[PHOTOS] Residents, security officers united in worship as peace is restored in Laikipia

Residents and security teams on Sunday took their challenges and problems to Church as the race to a peaceful Laikipia intensified.

For months, insecurity in parts of Laikipia county has dominated the headlines in the country, attracting attention from the government and Kenyans.

In the Sunday service, a joint security team tasked to restore order in Laikipia County joined worshippers in different Churches in the Ol Moran area for inter-denominational services.

“The team thanked the church and the community for their role in restoring hope to many families whose livelihoods had been adversely affected in the past skirmishes,” the National Police Service said in a tweet.

NPS said the National Police Service through the Directorate of Chaplaincy and Counselling appreciates the important role the church plays in nourishing officers spiritually.

Armed herders have been at the centre of the conflict, invading locals’ farms to feed their cattle, displacing the owners from their homes.

At least eight people have been killed in the conflict, houses torched and hundreds displaced from their land.

Since then, the government has taken action to restore calm in the volatile area which had paralysed businesses and learning.

So far, peace has been restored in some areas and learning has resumed in some schools.

Interior CS Fred Matiang’i had said that a commando training base will be set up in the affected area, adding that the forces will have 'a very good training exercise' if the bandits show up again. "They will be shot. That's the exercise".

Also, a sub-county has been created in the volatile area, which will comprise of Ngarua, Sipili, and Ol Moran wards.

Last week, top security chiefs met and briefed President Uhuru Kenyatta on the progress so far made in Laikipia following a weeklong multi-agency operation.

The team under National Security Council (NSC) met the president Monday for a briefing on the progress of the security in the area and informed him the area was now calm and safe for locals.

The meeting came a week after another NSC meeting on September 6 ordered a raft of measures to be taken to ensure the safety of locals and especially ranch owners.

They told the President most of the armed herders had been driven from the ranches.

Edited by D Tarus