ABSTRACT

Across pastoral areas of the Horn of Africa, there is a common legacy of biased policies, unsecured land rights, and economic marginalization. Pastoralist conflict has for decades acted as a source of positive feedback reinforcing perceptions of pastoralism as a static and anti-modern mode of production. Somali and other nodes of pastoralist capital will provide a powerful alternative to the influence of international capital in rangeland areas over time. Pastoralists may be at the forefront of major future conflicts if the scenario comes to pass; the ultra-ambitious Lamu Port South Sudan and Ethiopia Transport Corridor project is an important test case for minority and national civil society advocacy. Pastoralists rue the irony of massive investment occurring just when their traditional livestock economy is beginning to generate a measure of monetary value and institutional respect. The Chinese foreign investment model follows the government’s domestic developmental strategies, which is backed by an ethnic monoculture organized within a rigid hierarchical system.