Peace meeting to end Wajir-Marsabit border killings

Leaders in Wajir and Marsabit have convened a meeting to find a lasting solution to the frequent border clashes even as four more people were killed on Friday following the dispute over water and pasture.  

The conflict which began Tuesday last week has been fuelled by disputes between nomads in Basuke along the Wajir-Marsabit border.

Some 11 people have died as a result of the conflict in the last two weeks.

A security meeting had to be hurriedly convened in Basir in Eldas constituency on Saturday even as tensions remain high.

Security officials and leaders from Degodia and Borana in Wajir and Marsabit have appealed for calm following the series of killings.

Over 300 families displaced by the conflict have set up remote camps at Basir.

Speaking during the peace meeting, Eldas MP Aden Keynan appealed for calm between the two communities ahead of the scheduled peace and reconciliation meetings.

"It is common knowledge that no meaningful development can be achieved in an insecure environment despite the huge investment being pumped into the economy. Unless we work jointly towards the realisation of a peaceful and secure county,” Keynan said.

Keynan who is also the jubilee coalition joint parliamentary group secretary emphasised on the need to arrest individual criminals behind the clashes.

He said it was the responsibility of the two communities to preach peace and promote tranquility, adding that actualising the obligation should remain key.

“I, therefore, urge the Northern Kenya residents and the larger pastoralist community to live in peace.

"The community should also support efforts by the government and security agencies to resolve the debilitating problem and eliminate criminal entities who might take advantage of the underlying issues to escalate insecurity in the region,” Keynan said.

Eldas deputy county commissioner Vincent Lomachar said security committees from the two sides are closely working together with local administrators and elders to ensure that stolen livestock from the two communities are returned to their owners.

He said 2,500 people from both sides have been displaced as result of the clashes adding that security teams are working round the clock to ensure that the criminals are apprehended and taken to court.

“We have also placed our officers in the no mans land at the border so as to stop any aggression from both sides. Anyone found there will be deemed to be an aggressor who is trespassing and will be handled as a criminal,” Lomachar said.

Adow Daud an elder, said the clashes have gone for far too long.

He said time has come for the criminals to be apprehended and taken to court adding that they were all known.

Rukia Abdullahi, chaiperson maendeleo ya wanawake, Wajir said women and children suffer the most during conflict. He appealed to the two communities to stop the clashes which she said had stagnated development.  

The decade-long resource-based conflicts and border disputes have displaced families, led to the destruction of properties and loss of lives, and livelihoods.

Last year, seven people were killed in similar circumstances after Borana and Degodia communities clashed over pasture and water.

Security officers have warned that any person found culpable will be punished.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)