Monday June 15, 2020
The government has warned politicians from northern region against
inciting violence among communities in the wake of the ongoing
inter-clan clashes between two communities along the Marsabit-Wajir
border.
The skirmishes, which begun a few days ago, have left at least nine people dead and over 200 displaced.
The IDPs are currently camping in Basir, Eldas Sub-County where they fled after the fighting broke out.
Four
people are also currently missing following the clashes over grazing
land between the Degodia and Borana communities in Sololo, Marsabit
County.
FULL FORCE OF LAW
The government warned that any individual found culpable will face the full force of the law.
Speaking
during a recent peace meeting in Badan-Rero village, North Eastern
Regional Commissioner Nicodemus Ndalana cautioned the politicians
against involving innocent locals in the fights in their quest for
political power.
“As much as there are some criminal elements
involved in these killings, I personally pray that the politicians are
not part of this because if it involves the politicians, it is easy for
us as the government to reach them and bring them to book,” warned Mr
Ndalana.
He added, “I know there are some things currently going
on in the political arena in the race towards the 2022 elections. But I
am kindly requesting those who begin such issues not to direct them to
the innocent civilians.”
CHIEFS WARNED
Mr Ndalana
also warned chiefs against involving themselves in the fighting amongst
communities saying they will be stripped of their titles and sacked.
He
further called for an immediate end to the fighting, saying the
government will not hesitate in dealing ruthlessly with all the parties
involved.
“We’d given you a chance like this for you to reconcile
but we will not speak over this issue again because we will not allow
innocent Kenyans to be killed again,” he said.
Marsabit Governor
Mohamud Ali blamed the security agencies for not doing enough and
challenged them to act with speed in case of such occurrences.
“There
is something that I have failed to understand; why is it that our
police officers do not punish these criminals instantly whenever they
engage in illegal acts? Every time we are being told investigations are
being done with no result. This is a wake-up call to your security
agencies to address the issue,” Mr Ali said.
RESOLUTIONS
During
the meeting, which also involved political leaders from the two
counties, elders and other officials, a number of resolution were made
including the return of all livestock that had been stolen during the
fighting.
“I want to assure you that following our meeting
between all the area leaders and elders, we have decided that no single
camel belonging to the Degodia will remain in the hands of the Borana
and for those who will go against the directive the government will deal
with them,” said Mr Ali.
Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi stated that
for many years, pastoralists in the two counties have been co-existing
peacefully without any problem and attributed the recent fighting to
lack of dialogue between the communities.
“Following the recent
events, we have learned our lesson that going forward we will be
initiating talks between the communities [from] both sides before taking
our animals to graze on either side of the two counties,” said Mr Abdi.
He appealed to the communities from both sides to co-exist peacefully and desist from further fighting.
PEACE COMMITTEE
The
leaders also resolved to the formation of an inter-ethnic (Borana and
Degodia communities) peace and social cohesion committee.
Other
resolutions include the installation of a mobile phone network to
enhance communication and information sharing along the common border of
the two counties and building of roads along the border to allow rapid
response by security agencies in case of any incidents in the future.
They also resolved to hold another meeting in Basir on a date that will be agreed upon by leaders and other stakeholders.