Kenya-Uganda Lokiriama Peace Accord: lessons from an unwritten agreement

The 1973 Lokiriama accord shows how culturally rooted, elder-led peacebuilding can deliver lasting results where modern approaches have failed. The 1973 Lokiriama Peace Accord marked the start of a positive relationship between Kenya’s Turkana and Uganda’s Matheniko communities. This unwritten indigenous conflict resolution and peacebuilding mechanism favours consensus-building and reconciliation, making it more useful in post-conflict peacebuilding than contemporary punishment- and enforcement-focused approaches. While many other agreements in the region have faltered, this accord, with its culturally relevant, community-centred approach to settling disputes and restoring social order, still holds.