic, and traditional elders—and how they interact with formal government officials—has been, as in Wajir, 

the most significant when it comes to addressing disruptive communal shocks in the northeast. 

Programmatic interventions in the region, such as activities funded by the European Union 

Emergency Trust Fund to heighten stability and address the root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa, should support legitimate civic-government partnerships 

that emphasize addressing violent extremism and clan conflict. When such partnerships are 

in place, early warning systems or regular reports from community members about individuals seemingly at risk for extremist recruitment will help reduce conflict and violent extremism. However, such systems, which are implicit in existing government-led programs such as 

the Nyumba Kumi (a community policing initiative announced in 2013), should not be used 
USIP.ORG 23

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

simply for social profiling and community surveillance, because perceptions of such use would 

adversely affect trust between community and government officials.

Strengthen local governance capacities. The interplay of risk and resilience factors in driving clan conflict and violent extremism occurs at the local level. Because it does, building the 

capacities of local governance structures in addressing these factors is critical. County governments are composed of locally elected officials and bureaucrats who better understand the local 

context. However, the relationship between representatives of the national government and 

county governments, particularly in Mandera and Garissa, needs to be strengthened. This will 

not only go a long way in strengthening the capacity of local governance structures, but also 

build their legitimacy with local communities. For instance, the USAID-funded Agile Harmonized Assistance for Devolved Institutions, which seeks to strengthen the benefits of devolution in Kenya, should work to encourage youth and women participation in local governance 

and to promote cooperation between county and national governments in addressing (among 

other things) the drivers of conflict and violent extremism in the region. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, lobbying should be increased to ensure that existing legislation requiring cooperation between national and county governments is implemented. This is especially 

true in regard to the establishment of County Policing Authorities, provided by the National 

Police Service Act, which give county governments significant roles in managing local security.

Adopt resilience to conflict and violent extremism thinking in existing resilience programming. A number of interventions in the northeast have long focused on building communal 

resilience to environmental shocks such as drought and flooding. These shocks are common 

and widespread in the region and have driven increasing numbers of pastoral dropouts, transhumance, and migration, factors that have also caused clan conflict. Existing programs, such as 

the World Bank–funded Regional Pastoral Livelihoods Resilience Project, have benefited local 

communities. They have yet to adopt (and support) the significance of communal resilience to 

conflict and violent extremism, however. Such programs can, for example, encourage the establishment of pastoral and agro-pastoral cooperative societies among the communities they work 

with that will be important in building interclan engagement and social capital. Community 

resilience to conflict and violent extremism, including communal reconciliation, should be a 

high priority within government developmental policy targeting the region. These capacities 

can then be leveraged against clan conflict and violent extremist activities.

Conduct further research. Given that disadvantage and marginalization are central elements 

in al-Shabaab’s relationship with marginalized clans, such as the Rahanweyn of Somalia, more 

specific and targeted research is needed to establish whether disadvantages and new marginalization trends at the county level are emerging as key elements in the al-Shabaab relationship 

with clans such as the Marehan or Degodia of Mandera, who cite marginalization by the Garre. 

Such locally contextualized research will contribute, inform, and improve policy and programmatic decisions on countering violent extremism in northeast Kenya. Additional research could 

establish whether clan marginalization is emerging within the counties as a central feature of 

al-Shabaab recruitment in the northeast. In Mandera and Garissa—which present challenges 

to addressing clan conflict—extremist activity is higher than in Wajir, for example. This suggests 

a close affinity between the structural conditions that drive escalation of clan conflict, such as 

a locally divided leadership, and those that favor the operation of violent extremist actors, such 

as the lack of legitimate and trusted security and early warning systems. In other words, factors 

driving clan-based conflict also produce a fertile ground for violent extremism, but the two 

appear to be simply correlated rather than causally related. However, Mandera and Garissa 
24 USIP.ORG

PEACEWORKS 123

are also exposed to greater risk factors, enabled mostly by cross-border clan ties, such as crossborder trade, migration, smuggling networks, and corrupt border security officials—factors that 

also drive clan conflict and enable extremist activities. In sum, al-Shabaab has proved adept at 

exploiting local clan structures, local economies, and the operation of kinship networks in gaining a foothold in the region, taking advantage of the close ties between clans on either side of 

the Kenya-Somalißa border, the porous nature of the borders, and other cross-border networks 

(including smuggling networks), to operate in both Somalia and Kenya.
USIP.ORG 25

VIOLENT EXTREMISM AND CLAN DYNAMICS IN KENYA

Notes

1. Joshua Meservey, “Sermonizing with Al-Shabaab: The Terrorist Group’s New Tactic,” Foreign Affairs, July 

26, 2015, www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/kenya/2015-07-26/sermonizing-al-shabab.

2. Matt Bryden, “The Decline and Fall of Al-Shabaab? Think Again,” SAHAN report, April, 2015; “The 

Reinvention of Al-Shabaab: A Strategy of Choice or Necessity?” CSIS Africa Program report, February 2014, 

https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/publication/140221_Bryden_Reinvention

OfAlShabaab_Web.pdf.

3. IGAD, “Al-Shabab as a Transnational Security Threat” (Addis Ababa: Intergovernmental Authority on 

Development, 2015), 20.

4. David Anderson and Jacob McKnight, “Understanding Al-Shabaab: Clan, Islam and Insurgency in Kenya,” 

Journal of Eastern African Studies 9, no. 3 (2015): 1–2.

5. Ibid.

6. Emma Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible: The Kenyan State and its Somali Citizens,” African Affairs 

111, no. 445 (2012): 625–39.

7. Jeremy Lind, Patrick Mutahi, and Marjoke Oosterom, “Tangled Ties: Al Shabaab and Political Volatility in 

Kenya,” IDS Evidence Report no. 130 (Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies, 2015). 

8. International Crisis Group (ICG), “Kenyan Somali Islamist Radicalization,” Africa Briefing no. 85, January 

2012. 

9. Ken Menkhaus, Conflict Assessment: Northern Kenya and Somaliland (Copenhagen: Danish Demining 

Group, 2015), 18. 

10. Hannah Whittaker, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Kenya: A Social History of the Shifta Conflict, 1963–

1968 (Leiden, NL: Brill Publishers, 2015). 

11. Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible.”

12. ICG, “Kenyan Somali Islamist Radicalization.”

13. Ken Menkhaus, “The Rise of a Mediated State in Northern Kenya,” Afrika Focus 21, no. 2 (2008): 23–38. 

14. Menkhaus, Conflict Assessment, 24. 

15. Ibid.

16. See, for example, Ione M. Lewis, Blood and Bone: The Call of Kinship in Somali Society (Asmara: Red Sea 

Press, 1999); Abdi I. Samatar, “Destruction of State and Society in Somalia,” Journal of Modern African 

Studies 30, no. 4 (1992): 625–41.

17. Menkhaus, Conflict Assessment, 17.

18. The White House, “Empowering Local Partners to Fight Violent Extremism in the United States,” Press 

release, August 3, 2011, www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/08/03/empowering-local-partnersprevent-violent-extremism-united-states.

19. Lauren Van Metre, “Community Resilience and Violent Extremism in Kenya,” Peaceworks no. 120 

(Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, 2016).

20. Ami Carpenter, Community Resilience to Sectarian Violence in Baghdad (New York: Springer, 2014), 2. 

21. Ibid.

22. Everyday forms of engagement consist of simple, routine interactions of life, such as whether families from 

different clans visit each other, eat together regularly, jointly participate in festivals, allow their children to 

play together, and so on. 

23. Ami Carpenter, Resilience to Sectarian Violence in Iraq (New York: Springer, 2014), 75–76.

24. Daniel Compagnon, “Somali Armed Units: The Interplay of Political Entrepreneurship and Clan-Based 

Factions,” in African Guerrillas, ed. Christopher Clapham (Oxford: James Currey, 1998), 90. 

25. Neil Carrier and Hassan Kochore, “Navigating Ethnicity and Electoral Politics in Northern Kenya,” Journal 

of Eastern African Studies 8, no. 1 (2014): 135–52; Menkhaus, Conflict Assessment.

26. See, for example, International Crisis Group, “The Kenyan Military Intervention in Somalia,” Africa Report 

no. 184, February 15, 2012, www.africaportal.org/dspace/articles/kenyan-military-intervention-somalia. 

27. Cited in Anderson and McKnight, “Understanding Al-Shabaab,” 5. 

28. Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001).

29. This features heavily in all the issues of al-Shabaab’s magazine in Kenya, Gaidi Mtaani.

30. Menkhaus, Conflict Assessment, 112. 

31. Ibid.

32. UNHCR, “Refugees in the Horn of Africa: Somali Displacement Crisis,” 2014, data.unhcr.org/horn-ofafrica/regional.php. The 2009 census figures for northeast Kenya have been contested, and resulted in a long 

and drawn-out debate between the region’s leadership and the government. 
26 USIP.ORG

PEACEWORKS 123

33. Emman Omari, “Tycoons Who Hold Wealth of the County and Wield Power,” Daily Nation, September 1, 

2011, www.nation.co.ke/Counties/Tycoons-Who-Hold-Wealth-of-the-county-and-wield-power/-/1107872/

1228340-1gf8ij2/index.html. 

34. See Journalists for Justice, “Black and White: Kenya’s Criminal Racket in Somalia,” 2015, www.jfjustice.

net/downloads/1457660562.pdf. 

35. Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1853 

(2008), S/2010/91, March 10, 2010, 55–56.

36. Cyrus Ombati, “Garissa University Terror Attack Mastermind Killed in Raid,” The Standard, June 2, 2016, 

www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000203731/garissa-university-terror-attack-mastermind-killed-in-raid.

37. Ibid. 

38. See IGAD, “Al-Shabab as a Transnational Security Threat,” 23.

39. Ombati, “Garissa University Terror Attack.” 

40. See, for example, Abdimalik Hajir, “Police in Garissa Arrest 6 Tanzanians Heading to Somalia, Recover 

Weapons,” Daily Nation, August 25, 2015, www.nation.co.ke/counties/Tanzanians-arrested-Garissa/-

/1107872/2845738/-/3chhtz/-/index.html.

41. Menkhaus, “The Rise of a Mediated State,” 25. 

42. Ibid., 23–38.

43. Menkhaus, Conflict Assessment, 107.

44. David Anderson, “Remembering Wagalla: State Violence in Northern Kenya, 1962–1991,” Journal of 

Eastern African Studies 8, no. 4 (2014): 658–76.

45. Ibid.

46. Menkhaus, Conflict Assessment, 107. 

47. Ibid., 96.

48. Largely referring to the area of Mandera in Kenya, Dolo in South Ethiopia, and Gedo region in Somalia.

49. Carrier and Kochore, “Navigating Ethnicity and Electoral Politics.”

50. Menkhaus, Conflict Assessment, 100.

51. Manase Otsialo and Abdimalik Hajir, “At Least 28 Killed in Shabaab Attack on Nairobi-Bound Bus in 

Mandera,” Daily Nation, November 22, 2014, www.nation.co.ke/counties/28-dead-suspected-Al-Shabaabattack-in-Mandera/-/1107872/2531256/-/ljsywl/-/index.html. 

52. Mutiga Murithi, “Al Shabaab Militants Kill 36 Christian Quarry Workers in Kenya,” Guardian, December 2, 

2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02 kenya-quarry-massacre-leaves-36-dead-says-red-cross.

53. Kennedy Kimanthi, “Attacks Raise Concern on Who Wants Mandera Governor Ali Roba Dead,” Daily 

Nation, March 16, 2016, www.nation.co.ke/counties/Mandera-Governor-Ali-Roba-Insecurity/-/

1107872/2653818/-/13w0pnm/-/index.html.

54. Anderson and McKnight, “Understanding Al-Shabaab,” 1–2.


 5

About the Institut

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan 

institution established and funded by Congress. Its goals are to 

help prevent and resolve violent conflicts, promote postconflict 

peacebuilding, and increase conflict-management tools, capacity, and 

intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering 

others with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by its direct 

involvement in conflict zones around the globe.

Chairman of the Board: Steven J. Hadley

Vice Chairman: George E. Moose

President: Nancy Lindborg

Chief Financial Officer: Michael Graham

Board of Di

Stephen J. Hadley (Chair), Principal, RiceHadleyGates, LLC, Washington, 

D.C.• George E. Moose (Vice Chair), Adjunct Professor of Practice, The 

George Washington University, Washington, D.C. • Judy Ansley, Former 

Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor under 

George W. Bush, Washington, D.C. • Eric Edelman, Hertog Distinguished 

Practitioner in Residence, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced 

International Studies, Washington, D.C. • Joseph Eldridge, University 

Chaplain and Senior Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, School of International 

Service, American University • Kerry Kennedy, President, Robert F. 

Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, Washington, D.C. • Ikram 

U. Khan, President, Quality Care Consultants, LLC, Las Vegas, Nev. • 

Stephen D. Krasner, Graham H. Stuart Professor of International 

Relations, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. • John A. Lancaster, 

Former Executive Director, International Council on Independent Living, 

Potsdam, N.Y. • Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George Mason 

University, Fairfax, Va. • J. Robinson West, Chairman, PFC Energy, 

Washington, D.C. • Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President, Leadership 

Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Washington, D.C.

Members Ex Offi

John Kerry, Secretary of State • Ashton Carter, Secretary of Defense 

• Gregg F. Martin, Major General, U.S. Army; President, National 

Defense University • Nancy Lindborg, President, 

United States Institute of Peace (nonvoting)
2 Looking for Justice

The northeast region of Kenya, which borders Somalia, 

has seen a spike in clan-based conflict and violent extremist activities since 2011. This trend is well illustrated by the 

eruption of violence in Mandera County from 2012 to 

2014 and by the April 2015 attack on university students 

in Garissa County. This report, which is derived from interviews across the three counties in Kenya’s northeast, 

explores the relationships between resilience and risk to 

clan violence and to violent extremism in the region. 

Other USIP Publications

■ Community Resilience to Violent Extremism in Kenya by Lauren Van Metre 

(Peaceworks, September 2016)

■ Peacebuilding and Resilience: How Society Responds to Violence by Lauren Van 

Metre and Jason Calder (Peaceworks, September 2016)

■ Atrocity Prevention through Dialogue: Challenges in Dealing with Violent 

Extremist Organizations by Sofía Sebastián and Jonas Claes (Special 

Report, August 2016)

■ Supporting Civil Society to Combat Violent Extremism in Pakistan by Jumaina 

Siddiqui and Sehar Tariq (Peace Brief, 2016)

■ Terrorism Prosecution in Pakistan by Syed Manzar Abbas Zaidi (Peaceworks, 

April 2016)

PEACEWORKS • OCTOBER 2016 • NO. 123

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@ usip