Cattle rustling goes commercial
Reuters AlertNet, UK - March 21, 2007

Cattle rustling in the Horn of Africa, formerly a means of replenishing animals for subsistence, is now widely practised as a commercial activity, according to a development policy analyst.

"Conflicts among pastoralists are no longer just small feuds to restock cattle after a dry spell. They have become more frequent and intense and are conducted to obtain cattle for sale elsewhere," said Abdalla Bujra, policy director of the Development Policy Management Forum, a regional civil society organisation involved in conflict analysis and resolution in eastern Africa.

Cattle raids were traditionally a communal survival mechanism whereby nomadic pastoralists in mainly arid and semi-arid areas restocked their herds after losing livestock to natural disasters such as drought, Bujra said. Nomadic herders were able to peacefully move across borders in search of pasture but not any more, he said ...