http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0924-1911
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ABSTRACT
Many cities in contemporary Africa are characterised by hybrid modes of security governance that are co-produced by a variety of state and non-state actors of violence. While the (il)legitimacy of informal non-state security providers on the local level has featured prominently in discussions on hybrid security governance, there is a paucity of empirical case studies of what actually contributes to their (de)legitimisation, notably in the urban context. In order to fill this gap in knowledge, this article investigates how the legitimacy of community-based armed groups – such as vigilantes, militias and gangs – that are operating in Kenyan cities is influenced by the shifting functions they fulfil on behalf of various stakeholders. Based on field research in the informal settlements of Nairobi and Mombasa, I found that their involvement in organised criminal activities often costs vigilantes the legitimacy they had gained by providing protection and crime control for their community. At the same time, their involvement in repeated cycles of post-election violence leads not only to increasing ethnic segregation of the slums in which they operate, but also to the bifurcation of their legitimacy along ethnic lines. Taken together, the article contributes to our understanding of urban violence and conflict in Eastern Africa by tracing the trajectory of the (de)legitimisation of hybrid security actors in the two main cities in Kenya.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Moritz Schuberth http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0924-1911
Notes
1 Weinstein, Inside Rebellion; Mampilly, Rebel Rulers.
2 Nogueira, From Fragile States to Fragile Cities, 18.
3 Clunan, “Ungoverned Spaces,” 6.
4 Hendriks in this special issue; Elwert, “Markets of Violence”; Mehler, Oligopolies of Violence, 539.
5 I conducted 29 interviews between June and August 2012. In order to increase the validity of my research, I triangulated the data by carrying out overt observation within informal settlements in Nairobi and Mombasa during the same period of time.
6 Büscher in this special issue; Moser and McIlwaine, New Frontiers, 333; Schuberth, Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration.
7 Van Acker in this special issue; UN-Habitat, The State of African Cities 2014, 23; UNODC, Global Study on Homicide 2013, 27.
8 Anderson, Vigilantes, 531.
9 Gimode, An Anatomy of Violent Crime, 298.
10 Mueller, The Political Economy of Kenya's Crisis, 194.
11 Bartolucci and Kanneworff, “Armed Violence,” 130.
12 Ruteere and Pommerolle, Democratizing Security, 593.
13 Klopp and Kamungi, Violence and Elections, 12; Rutten and Owuor, Weapons of Mass Destruction, 317f; Kagwanja, Courting Genocide, 378–380.
14 Muggah, Deconstructing the Fragile City, 351; Mkutu and Sabala, Private Security Companies, 400.
15 LeBas, Violence and Urban Order, 247.
16 Agostini et al., Understanding the Processes of Urban Violence.
17 Henningsen and Jones, “‘What Kind of Hell is This!’,” 373.
18 For clarification purposes, we agree with Ajulu that “ethnic violence” or “ethnic clashes […] are not tribal conflicts in the primordial sense; rather, these constitute politically organised conflicts orchestrated to achieve short and long-term political, and ultimately economic, advantages.” Ajulu, Politicised Ethnicity, 251.
19 K’Akumu and Olima, The Dynamics, 89.
20 Dafe, No Business Like Slum Business?, 10.
21 Ibid., 14.
22 Kimani, Security for the Highest Bidder, 10; Abrahamsen and Williams, Security Beyond the State, 198.
23 Schuberth, Beyond Gang Truces.
24 Mutahi, Between Illegality and Legality, 13.
25 For a more detailed conceptualisation of militias, gangs and vigilantes, see Schuberth, The Challenge of Community-Based Armed Groups.
26 Ogada and Mue, Security Sector Reform, 2–3.
27 Hills, Policing Post-conflict Cities, 5.
28 Arana, How the Street Gangs; Penglase, The Shutdown of Rio de Janeiro.
29 Kilcullen, Out of the Mountains, 39.
30 Davis, Non-State Armed Actors, 226.
31 Mutahi, Between Illegality and Legality, 12.
32 Hills, Policing Africa.
33 Baker, Multi-Choice Policing in Africa, 54.
34 Ibid., 63.
35 Ibid., 55.
36 Ibid., 65.
37 Ruteere and Pommerolle, Democratizing Security, 592; Baker, Multi-Choice Policing in Africa, 59–61.
38 Hills, Police Commissioners, 411; Abrahamsen and Williams, Security Beyond the State, 202.
39 Ruteere and Pommerolle, Democratizing Security, 592.
40 Branch and Cheeseman, Democratization, 11.
41 Katumanga, A City Under Siege.
42 Mueller, The Political Economy of Kenya's Crisis; Kagwanja, Courting Genocide.
43 Lynch, Moi, 29; de Smedt, “‘No Raila, No Peace!’,” 595.
44 Mueller, The Political Economy of Kenya's Crisis, 189.
45 Okombo and Sana, Balaa Mitaani, 15.
46 Kagwanja, Courting Genocide, 373; LeBas, Violence and Urban Order, 247.
47 Mueller, The Political Economy of Kenya’s Crisis, 190; Klopp and Kamungi, Violence and Elections, 15.
48 Brown and Sriram, The Big Fish, 247., LeBas, Violence and Urban Order, 247.
49 Klopp and Kamungi, Violence and Elections?, 14. For a defense of devolution in Kenya, see Ghai, Devolution. On its operationalisation on the local level as part of implementing the 2010 constitution providing for devolution, see Cornell and D’Arcy, Plus ça Change?.
50 Human Rights Watch, Playing with Fire, 25.
51 Ajulu, Politicised Ethnicity, 264.
52 Human Rights Watch, Playing with Fire, 3.
53 Commission of Inquiry into Post-election Violence, Waki Report, 226.
54 Henningsen and Jones, “What Kind of Hell is This!’,” 372.
55 Ibid., 375.
56 Ibid., 374.
57 Jensen, “Policing Nkomazi,” 47.
58 Brown, Strain of Violence, 130.
59 Johnston, What is Vigilantism?, 232; Abrahams, Vigilant Citizens.
60 Schuberth, To Engage or Not to Engage.
61 Author interview with MINUSTAH official, Port-au-Prince, 28 October 2013. Translated from French by author.
62 Schuberth, Growing the Grassroots.
63 Schuberth, A Transformation.
64 Okombo and Sana, Balaa Mitaani.
65 Mutahi, Between Illegality and Legality, 15.
66 Wamucii and Idwasi, “Social Insecurity,” 182; Hoffmann and Vlassenroot, Armed Groups, 203.
67 Rasmussen, Outwitting the Professor of Politics?, 437.
68 Mutahi, Between Illegality and Legality, 15.
69 Ogada and Mue, Security Sector Reform.
70 Author interview with founder of Youth Against Drugs and Alcohol, Nairobi, July 2012.
71 Mueller, The Political Economy of Kenya's Crisis, 192.
72 Author interview with youth leader and chairman of peace initiative, Nairobi, July 2012.
73 Servant, Kikuyus Muscle in, 523.
74 Author interview with district chief commissioner and peace representative in Kibera, Nairobi, July 2012.
75 Gastrow, Termites at Work.
76 Author interview with recovering heroin addict, Mombasa, July 2012.
77 Author interview with senior police investigator, Nairobi, July 2012.
78 Author interview with anti-drugs activist, Mombasa, July 2012.
79 Schuberth, The Impact of Drug Trafficking.
80 Author interview with former leader of vigilante group, Mombasa, July 2012.
81 Author interview with anti-drugs activist, Mombasa, July 2012.
82 Author interview with former leader of a vigilante group, Mombasa, July 2012.
83 Author interview with senior police investigator, Nairobi, July 2012.
84 Author interview with anti-drugs activist, Mombasa, July 2012.
85 Author interview with former leader of a vigilante group, Mombasa, July 2012.
86 Author interview with anti-drugs activist, Mombasa, July 2012.
87 Author interview with district chief commissioner and peace representative in Kibera, Nairobi, July 2012.
88 “Kamukunji” means “forum” in Kiswahili.
89 Author interview with leader of vigilante group in Kibera, Nairobi, July 2012.
90 Dennis, Let's Talk, 34.
91 LeBas, Violence and Urban Order, 248.
92 Commission of Inquiry into Post-election Violence, Waki Report, 195.
93 Klopp and Kamungi, Violence and Elections, 12.
94 Katumanga, A City Under Siege, 512.
95 Anderson, Vigilantes, 531.
96 Klopp and Kamungi, Violence and Elections, 13; Commission of Inquiry into Post-election Violence, Waki Report, 193.
97 Chege, Kenya, 133; Kagwanja and Southall, Introduction, 265.
98 de Smedt, “‘No Raila, No Peace!’”.
99 Human Rights Watch, Ballots to Bullets, 24f.
100 Okombo and Sana, Balaa Mitaani, 17.
101 Ibid., 19.
102 Anderson, Vigilantes, 538.
103 Kagwanja, Courting Genocide.
104 Commission of Inquiry into Post-election Violence, Waki Report, 198.
105 Okombo and Sana, Balaa Mitaani, 42.
106 Author interview with district chief commissioner and peace representative in Kibera, Nairobi, July 2012.
107 Reno, Warfare in Independent Africa, 13f.
108 Lonsdale, Soil.
109 Author interview with CVR section of MINUSTAH, Port-au-Prince, October 2013.
110 Author interview with former police officer and private security operator in Kibera. Nairobi, July 2012.