Conflict Snapshot – Uchaguzi Bila Balaa – 5 April 2023 – Kenya Election

Search for Common Ground (Search) in collaboration with the Human Rights Agenda (HURIA), Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), Kiunga Youth Bunge Initiative (KYBI), Tana River Peace, Reconciliation and Development (TRPRD) and Ijara Women for Peace has established an Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) system through embedded community observation and social media listening, with the aim to harness the shared information between communities, civil society organisations, and government authorities to identify and address imminent threats in the post-election phase, particularly looking at conflict trends, drivers and locations that could potentially trigger or experience violence. Social media listening monitors online conversations, with a focus on Facebook and TikTok, to track hate speech and misinformation trends and how these could potentially affect conflicts offline.

Between January 16th 2023 and March 30th 2023, Kenya’s electoral context at the Coast and Garissa recorded 70 conflict incidents, marked by heightened Land disputes (11) in Lamu, Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi and Tana River counties, criminal gang activities (11) in urban counties of Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale counties, Farmer-herder conflicts (8) in Lamu, Kilifi and Tana River counties, escalated mob retribution (5) in Kilifi and Mombasa counties, Anti-LGBTQ protests and targetting (5) in Mombasa, Kwale, Lamu and Tana River counties, disputes over pasture (4) in Garissa and Tana River counties, child defilements (4) in Kilifi and Tana River counties including child sodomy (2) in Kwale and Kilifi counties, domestic disputes (2) in Lamu county, Murder (2) in Lamu and Mombasa counties, Violent Extremeism attacks (3) in Garissa county, increase in Out of School children in Tana River and Kilifi counties, Religious conflicts (2) in Kilifi and Lamu counties, General protests in Kilifi, Elderly killing (2) in Kilifi county, Negative ethnicity in Lamu, Rumours/Misinformation in Tana River, Attempted infanticide in Mombasa county, Resource misallocation in Tana River county and Police harrassment in Kwale county.