Titusinder er sendt på flugt på grund af sammentød mellem klaner i det nordøstlige Kenya. Nu må præsident Kenyatta gøre alvor af truslen om at sætte hæren ind for at genindføre ro og orden, siger generalsekretæren i Kanyansk Røde Kors.
NAIROBI, 1 September 2014 (IRIN) – Frustrated by a resurgence of intercommunal conflict, Kenya’s top humanitarian official has called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to make good on a threat to deploy the army in perennially restive areas in the country’s northeast.
“The head of state is fully aware of this situation,” Abbas Gullet, secretary-general of the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), told IRIN in the wake of renewed clashes between the Garre and Degodia communities in Mandera County.
“He has met the leaders of these two communities [in 25 June] and he had given them his own ultimatum that they either put their house in order or he will be forced to go in [with army troops]. It is now time to act,” Gullet said.
He added: “These are militias; these are men who are fully armed, trained and sometimes wear uniform, and go totally unobstructed to do what they want to do.”
The June meeting led to a lull after months of intermittent hostilities in the county left dozens dead and more than 13,000 displaced from their homes.
This lull was broken on 22 August when the armed group stormed the town of Rhamu, (population 40,000), 76km west of Mandera town.
Situation is worsening
As of 28 August 2014, a total of 18,000 households had been displaced and are currently living in seven displacements sites within Rhamu in Mandera North sub-county.
About 77 people have lost their lives and more than 95 have been injured since January due to the conflict between the two main clans in Mandera, according to KRCS. Several houses have also been torched.
“Many are living in police camps and hospitals while others have fled to neighbouring villages. The security situation has not improved and people are still living in fear of possible attacks. They are in need of humanitarian assistance,” Abdi Omar, an officer with the Rural Agency for Community Development and Assistance, told IRIN.
KRCS said: “The Mandera North situation is worsening both in terms of the conflict and drought [including] fresh attacks… The county [government] has released to KRCS 340 metric tonnes of assorted food to distribute to the displaced households in the seven sites.”
On 31 August, unknown people attacked a police post in Mandera County and destroyed a building before they were repulsed by security forces.
Apart from Mandera, intercommunal conflict has affected other northern counties such as Wajir, Garissa and Marsabit, where 95 people died in clashes between January and June 2014.
Spike in diseases
Between January and June 2014, at least 125 people were killed country-wide, scores injured and 215,479 uprooted from their homes, many of them in the northeast, according to KRCS and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Sanitation, shelter and healthcare services have been badly affected in many areas affected by conflict, according to the KRCS.
This has led to a spike in cases of diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia, according to aid workers.
Communities and clans in northeastern Kenya have historically fought over resources such as pasture and water for their livestock.
The more recent conflicts have been attributed to disputes over the allocation of jobs and resources to 47 counties created under a new devolutionary political dispensation outlined in a 2010 constitution and put into effect after elections in 2013.
The polls saw the election of entirely new positions: governors, senators and members of county assemblies.
Mubarak Haji, a local politician from Marsabit, said of the mood at the last elections:
“All Kenyans were happy that at last resources allocation will not be determined by numerical or population strength. For our case it was same; we celebrated [after county governments were established] for weeks and intended to continue. The festival was short-lived, cut short and replaced with gun battles and mourning.”
Devolution to blame?
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