About 100 families living near the Kenya-Ethiopia border have fled their homes for fear of attack from marauding bandits said to be dressed in the neighbouring country’s military attire.
 |
Families have fled their homes in North Horr following attacks |
The fleeing families are now camping at Dukana and El-Hadi primary schools where they have taken refuge following two separate attacks in which they lost about 3,000 animals.
1,600 camels stolen
Kenyan security officials have confirmed that the families had fled their homes in North Horr division of Marsabit District and Moyale following the attacks on Kenyan herders.
During the attacks, 1,624 camels, 1,200 sheep and goats and 150 head of cattle were taken away.
Independent reports also indicated that 175 firearms were also confiscated from the Kenyan herders during the raids.
The first attack occurred on Tuesday when a group of Kenyan herders from Dukana location were held hostage by Ethiopian soldiers.
And the second attack happened on Thursday in Moyale district where a large number of livestock was taken away.
The Eastern provincial acting police boss, Mr Robert Kitur, said bandits from Ethiopia crossed over the border and attacked a manyatta at Uran village in Moyale.
“They did not kill anyone during their first attack but stole 14 goats,” Mr Kitur told the Sunday Nation yesterday.
The first incident, where herders were rounded up by the Ethiopian attackers, police boss said, happened on Ethiopian soil.
Kenyan herders from Dukana had crossed the border with their livestock to Ethiopia in search of pasture, Mr Kitur explained.
He said that when people in Dukana and El-Hadi village – which is also at the border – heard about the incident, they panicked.
“They thought that the Ethiopian soldiers were preparing to attack them. And they have now moved out of their manyattas. They are camping at Dukana and El-Hadi primary schools,” the acting PPO said.
On the fateful day, Mr Kitur continued to explain, “a group of herders left Dukana and crossed the border with their herds. As usual they started grazing their livestock.
“It happened that the Ethiopian soldiers were on patrol when they came across the Kenyan herders and asked them to identify themselves. When they failed to produce valid identification documents, the soldiers arrested them and confiscated their animals, the police officer said.
He is not sure about the number of herders who were rounded up.
“We are not sure about the number but what I know is that all those arrested have been released,” he said.
Like the other areas in the Northern Kenya region, Dukana, which is at the border, is ravaged by the prevailing drought.
Herders are now taking their animals to Ethiopia where pasture is available.
Relief supplies
Yesterday, arrangements were being made in Marsabit town, which is 300 km away from Dukana, to take relief supplies to the displaced families.
However, Mr Kitur said that after the two incidents, they held a security meeting where they sent a protest note to the Ethiopian government to release the animals they had confiscated.
The Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi declined to comment on the issue, preferring to do so on Tuesday.
Source: Daily Nation, April 16, 2006 | 
