The Sengwer people (also known as Cherang'any and previously as Sekker, Siger, Sigerai, Segelai, Senguer, Senguel and Jangwel[1]) are an indigenous community who primarily live in the Embobut forest in the western highlands of Kenya[2] and in scattered pockets across Trans Nzoia, West Pokot and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties.
It extends along the Kapsumbeywet River through Ziwa (Sirikwa) centre, Moiben Posta and Kose hills in Uasin Gishu.
The Sengwer prior to the 19th century herded a distinctive type of long-horned black cattle, postulated by Lamphear (1994) as being a cervicothoracic-humped Sanga crossbreed.
Many famine refugees who tried to push eastwards died of starvation near Moru Eris, though some found refuge with the Dassanetch, Pokot and Karimojong.
These societies led a radically different way of life to the Sengwer, a spartanly pastoral world view based on their early possession of hardy thoraic-humped Zebus that were much more resistant to heat stress, drought and disease.
The Turkana had bordered the Sengwer for some time and their initial interactions had been peaceful though conflict, likely spurred by the drought, developed towards the end of the 18th century.
[16] To the east, rivalry was also developing with the Loikop (also known as 'Kor'), a Maa-speaking alliance that lived in close associations with various Cushitic-speaking peoples.
Like the Turkana, the Kor kept some of the hardy Zebus which allowed them to withstand the Aoyate a lot better than the Sengwer and to absorb members of the community as their society collapsed.
The Sengwer continues to be a marginalized community that is facing separate and significant threats to both its identity and ancestral lands in the present time.
[18][19] On 16 January 2018 herder Robert Kirotich was shot and killed and David Kipkosgei Kiptilkesi was injured by Kenya Forest Service officers.
[20][21][22][23] On 22 January 2018, a court in Eldoret issued an injunction requiring the government to stop the evictions until the Sengwer community's case was heard on 27 February 2018.
[2] As of October 2018, the Sengwar were preparing an international petition to be taken to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in Arusha, Tanzania.