Calm returns to Kapedo but leaders want KDF out

Calm is returning to Kapedo a month after the military started disarming villagers.

Residents have in the past few days been going about their day-to-day activities though cautiously.

Those interviewed said that in as much as the soldiers had made their lives temporarily unbearable, their presence has seen cases of insecurity go down considerably.

A military operation was launched in Kapedo on the border of Turkana and Baringo counties late last month following the killing of 19 Administration Police officers and three civilians.

But the peace has not come without a price. Many residents have been forced to flee the area due to alleged harassment by Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers.

Those who talked to the Nation said they had sleepless nights after the soldiers allegedly destroyed their property including homes.

Pokot MPs Asman Kamama (Tiaty), Samuel Moroto (Kapenguria), David Pkosing (Pokot South) and Mark Lomonokol (Kacheliba) want the KDF operation stopped. They met President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House last week and petitioned him to intervene and have the operation suspended.

USE FORCE

They argued that villagers were cooperating with the government by surrendering firearms and there was no need to use force on them.

Ribkwo/Kositei Ward representative Daniel Tuwit claimed that the soldiers had shot dead 83 cows, nine camels and 240 donkeys and burned 20 houses and shops.

He cited Chesakam, Silale, Naudo, Riong’o and Chesitet, where KDF have a base as the most affected areas. The soldiers have set up another base at Chesitet complete with military equipment including Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), military trucks and choppers.

They are looking for bandits who killed the APs and three civilians in an ambush and the guns they stole from the officers, plus any other firearms in the wrong hands.

“Why kill animals? This will starve people by ruining their livelihood. Instead of harassing innocent people in shopping centres, why doesn’t the government use its machinery to access the bushes where the bandits are hiding?” asked Mr Tuwit.

But Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo said the animals were killed in crossfire between the bandits and security officers.

KDF has also denied harassing innocent civilians and torching houses. In a statement last week, KDF said the soldiers had already left the said areas by the time the alleged looting and harassment were reported.

CAUSE TERROR

But residents of Kabau, Silale, Nadan, Rong’o, Chesakam, Chesitet, Chemolingot, Komolion, Tangulbei Top Lane and Naudo told of chilling ordeals at the hands of soldiers. They told of how the soldiers terrorised the entire region with explosives hurled at hideouts of bandits.

So far 23 firearms have been seized, some of them snatched from the slain APs.

The bandits have been dropping the firearms at strategic points at night. Pokot elders pick them at daybreak and hand them over to the government at Chemolingot, the sub-county headquarters.

Mr Kamama, who is also the chairman of the parliamentary committee on National Security and Administration, has dismissed claims by Turkana leaders that he is behind the conflicts between Turkana and Pokot communities.

“How do I gain from supporting cattle rustling? I’m ready to be investigated. Mimi ni mweupe kama pamba (I’m as white as cotton),” said Mr Kamama.

Pokot elders told the Nation that the government should suspend the operation and give them more time to mobilise the morans to surrender the guns.

It is these firearms in the wrong hands that have been blamed for perennial conflicts in the area.

Other than resources, Pokot and Turkana communities are also fighting over the border point at Kapedo which is between Baringo and Turkana, with each of the counties claiming it.

Rift Valley Regional Commissioner Osman Warfa said even though several guns had been surrendered, the uniforms and bullets stollen from the APs must also be returned.