Several farmers from Mwatate, Kenya are attacked, one killed, by camel herders after attempts to chase camels from the agricultural land. The camel herders have moved to the area to find land and water for their stock. Farmers are also concerned about the potential spread of disease and pollution of the local water sources from camel feces and urine.
South Africa supports a bloodless coup by Lesotho’s defense forces. Immediately afterward, the two countries agree to share water from the Highlands of Lesotho, following 30 years of unsuccessful negotiations. There is disagreement over the degree to which water was a motivating factor for either party.
One person is killed and several police officers are injured in a fight over access to water resources between herders and farmers near the village of Dihida, Morogoro, Tanzania.
Continued sectarian violence in the Central African Republic between Muslim and Christian militias includes reports of Muslim civilians being killed and their bodies thrown down water wells.
Violence between farmers and pastoralists expands in Tanzania’s southeastern Rufiji valley, a region hit by drought. A farmer is killed in a conflict with a herdsman over access to water in the southern regions of Lindi and Mtwara. Five more people die and many more are injured in subsequent violence. According to local sources, violence has worsened during the prolonged drought.
Conflicts over water are increasing in the Pangani River Basin in northeastern Tanzania between farmers and herders over dwindling water resources. In 2011 in Mbuguni village, four farmers are hacked to death by angry Maasai morans (warriors) as they tried to stop a group of cattle from trampling on maize seedlings.
Conflicts over water continue in Tanzania between farmers and herders over dwindling water resources. In 2013, herders attempt to take over the central water source in the village of Makenya.
Fighting between Borana herders and the crop-growing Burji community kills at least 56 people in 2013. The violence is rooted in historic clan rivalries as well as competition for water and pasture in the arid region. Clashes between the two communities date back to the 1960s and are related to disputes over the use of political power to take control of water and fertile land.
Al-Shabaab militants destroy an important water well that had been drilled by the Kenyan army in the town of Lafey, Mandera County, leaving hundreds of residents without water.
Clashes continue between pastoralists and farmers over access to water and grazing lands in the face of severe drought. Water shortages have forced the herders to move to farmers’ land for grazing, leading to clashes.