Security has been stepped up in Narok South subcounty after one person was killed and five others injured in a fresh flare-up of violence between two warring communities on Saturday.
Narok county commissioner George Natembeya said they have deployed GSU officers, the Rapid Deployment Unit and other security officers to Ololoipangi, Nkoben and Oloruasi to resotre calm. “I advise you not to be swayed by hatred romours because they are fueled by a few people,” the commissioner said.
During Jamhuri Day celebrations in Narok Stadium on Wednesday, Natembeya announced that the state has lifted the curfew imposed after peace returned.
However, Natembeya yesterday said they have increased the patrols and are working round the clock to avert further conflicts.
“We have sent a contingent of security officers to the troubled areas to deter the recurrence of the further violence,” Natembeya told The Star on phone.
It is suspected that the violence started when one cow was stolen by suspected cattle rustlers. This prompted the other community to seek revenge by attacking them on Friday. More than 10 houses were torched in the fresh violence.
Natembeya said police are yet to determine he cause of the death of the middle-aged man. “Some say he was shot, others say he died as a result of spears and arrows injures,” he said.
Those who were injured during the dawn attacks were taken to Ololulung’a Subcounty Hospital and Narok County Referral Hospitals.
He downplayed the narrative that the fresh violence erupted after the cattle theft. “When the cow was reported to be lost, we combed the area and found it tied only 50 metres from the homestead, so this did not warrant the recur of the violence,” he said.
MP Korei Lemein, who held a series of peace meetings on Saturday, appealed to the communities to live in peaceful co-existence to promote development.
Lemein called on Narok South residents to rise above ethnic animosity and the culture of violent retribution.
“As communities, we should adopt means of conflict resolution that do not destroy lives and property,” the legislator said.
Three weeks ago, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission called upon the Kipsigis and Maasai communities to live in brotherhood.
Commission CEO Sheikh Hassan Mohammed urged the two groups to transcend narrow vicious tribalism that has led to conflicts this year.He said God created people from different tribes to help one another during hardship and not to fight each other.
Mohammed said every person has the right to live in peace anywhere in the country, regardless of their background.
“I encourage people to adopt dialogue because the more you speak together, the more you find solutions to your differences. But if people keep a distance and do not engage in dialogue, they tend to have a negative attitude towards one another,” he said.
The government was evicting people from the Mau Forest because of the valuable water tower was being destroyed by agriculture, deforesttion and human activities.
Some groups had lived there for decades and claimed they were being targeted.