Four more killed in fresh attack in Marsabit despite peace calls

Four more people have been killed in Marsabit County in a fresh attack by gunmen.

The Saturday attack came despite persistent calls to end the killings.

The four were killed on a day senior regional officers were involved in a helicopter crash in Meru as they flew to the area to try and unite warring communities.

The latest incident occurred in Kokuto, Sagante-Jaldesa Ward in Marsabit Central on Saturday afternoon.

Marsabit Central Sub-County Police Commander Benjamin Mwanthi said that the four were waylaid and shot dead by unknown gunmen as they were taking their animals to Jaica watering point.

“We lost four more herders in Kokuto area in the hands of cruel gunmen as they were headed to a watering point with their animals,” Mr Mwanthi said.

INQUEST LAUNCHED

He said that an inquest has been launched into the series of killings that have rocked the county in past seven days.

The killings are the latest in a pattern of fresh eruption of the ethnic clashes.

More than 20 people are now feared dead in a span of one week in brutal shootings of innocent people by unknown killers in total disregard of a call for cease fire by different agencies across the county.

On June 6, four people were killed in Badan-Rero, Moyale Sub-County in a cattle rustling incident that later snowballed into a retaliatory attack between the Borana and the Degodia communities along the Marsabit-Wajir borders.

The number of fatalities grew to more than nine people.

A peace committee including Marsabit and Wajir governors, local legislators and other regional security agents was formed and more than 70 head of cattle which had been stolen were returned on June 13, 2020.

PROTESTS

Another incident was witnessed in Songa where four young people were brutally murdered by unknown gunmen as they returned home from Marsabit town on June 8.

A fierce protest was witnessed in the county as sections of the Marsabit-Isiolo highway were barricaded for more than six hours by youths who were condemning of the killings.

Three other people were killed in Gof-Choba, Sololo last Wednesday as herders differed over a watering point for their animals.

The recent spates of murders elicited bitter reactions from local leaders who have blamed security agencies for inaction.

Marsabit governor Mohamud Ali, MPs Dido Rasso (Saku) and Musa Arbele (Laisamis), Senator Godana Hargura and MCAs have faulted the law enforcement agencies for failing to get to the bottom of the killings and arrest the culprits.

They have also blamed the State for turning a blind eye to the region’s security woes.

SLOW RESPONSE

They said the government was quick to carry out intensive security crackdowns in other parts of the country but is slow in responding to the insecurity menace in the county.

But the national security chiefs have also blamed residents for abetting the murders by ethicising the whole affair.

Marsabit County Commissioner Evans Achoki blamed the residents for failing to divulge crucial information which can help in the arrest of the perpetrators.

Upper Eastern Regional Commissioner Isaiah Nakoru accused the politicians of being behind the ethnic animosity.