Herding on the Brink: Towards a Global Survey of Pastoral Communities and Conflict
Publisher: International Institute for Sustainable Development
Author(s): Michele Nori, Jason Switzer and Alec Crawford
Date: 2005
Topics: Conflict Prevention, Dispute Resolution/Mediation, Livelihoods
The nomad-warrior. The words evoke images of Genghis Khan sweeping through Eurasia, and clashes across the Nile as pharaohs fought off invaders from the deserts to the West. This image has persisted throughout history, in the biblical battle between Cain and Abel, in the poeticised cattle-raids of the Tain, and even in present-day newscasts of Somali shifta raiding in northeastern Kenya. Violence between shepherd and farmer is as old as civilization itself. With such a history, is it merely coincidence that many of today’s major conflicts are fought in pastoral regions - places such as Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan and Palestine?