Bandits kill three more in inter-clan bloodshed

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What you need to know:

  • More than 100 people have died in attacks in northern Kenya in the past one year, and displaced hundreds
  • A website, which calls for the secession of parts of North Eastern, has also been blamed for rising tension in the region

Three more people have been killed in inter-community conflict in Marsabit County bringing to six the number killed in the area in the past five days.
Marsabit Governor Ukur Yattani on Monday said the three were killed on Sunday at Funyanata.

They died at the same spot where a similar number met their deaths on Friday.

The attackers, Mr Yattani said, had been targeting some communities, which they feel should not use Marsabit-Moyale road.

“All vehicles plying the Moyale-Marsabit road, unless they belong to a certain community, are stopped, searched and occupants attacked and left for the dead,” he said.

As a result, about 100 trucks ferrying goods are stuck between Moyale and Marsabit Towns, Mr Yattani told the Nation by phone.

“It is as if the security personnel are not doing their job. Very little help is coming from them,” he said.

The governor appealed to the government to deploy General Service Unit personnel to the area to quell persistent skirmishes and ensure return to normalcy.

More than 100 people have died in attacks in northern Kenya in the past one year, and displaced hundreds.

A website, which calls for the secession of parts of North Eastern, has also been blamed for rising tension in the region. Leader shave called on the police to speed up investigations into the recent spate of killings.

The website has a map that shows a new region called Gaareland Republic, which stretches from Isiolo, Moyale, Wajir and Mandera to parts of Ethiopia.

On Monday, Mr Yattani said he was unaware of the website. Mandera Governor Ali Roba said the website was started three to four years ago by some Ethiopians, who had sought refuge in the US, and that it had nothing to do with the Garre community or its leaders.

PROPAGATE HATE SPEECH

“It is total nonsense to use the website to try and justify the inter-clan conflict.”

Mandera West MP Mohamud Mohamed said he was aware of a group that was using the site to cause divisions among communities. Nominated MP Hassan Adan Osman said he was also aware of the site and many others, which propagate hate speech and that the information had been forwarded to the national Cohesion team.