Sakuye

The Sakuye are an ethnic group in the northeast region of Kenya . They emerged from Rendille , who joined forces with members of other somaloid groups with the Borana - Oromo . Their language today is the Borana dialect of the Oromo language.

They traditionally lived as camel nomads, but have largely settled down since the " Shifta War " affected their livelihoods in the 1960s. They are divided into a southern group in the Isiolo district and a northern group around Dabel . While 4,369 people referred to themselves as Sakuye in the 1969 census, in 1979 only 1,824 stated this ethnicity. At that time, many Sakuye probably referred to themselves as Borana instead.

history

Oral tradition has it that the forerunners of the Sakuye separated from the somaloid Rendille . The name Sakuye refers to its origin in Saaku , another name for the place Marsabit . In addition to these "actual Sakuye" came the Sakuye Miigo , whose founder is said to have been a man who had been cast out by the Garre , who, according to different traditions, married an equally cast out woman from the Borana - Oromo or from the hunters and gatherers of the Waata and joined the Borana connected. The Borana, who penetrated large areas of northern Kenya as part of the expansion of the Oromo since the 16th century, took the Sakuye and Miigo together as allies. The Sakuye today speak the Borana dialect of Oromo .

Perhaps under pressure from neighboring Somali , the Sakuye adopted Islam in the 20th century , but never practiced it in an orthodox manner. Although they gave up drinking animal blood as part of their diet, they regard its use as “medicine” as halāl (permitted).

During the colonial era, the Sakuye area became part of the British colony of Kenya. In the referendum of 1962, in which the nomadic population of north-east Kenya voted whether they would stay with Kenya or join Somalia , the majority of the Sakuye were in favor of separating from Kenya. Kenyan officials managed to ensure that the area remained part of Kenya when it became independent in 1963.

This led to a guerrilla war in which Somali separatists fought to join Greater Somalia . In this so-called "Shifta War" the Sakuye were affected by both the Somali and the Kenyan security forces. Because they are close to the Borana, they were viewed by Somali as pro-Kenyan opponents and robbed. The security forces also suspected the Sakuye as supporters of the separatists and shot many of their camels. The Sakuye themselves were forced into government-controlled settlements.

As a result of the Shifta War, many Sakuye had to give up their traditional way of life and settle down. With the loss of the camels, rituals in which these animals played a central role were also given up. The anthropologist John Baxter wrote of a village in the Isiolo district that he had previously visited in 1953:

“In 1982 there were only a few lucky ones who lived from raising cattle. About 40 percent of Boran and Sakuye in the district had moved to shabby suburban settlements around the new administratively established towns. There they denied a meager existence by hanging around the gas stations waiting for odd jobs , selling miraa ( Kath ) on the streets, illegally producing alcohol , engaging in prostitution and so on. "

However, some Sakuye managed to rebuild cattle and return to nomadism. Those who settled in Dabel became farmers.

swell

Günther Schlee : Identities on the move: clanship and pastoralism in northern Kenya , Manchester University Press 1989, ISBN 978-0-7190-3010-9 (pp. 8, 21, 115–121)
Günther Schlee: Interethnic Clan Identities among Cushitic-Speaking Pastoralists , in: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute , Vol. 55, No. 1 (1985), Edinburgh University Press
Günther Schlee: Kinds of Islam and policies of inclusion and exclusion: some comparative perspectives from the Sudan and beyond , 1999 ( PDF )

Individual evidence

^ Paul TW Baxter, 1993: The 'New' East African Pastoralist: An Overview , in: John Markakis (Ed.): Conflict and the Decline of Pastoralism in the Horn of Africa , London: MacMillan (p. 143), quoted. in Alex de Waal , 1997: Famine Crimes: Politics & the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa , African Issues series, African Rights & the International African Institute, ISBN 0-253-21158-1 (p. 39)
In 1982, only a few fortunate ones still maintained themselves through stock pastoralism. Some 40 percent of the Boran and Sakuye of the District had been driven to peri-urban shanty villages in the new administrative townships. There, they eked out a bare subsistence, hanging around the petrol stations for odd jobs, hawking for miraa , making illicit alcohol, engaging in prostitution and the like.

[1] Paul TW Baxter, 1993: The 'New' East African Pastoralist: An Overview , in: John Markakis (Ed.): Conflict and the Decline of Pastoralism in the Horn of Africa , London: MacMillan (p. 143), quoted. in Alex de Waal , 1997: Famine Crimes: Politics & the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa , African Issues series, African Rights & the International African Institute, ISBN 0-253-21158-1 (p. 39)
In 1982, only a few fortunate ones still maintained themselves through stock pastoralism. Some 40 percent of the Boran and Sakuye of the District had been driven to peri-urban shanty villages in the new administrative townships. There, they eked out a bare subsistence, hanging around the petrol stations for odd jobs, hawking for miraa , making illicit alcohol, engaging in prostitution and the like.