Moiynkum wells fight

The Moiynkum wells fight was a series of three clashes between herders of the Boztorgoy and Kumbel clans over wells in the Moiynkum Desert in January and February 2012, the worst fighting between Iradi clans since 1992. Five men died: three Kumbel and two Boztorgoy.^[1]

Background

In a dry winter with thin snow, the herds of the steppe clans depended on the solar-powered boreholes of the Moiynkum interior, Soviet state-farm wells that aid agencies had restored from about 2010. Both clans claimed the wells.^[1]

Clashes and settlement

Sabyrbek Duishön uulu, who had commanded on the steppe in 2007, led the Boztorgoy riders. After the third clash he rode unarmed to the Kumbel winter camp and brokered a settlement: blood money (kun) paid in cattle and a watering calendar for the disputed wells, which the Autonomous Tribal Grazing Arbitration Tribunal confirmed. The Boztorgoy acclaimed him biy that spring. The United Nations Mission in Irad did not count the fight among incidents on the line.^[1][2]

Legacy

For years the DPI press used the fight to argue that "the clans cannot share a well". The Kumbel still resent it, which is one reason the steppe clans stand aside at the Kurultai.^[2]

References

1. ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2012). Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Irad. New York.
2. ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2020). 'Whips without a Hand: The Kamchylar and the Limits of Clan Authority.' Vol. 27, Iss. 1, pp. 55–79.