Chief and a politician among the 16 arrested in the ongoing Mau conflicts

An Assistant Chief and a politician are among 16 people arrested in connection with the ongoing ethnic clashes in ten villages along the Mau Forest Complex.

Five people have been injured in the ongoing clashes and 40 hospitalised.

Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya said on Sunday while addressing the media that the 16 will be arraigned on Monday in Nakuru.

Natembeya said that the 16 are expected to be charged with various offenses ranging from incitement to violence, murder and displacing communities, promoting war-like activities, arson and malicious damage to property.

He said more than 3000 families have been displaced in the chaos that started on Monday and escalated to a full blown war on Wednesday following a domestic quarrel between a man and his wife.

The Regional Commissioner added that 198 houses were torched in 10 villages in Molo and Njoro sub-counties.

The RC said the displaced families are camping at Neissuit, Elburgon and Ainoptich primary schools where they are being provided with relief food and other necessities through a collaboration of national government, county government of Nakuru and the Kenya Red Cross Society.

“The attacks started on Monday, on Tuesday night a man beat up his wife and she screamed and this escalated into an all-out war between two communities,” Natembeya said.

According to Natembeya, the two communities were up in arms against each other on Wednesday and by Thursday, five people were dead and 83 injured.

He added that 40 are still admitted at the Nakuru County Referral Hospital while two others who had arrows lodged in vital parts of their bodies having been referred to Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

“The youngest victim of the conflict is 16-year-old school going boy who was shot dead with an arrow and the eldest is 35 years of age while one is un-identified,” said Natembeya.

Natembeya said the government had deployed enough police officers in the area that has been experiencing conflict for three decades now.

“The area is agricultural and the main challenge is the tall vegetation providing cover for the attackers,” he said.

Natembeya said the government decided to impose a five-day dawn to dusk curfew to avoid re-current attacks.

Screaming, which the fighting communities have been using as a distress call or a war cry has been prohibited.

The administrator urged families whose houses were not completely destroyed to return to avoid crowding at the camps and assured them security.

He said The National Land Commission and the Kenya Forest Service will hold meeting to discuss the land issues in the area which are the main cause of unease.

“There are many land cases that have been coming up since the 1990s. We have started a serious discussion to ensure the war does not recur,” he said.

Natembeya observed that the conflicts have negatively affected growth and development in the affected areas.