Kitui reserves are terrorist ‘safe havens’
A map of Kitui County showing Arawale Nature Reserve.
What you need to know:
- If confessions by a convicted terrorist are anything to go by, the vast South Kitui Game Reserve and Kora National Reserve could be Al-Shabaab safe havens, where attacks are planned.
Unpatrolled game reserves in Kitui County are feared to be hideout for terrorists from Somalia.
If confessions by a convicted terrorist are anything to go by, the vast South Kitui Game Reserve and Kora National Reserve could be Al-Shabaab safe havens, where attacks are planned.
Elgiva Bwire, who is serving a life sentence in prison, confessed to police how he transported more than two dozen grenades from Somalia to Nairobi using village routes in Kitui.
ON HIS OWN PLEA
The man who was arrested in Kayole and convicted by a Nairobi court on his own plea told police that after returning from militia training in Somalia, he avoided major highways — trekking long distances inside the reserve.
He said he boarded different trucks ferrying charcoal in South Kitui Game Reserve and spent several days in Mutha, Mutomo and Kitui towns before proceeding to the city.
Kitui South MP Rachael Nyamai told Nation that the reserve is home to 5,000 illegal inhabitants and some are feared to be illegal aliens and terror agents.
Dr Nyamai wants the government to flush out the invaders, saying, they are not only responsible for the escalating cases of poaching, but also terror attacks.
