A war of bows and arrows in the heart of Kenya's crisis

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

KAPUNO VALLEY, Kenya (AFP) — At daybreak, the lanky silhouettes of Maasai archers skim down the green pastures to meet their opponents, charging down the opposing hill in Kenya's scenic Trans Mara region.

Far from the political wrangling taking place in Nairobi's corridors of power, a medieval-like ritualised warfare of bows and arrows has been raging several times a week between Maasai and rival Kalenjin tribesmen.

"Here, we believe in fighting on a battlefield. We don't go at night to attack. It's no good," says Chris Kosgei, a young Kalenjin usually employed in the world-renouned Maasai Mara natural reserve.

Unlike the lawless rioting and looting that marked the immediate aftermath of Kenya's disputed December 27 elections, the fighting taking place in...