Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery leads peace meeting amid fighting

Fighting continued in Olpusimoru area of Narok County even after Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery and the Inspector General of Police, Mr Joseph Boinnet, arrived in the troubled area to contain the violence which started on Christmas eve.

At least 1,000 families have fled from their homes, displaced by the clashes that have also claimed three lives and left several other people injured. This is double the number that fled on Christmas day.

There was drama as warriors from the two neighbouring communities engaged in a fight a short distance from where Maj-Gen (rtd) Nkaissery was addressing a group of youths on the need to cease hostilities. Mr Nkaissery ordered police officers to hop into helicopters and quell the fighting.

At some point, as he addressed the youth, some of them started singing war songs, prompting the CS to issue a stern warning that they would be arrested.

“We have enough GSU officers on the ground and if you are found loitering around with those small arrows you have here, my friend you will not be lucky,” he warned.

Mr Nkaissery, who addressed the two warring communities separately, urged them to stop fighting at once and ordered police to arrest those found with arrows and other weapons. He also ordered the arrest of local leaders who are said to have been inciting both sides to violence.

Mr Nkaissery further ordered that a police camp be immediately put up in Olpusimoru Trading Centre by today and issued stern orders to Narok police commandant Abdi Galgalo and County Commissioner Magu Mutindika to take charge of all security operations or face the sack. He also warned police officers patrolling the area against taking sides after some of the residents claimed that they were biased.

There have been allegations that politicians were behind the fighting that has claimed three lives since it broke out on December 24. Police have also been put on the spot for failing to contain the violence in which tens of houses have been burnt and their owners displaced.

Earlier, Maj-Gen Nkaissery had chaired a closed-door meeting with all leaders from Narok North Sub-County at Olpusimoru Trading Centre, even as fighting was reported to be going on in the forest, about seven kilometres away. Three people with arrow wounds were carried from the forest as the meeting was going on.

Narok Governor Samuel Tunai, Nakuru Deputy Governor Joseph Rutto, former Kericho Senator Charles Keter — now the Energy CS — and all Narok MPs led by Senator Stephen ole Ntutu and nominated Senator Lisa Chelule were among the leaders who attended the talks.

More people were displaced as the violence entered the third day, with the number of families camping at Township Primary School in Olenguruone estimated to have risen to over 700.

One more person was killed on Saturday night at Tegaat village in Olmariko division in Olpusimoru while others were injured.

HUNDREDS OF FAMILIES DISPLACED

Families in the affected area spent a second night in the cold, fearing another attack. The number of families believed to have been displaced on both sides was yesterday said to have reached 1,000, with some moving in with relatives and others seeking refuge at the school.

In one of the meetings Mr Nkaissery held with community representatives, Mr Isahiah Turko said Maasai youth were retaliating because their cattle had been stolen over a long period.

They also alleged that two herders from their community were shot dead while grazing their livestock in the Mau Narok forest on Wednesday night. According to him, three cows had earlier been killed in a shooting within the forest last month. He alleged that youth from the community had been barred from grazing and watering their cattle in sections of the forest inhabited by their neighbours.

Narok MP Moitalel ole Kenta claimed that police had failed to act as intermediaries.

Other leaders who spoke also claimed that the Kenya Forest Service rangers who were acting as custodians of the forest had been recruited from only one community.

(READ MORE: Fear grips village after militia attack leaves two dead)

(READ MORE: Houses torched as ethnic clashes erupt in Narok)

Mr Ntutu urged Mr Nkaissery to shake up the provincial administration in the county, claiming that its officials were behind the violence.

Speaking for the Kipsigis, Mr Kimalel Sigei, a community elder, claimed that the clashes were politically instigated.

He said his community was ready for peace and condemned security officers for failing to take charge. However, he also claimed that local chiefs were from one community and were fuelling chaos and called on the government to reshuffle them and their appointment to reflect the cosmopolitan population of the area.

Nominated Senator Lisa Chelule called for peace and asked Mr Nkaissery to form a security team to investigate the killing of the herders, which, he claimed, was the main cause of the violence.

Mr Tunai asked the two communities to respect each other.

He said Narok leaders were united in their quest to find peace and asked the two communities to give the government a chance to carry out investigations and resolve the dispute.

Mr Nkaissery said the government had bigger security problems to deal with, such as Al-Shabaab terrorists.

“It will not come back to try and solve small issues brought up by a few individuals,” he said and warned that the leaders fanning the conflict would be arrested regardless of their status.