·According to the locals, the attacks become deadlier during the election period.
•Uhuru assured that the Government will also review police deployment in the North-Eastern region to tackle security challenges.
Image: Mercy Wairimu
Women and children have borne the brunt of the escalating banditry attacks and ethnic clashes in most parts of the North-Eastern region.
Despite the ensuing traumas, which vary according to the gravity of the violence, most women have been widowed and children orphaned following the persistent attacks in the region.
North-Eastern Kenya is synonymous with Al-Shabaab and banditry attacks, which have contributed to high levels of poverty, unemployment and insecurity.
According to the locals, the attacks become deadlier during the election period.
Amina (not her real name), from Marsabit County, said the ethnic attacks and rampant killings in Marsabit are mostly due to grappling for grazing land and water points for their livestock.
“People get killed daily even in their homes. It's scary as these attacks happen anywhere and anytime. For example, if people are killed in the northern part of the county, the affected families usually revenge by killing innocent people from the adjacent areas," she said.
She painfully narrated two attacks that took place in her neighbourhood, where children were also killed.
“I lost some of my neighbours, a Form Three boy who was killed at night by unknown people. The boy and a few of his friends were killed while in the grazing fields near our homestead at around 1 am,” Amina said.
She said they heard gunshots from the forest where the boys were grazing their livestock.
“Sometimes people spend their nights in the forests with the livestock and in the morning, they go searching for water for the livestock.”
Amina said the second neighbour was abducted by the bandits.
“And after three days, we found his body parts," she said.
Image: MERCY WAIRIMU
Fatuma, another resident, said the attacks happen randomly in her village.
“After the recent attacks, I opted to relocate because home was not safe anymore. Nowadays, the attacks happen in the broad daylight," she said.
For Halima, she yearns for peace, which says is paramount in the county and the country at large.
“If peace is compromised, every aspect of life is affected, women are widowed, and children are orphaned. With this economy, raising five, six or even seven kids without their father is very difficult,” Amina said.
To her, nights are dreadful, and with every sound of a gunshot, she is reminded of her loss.
Halima, who is a widow and a mother of two, says some men take advantage of single women after their husbands die during the attacks.
“Some men will take advantage of the situation and mishandle the widow,” Halima said.
No government help
And even with the persistent attacks, Halima says the local leadership and the government have remained mum about the conflicts and attacks in Marsabit County.
“Even though people are killed daily, there is a deafening silence from the government apart from some two ultimatums given by the President,” Halima added.
In February, President Uhuru Kenyatta cautioned the leaders that failure to bring forward a concrete strategy to stop the conflicts will push the Government to deploy security agencies with strict instructions to forcefully end insecurity in the county.
“My dear friends from Marsabit you should sit down together and decide that you want peace amongst yourselves. You must agree amongst yourselves and bring me the solution because you have it. I will call you after two weeks, if you do not bring an agreed solution then you will have decided that the Government intervenes and you know what that means,” he said.
He further assured that the Government will also review police deployment in the North-Eastern region to tackle security challenges.
Halima called upon the local leadership to step up and ensure there is peace in the region.
“The political leaders should lead by example. The antagonistic political divides from the two dominant tribes must come together,” she said.
She urged the politicians and members of her community to avoid using inflammatory statements, especially during the electioneering period.
Mohamud (not his real name), a primary school pupil, said that the persistent attacks affect his education.
He said that when there are attacks in their area, the teachers will suspend learning to avoid exposing them to danger.
"Most of our teachers usually flee from these areas to their rural homes for their safety," he said.
According to a report by the International Crisis Group in July 2020, most teachers in the North Eastern hail from elsewhere in Kenya.
Since 2014, the region has experienced an exodus of non-resident teachers due to insecurity.
But several leaders have said the governments' move to transfer the teachers denies children their right to education.
During a Teachers Service Commission (TSC) stakeholders engagement forum in Garissa, DPP Noordin Haji threatened to charge the teachers' employer over failure to put in place policies that protect teachers in areas prone to insecurity.
Haji said it is the responsibility of the commission to find solutions to issues affecting teachers in regions like Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Samburu and Turkana which are faced with terror threats, banditry or cattle rustling.
The DPP said failure to provide security for northeastern teachers means doing what the terrorists want, which is denying their children a right to education.
Victims of violence
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 40 million children aged below 15 years fall victim to violence each year.
According to WHO, in times of war, children exposed to various forms of violence undergo traumas that can interrupt their process of development, trigger serious psychical disorders and turn them into delinquents and lifetime criminals.
Children who are themselves not victims of, but do witness, the perpetration of violence can subsequently grow violent themselves.
According to experts, such children are more likely to beat up their partners when they become adults compared to their counterparts brought up in non-violent homes.
The greater the trauma suffered from violence, the more serious the ensuing problems, mental and psychosocial, in particular.
The situation is further aggravated by weaknesses in prevention activities, and especially by lack of access to affordable treatment.
Joy Naserian, a psychologist, said women and children are vulnerable to mental health diseases, especially after traumatic attacks.
In an interview with the Star, the psychologist said seeking help from professionals or speaking about what one experienced is one step toward overcoming pain and trauma.
“Talking openly as well as sharing their feelings helps one feel relieved and when one is listened to, they feel understood and loved," Naserian said.
Naserian said society should allow the affected women and children to grieve after a loss.
“Grieving is a process and different people grieve differently. Women should understand that there is no problem in grieving. Grieving should be allowed to help women and children in the healing process to prevent post-traumatic disorder,” Naserian said.
“In the case of children, they should be provided with opportunities to talk about what they went through and what they feel about it. This helps in the healing process.”
Further, she noted that children should be allowed to ask questions about the traumatizing event since this makes them feel more understood.
Al-Shabaab terrorists have been blamed for the many killings in the region.
Garissa Governor Ali Korane said the cowardly attacks are not only claiming the lives of innocent victims and bringing immense grief onto the families but were also a hindrance to development.
“These incidents speak volumes about how wanting the state of security is in our county. I want to call for quick comprehensive measures by the national government on matters of security in Garissa,” he said.