Residents of Todonyang, the village bordering Lake Turkana where armed militia from Ethiopia attacked Kenyan fishermen and pastoralists at the weekend, have painted a picture of a wild and lawless end of Kenya.
Following the Saturday attack by suspected Dassenech militia, more than 20 people have been confirmed missing and no single body had been found by the close of business on Monday.
Todonyang is among border villages with a sad and disturbing memory of militia attacks, where even children and women are not spared whenever armed militia strike.
More than 200 lives have been lost in the last 15 years, with even residents and Our Lady Queen of Peace Todonyang Mission of the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar establishing a graveyard, where militia attack victims have been buried.
Among those buried at the graveyard are 42 Kenyans who were massacred during the May 2, 2011, broad daylight attack. The incident forced over 3,000 locals to flee to Lowarengak village, located 35 kilometres away.
Interviews with residents of Todonyang and leaders of Turkana County reveal a forsaken and forgotten population that lives at the mercy of marauding gangs from Ethiopia.
They told the Nation on Tuesday that there is limited government presence at this end of Kenya, a situation they blamed for the restricted flow of intelligence and delays in emergency response.
"On other borders, we have special forces like Kenya Defence Forces, but at ours, we don't. We only have police officers who maintain law and order internally. We need the KDF to protect our border and act accordingly," said Paul Emase, a resident.
The border between Kenya and Ethiopia, he said, is porous, with a remote terrain, nomadic populations, and limited border security infrastructure.
John Lomere, a fisherman, said that their main economic activity is fishing and pastoralism but the attackers have for long been on a mission to chase Turkana fishermen out of fish-rich zones in Lake Turkana.
"I cannot flee from my ancestral home despite the dangers of militia attacks because those who fled the village and settled at Lowarengak completely lost their source of livelihood as they now only rely on relief food or work for others to earn a living," Mr Lomere said.
Lomere, who is among the villagers who rebuilt their lives after the Turkana county government established a resettlement centre at Todonyang, also appealed to the government to deploy KDF to the border for a long-lasting solution.
"In the meantime, the government should recruit police reservists to strengthen community security efforts as they are the first line of defence in case of attacks in the villages located far away from various police units," he said.
According to Turkana North MP Ekwom Nabuin, the few police reservists at the border have guns without ammunition.
"Police reservists have guns without ammunition. Let the recent attack inform the Ministry of Interior that a lot needs to be done to assure border residents of their security," he said.
Turkana Senator James Lomenen said that continued violence along Turkana borders is unacceptable and demanded immediate action from the national government's security agencies.
A search and rescue operation began on Tuesday following an order by Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen to Rift Valley Regional Commissioner Abdi Hassan.
Security patrols in Todonyang village on the shores of Lake Turkana after an unknown number of fishermen were killed in deadly attacks along the Kenya-Ethiopia border on February 22, 2025.
Photo credit: Pool | Nation
According to residents of Todonyang, security operations at the border are lacking as the National Police Reservists (NPRs) stationed there are not well-equipped to protect lives and property.
The latest attack was a retaliation to an earlier one where three fishermen from the Dassenech community had been shot dead, with Mr Murkomen noting that security agencies would work closely with their counterparts to avert further attacks through coordinated operations and dialogue.
When he visited Todonyang village on Monday, Mr Murkomen, the Interior CS, said that the Kenya Government has embarked on immediate, short-term, and long-term measures to boost security along our borders.
"NPRs, who play a critical role in complementing regular security agencies, will now be better equipped and incentivized to deal with militia and other criminal gangs. We are also ramping up the welfare of all police reservists, even as we establish more border posts to better account for those who enter and exit our country," Mr Murkomen said.
He instructed the leadership of the National Police Service, working with their Ethiopian counterparts, to step up efforts of accounting for all Kenyans involved in the incident, contain the situation, and bring about lasting peace to the area.
In September 2023, the Turkana County Security Committee called for the recruitment of more than 1,000 new police reservists to help tackle insecurity along the border of Turkana and Pokot communities as well as the county border with neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.
