The Customary Grazing Grounds of the Ngiturkana: A Key Factor in the Settlement of the Kenya – South Sudan Boundary Dispute

Abstract

with fallacies of earlier writers, misinformation, biased opinions, and references to unscholarly and sometimes poorly researched academic works. Attempts by scholars to address the issue have instead yielded con fusion and unnecessary border claims where available evidence firmly suggests none exist. This article is not meant to settle the boundary issue between South Sudan and Kenya but to examine, (1) historical undercurrents that have contributed to evolution of the six boundary lines on the grassland and, (2) the Ngiturkana customary grazing grounds factor in the settlement of Kenya – South Sudan boundary dispute. The findings indicate that the Northern extent of the customary grazing grounds of the Ngiturkanacontemplated in the 1914 0rder in council are along the 1950 Sudan Defense Force patrol line. The northward boundary adjustments of 1931, 1932, 1938, 1944, and 1950constitute attempts by Kenya and Sudan to delimit the northern extent of the customary grazing grounds of the Ngiturkana conceived in the alternative boundary given by the 1914 boundary treaty. The article is based on Author's historical and anthropological knowledge of the disputed area and literature review.