• Families forced to skip meals to survive. Roads cut off, IDPs need all basics.
• Worst sufferers are breastfeeding mothers, the elderly and children.
Image: JOSEPH KANGOGO
A food, water and health crisis has hit more than 10,000 desperate displaced people during the massive security operation to flush out bandits and criminals from Kapedo.
The Kenya Red Cross Action Team and National Disaster Response Team say the situation is uneasy and tense, but no violence has been reported in the hotspot Kapedo area on the border of Baringo and Turkana counties.
“Serious food crisis forces the population to engage in natural survival tactics of skipping meals during the day, Red Cross team coordinator Christopher Okoth said on Monday.
Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok said the bandits are not a ragtag group of cattle rustlers, instead, said they are like well-organised terrorist groups.
“They are heavily armed, have no respect for the law and their main mission is death and destruction. It’s time to bring this terrorism to an end,” Nanok said.
So far eight people have been killed including two senior police officers and several others injured in the past two weeks of clashes.
A border dispute, conflict over pasture and water, clan wars and political incitement have been blamed.
More than 40 people including 21 police officers, have been killed, many others wounded and thousands of animals stolen in the highly volatile border area since 2014.
Okoth said since the clashes started two weeks ago, they have ferried 12 casualties to hospitals in Nakuru.
He said 26 houses have been torched and officials are assessing the situation.
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
He said the humanitarian needs in Kapedo are at a critical level. The last food donations were made by Turkana professionals on January 16
About 1,500 households in Kapedo and environs are suffering, Okoth said, adding nursing mothers, the elderly and children are the worst-affected.
He said residents are in dire need of food, shelter, clothes and medicine.
Many residents have been displaced and are living in IDP centres.
Image: JOSEPH KANGOGO
Schools, churches, hotels, stores, open-air markets and public buildings have been closed.
The worst hit areas are Kapedo, Natan, Toplen, Chesitet, Ameyan and Silale - remote villages about 16km apart.
“Most of the poor, worried families are currently relying on food handouts from friends and relatives, posing a serious challenge to the dwindling resources in the dry area,” Okoth said.
Finding clean water is a challenge.
He blamed the shortages on the cut off of movement along the main Kapedo-Chemolingot-Marigat road owing to the security operation.
“People used to ferry using police or Kenya Defence Forces vehicles’ to buy their household and business goods in Marigat town, Baringo South, before it was cut short," Okoth said.
The Red Cross official also said due to the deadly skirmishes and security-military operations in Kapedo, the entire Kapedo area is locked up. Residents no longer have access to food, water and medical supplies and services.
“As an organisation, we are this week planning to set up a medical outreach camp between Kapedo and Chemoling’ot to cater for emergencies,” Okoth said.
Apart from curtailed movements, he said open air markets have also been suspended indefinitely. “The locals are really undergoing mental psychological trauma,” he said.
The response team is carrying out a routine surveillance mission.
Rift Valley regional commissioner George Natembeya said, "There will be no retreat and no surrender.
"The operation shall continue until all the bandits are flushed out and sanity is restored."
He said the area is dangerous because civilians are in possession of illegal firearms, which they have been using to terrorise peaceful residents and kill police and other officials.
On Monday, Turkana community chairman Justus Ekeno said unresolved boundary issues are a major cause of the unending Kapedo conflict. Both Baringo and Turkana claim Kapedo.
“The government should urgently intervene and and address the disputed boundary issue to help end the clashes and restore peace,” Ekeno said.
He said illegal firearms are also still in the hands of criminals who use them to harm others.
Nanok said the situation in Kapedo is dire. He said lack of security has delayed emergency response by the county government to distribute food and necessities.
Security experts have also blamed politician for inciting and fuelling the ongoing Kapedo attacks.
(Edited by V. Graham)