Muslim leaders ask for prompt end to tribal clashes

• Four people have been killed and hundreds displaced so far.
• Sheikh Kassim urged Kenyans to use peaceful methods of resolving conflicts instead of engaging in senseless fights.
• Former Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Commissioner Hassan Omar called for thorough investigation into the cause of clashes.

Mombasa

A section of Muslim leaders has urged the government to stop ethnic clashes in Tana River County as a matter of urgency.

Four people have been killed and hundreds displaced so far.

Former Chief Kadhi Sheikh Hammad Kassim (left) said it was a shame that Muslim communities of Orma and Pokomo were fighting at the end of Ramadhan.

“We are saddened that both of them are Muslims. We urge Muslims to remember them in their prayers so that they can resolve the conflict between them,” Sheikh Kassim told Muslims during special Eid-ul-Fitr prayers at in Mombasa at the weekend.

He also condemned inter-clan skirmishes that occurred at the weekend in Garissa and Wajir counties, which left one person dead and six others injured.

Sheikh Kassim urged Kenyans to use peaceful methods of resolving conflicts instead of engaging in senseless fights.

Former Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Commissioner Hassan Omar called for thorough investigation into the cause of clashes.

He challenged security agencies to move with speed and arrest key perpetrators of the clashes, said to be linked to politics.

“We hope the government will intervene and arrest the situation before it escalates into full scale clashes. Police should start arresting the perpetrators.”

He called for the prosecution of politicians found spreading hate speech and inciting communities along the tribal lines.

“The government must not conduct disarmament but arrest and prosecute,” he added.

Sheriff Nassir Foundation chairman Abdulswamad Nassir called for severe punishment of the perpetrators of ethnic clashes.