About 500 metres from Kapedo shopping centre, on the border of Turkana and Baringo counties, sits a Catholic church built decades ago.
The neighbouring Kapedo village is dotted with dozens of semi-permanent structures, fenced off as a security measure to keep out armed criminals who roam the villages and terrorise the inhabitants.
The Kapedo Catholic Church, located on the outskirts of Kapedo village and the security camps, has become a soft target for criminals.
Over the years, many residents have been attacked and some killed by armed criminals near the church. The bandits have no mercy on the faithful and have even shot at them while attending mass.
Nation.Africa learnt that the church was closed for more than four years due to incessant killings in the area and no one dared go there until 2022 when it was reopened. Since then, every mass has been held in the presence of armed security personnel.
A member of the church, Ephantus Loree, says there have been several attacks in the area and on the church while people are worshipping.
“The church is located approximately half a kilometre from where people live and in a pasture-rich area. That’s why it is a bandits' paradise,” said Mr Loree.
“Following the spate of attacks near the church, we no longer take chances. That is why police reservists and security officers man the church every Sunday,” he said.
Kapedo, a border town between Turkana and Baringo counties, is home to a platoon of officers from the General Service Unit (GSU), the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), the Kenya Defence Forces camp at Chesitet, and several police reservists because of constant bandit attacks from the neighbouring community.
Dozens of graves lie just metres from the Catholic Church. Residents claim that most of those buried there were shot dead by armed criminals suspected to be from the neighbouring community.
For decades, the people of this border village have borne the brunt of incessant attacks that have either killed people, driven them from their homes, closed schools or deprived them of their livelihoods altogether.
Here, locals don't choose where to live - it's suicidal. For security, the houses (manyattas) have been built in one place, at the shopping centre, a few metres from the police camps, so that if the bandits strike, they will be safe.
Boundary disputes have been cited as the main issue pitting the warring Pokot and Turkana communities living in the disputed area, and the scramble for the resource-rich area has led to constant bloody conflict that has killed hundreds of residents, including security officers deployed in the area, over the years. The two communities lay claim to the disputed 18-acre land.
Almost every family, they say, has lost a relative killed by the criminals.
Due to the perennial attacks, even freedom of worship here is not guaranteed. Armed criminals have frequently staged attacks at the Catholic Church on the outskirts of Kapedo Village, unleashing terror on congregants.
According to locals, police officers patrol the church with armoured vehicles an hour before the mass begins to ensure that there is no bandit within the vicinity and to assure the worshipers of their safety.
“We, the worshippers, will then follow the police after an hour, but we go as a group for security purposes. No one just goes to the church on his own because you can be ambushed on the way by the gun-toting criminals. When the church begins, no one is allowed to loiter outside until when the church is over, and we walk together to the village as well,” said Mr Lotee.
In May 2018, for instance, two police reservists were shot dead, while two others sustained injuries after armed attackers descended on the Catholic church while Sunday mass was going on.
Area chief Mercy Asmit said four police reservists had been hired to provide security during a mass at the church. Unfortunately, the bandits, who were hiding in the church compound, ambushed them, shot two dead, and injured one man in the leg.
In another incident last August, armed criminals attacked a woman who was herding goats a few metres from the church while a mass was going on. It sent panic among worshippers.
“Such has been our life here in Kapedo over the years, where even freedom of worship is curtailed by armed attackers,” said Bentasharl Lodwar, another local.
Joseph Lopalal, a moderator at the local church that has more than 200 congregants, confirmed that several attacks have been staged by bandits at the precincts of the church, maybe to instil fear in the locals and deter them from heading there for worship.
The area, he said, has deep gullies occasioned by many years of erosion making it a perfect hideout for the daring bandits.
“There was a time when the attackers descended on the church and demolished some structures, stole offerings and priest’s belongings. Being a pasture-rich area, it has attracted illegal herders and criminals who invade the expansive church compound and attack anyone on sight,” said Mr Lopalal.
“There is relative calm in the area at the moment but we cannot take chances. Those criminals are unpredictable and for that reason, for us to worship every Sunday we have to be guarded by security officers,” added the church official.
The area has earned the name ‘Valley of Death’ to signify the danger of working or living in the area that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people including security officers deployed in the area to beef up security.
The deep trenches due to soil erosion have provided the bandits with hideouts from which they have been ambushing security personnel and civilians.
Several attacks have happened in the area in the past including the killing of 19 Administration Police (AP) officers who were shot dead in a deadly ambush in the Kasarani area in 2014. The slain officers were on a mission to recover a vehicle that was set ablaze in another botched operation.
On January 17, 2021, Emadau Tebakol, a General Service Unit commander based in the porous Kapedo was shot dead when he went to respond to a distress call from some officers who had been attacked by armed criminals.
During the attack, the senior security officer was gunned down and two others were seriously injured after they were ambushed in Ameyan, seven kilometres from Kapedo, a few meters from the dreaded Kapedo Bridge.
