Camels hacked to death as farmers avenge murder

A pregnant female camel drags its broken hind legs through the thick bush in Sagalla village in Voi subcounty.

The heart-wrenching image captures the magnitude of the decades-long conflict between local farmers and herders.

 The camel, whose hind legs were slashed, makes several stops to rest from the agonizing ordeal. By the time police and herders located the animal deep in the bush, it had dragged itself for over ten kilometers.

That camel was the only one that managed to flee attacks from farmers who were retaliating after a herder stabbed a farmer to death over a grazing row in Kirumbi village on Thursday.

Angry farmers ran amok, butchering eleven camels and abandoning the carcasses rotting in the bush for dogs and hyenas.

Mohammed Ibrahim, the owner, said he cannot trace over 60 more camels and fears the worst.

Reports indicated more animals were slashed with machetes even as a search got under way. The herder said he had lost animals worth Sh1.6 million in the attacks.

“This one must be slaughtered. It cannot survive. We are pleading with the government to help us locate the missing animals,” Ibrahim said.

            The brutal retaliatory attacks by unknown farmers against the camels highlights the explosive conflict over grazing land between local residents and herders in Taita-Taveta county. But unlike previous conflicts, the current confrontation has taken a more ominous tones with lives lost.

It all started on Thursday afternoon when a camel strayed into a farm at Kirumbi village. The farm owner confronted the herder. A row ensued. Moments later, the farmer lay dead after being stabbed. The herder promptly fled, leaving his camels unattended.  Angry locals rounded up the camels and slashed them before police intervened.

The locals resisted police’s efforts of take away the body of the farmer. Police were forced to use tear gas to disperse the locals who were hurling sand and soil at the police car.

On Sunday, a dozen police officers from Voi police station spent the afternoon combing the bush for camel carcasses.  They located nine camels with body parts missing. Most had slash marks on their bodies.

Voi subcounty police commander Joshua Chesire said five people had so far been arrested in connection with the farmer’s murder. Police were still pursuing the main suspect who was still at large.

“We will arrest all people connected with this crime. We have a few in our custody and we will arraign them,” he said.

Voi deputy county commissioner Joseph Mtile said on Sunday calm had returned to the area as tensions eased between farmers and herders.

“The area is calm even as security agencies do their patrols. Investigations are ongoing over this issue,” he said.

            But even as authorities moved to contain the situation, there were fears that the unaccounted for camels continued being targeted by irate locals.

A herder who declined to be named said they had received reports of a separate herd of 10 camels that had been killed and carcasses dragged away into the bush.

            He said police and the local administration were afraid to be seen to be siding with the herders even when justice demanded they be fair to all parties.

            “We have told them of our reports on more camels being killed but they are not acting. They are not arresting locals who are slashing our animals,” the herder said.

Mohammed Noor, a camel trader, said they had a valid agreement with the land owner to graze the herd in the area. He termed the farmer’s death a tragedy caused by an ignorant employee who was barely two weeks old in the job.

            “This was a tragedy that we regret. The herder who stabbed the man was new and escaped after the crime. The police are hunting for him,” he said.

            He said the herd had been in the area for over six months and they had always lived peacefully with the local residents.

            In 2018, Governor Granton Samboja declared that all herders should leave the county. However, his directions were challenged in court as most herders claimed they had valid agreements with local farmers to graze on their lands.

            Officials of Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association waded into the row and accused the government and local leadership of ignoring the threats posed by illegal herders. TTWCA is an umbrella body representing 28 ranches hit by illegal herding.

Mcharo Bon’gosa, the chair, said they have complained to the authorities over the issue but no concrete action has been taken. He said the herders were not only in the ranches but also in the national park thereby reducing land for wildlife.

  He warned that in the absence of any action by the government, residents might take law in their hands.