Ethiopia to host world’s largest ever gathering of pastoralists

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Jan 24, 2005 (AP) — Spanish shepherds, Mongolian camel owners and herders from 21 other countries will discuss the challenge of preserving their way of life at a unique international conference, the United Nations said Monday.

The five-day Global Pastoralist Gathering begins Saturday at Turmi village, near the Kenyan border. Hundreds of herders were expected. Similar meetings have been held in the past, but none that attempted to draw herders from so many countries.

Herders have “a way of life and livelihood that some argue is not viable in today’s world,” said Dido Guyo, an elder of the Borena cattle herders from southern Ethiopia who was to participate in the conference.

Many nomadic herders feel neglected by their governments, he said.

“Despite this, pastoralists have found ways of countering these forces and have developed their means of production and are now insisting on their rights,” he said.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to an estimated 50 million pastoralists, with up to 8 million alone in Ethiopia, host of the international gathering. Many herders travel hundreds of kilometers (miles), crisscrossing national borders in search of pasture for their animals.