GARISSA – At least two people were killed and 20 others seriously injured when clashes erupted in Bura division in northeast Kenya over a piece of land. Area District Commissioner Rashid Khator said the inter-clan clashes started as an argument between two individuals over the ownership of a piece of land that sits along River Tana and slowly degenerated into bitter confrontations which in turn led to the clashes.
Khator said the two who are from two warring clans of Abduwak and Abdalla then started fighting attracting a big crowd from the two clans. “As for now we don’t want to speculate as to what caused the clashes but our preliminary investigations have it that these people fought over a piece of land,” he told Xinhua on Wednesday. The authorities said additional security personnel have also been deployed to the area to prevent fresh fighting.
“We have enough officers on the ground, I am sure nobody will attempt to cause trouble. We shall maintain the security personnel all over town and in the villages. We are also using elders from the two clans and religious leaders to preach peace and asking those who have left their homes to return,” said a local police officer who did not want to be named.
According to an eyewitness, Khalib Mustapha, members of one clan that had one of their own killed by the other immediately resorted to revenge and started attacking others by machetes. “The place was a total mess as those who were not armed had to scamper for safety fearing being killed,” added Mustapha a youth leader from Fafi constituency. Khator who was among the first people to arrive at the scene accompanied by the district security team said that investigations had been started into what caused the clashes adding that all the perpetrators will face the full force of the law.
“A contingent of security personnel drawn from the regular and administration police from were immediately deployed in the area to stop more clashes,” Khator said. Sources said the problem has been caused by the locals who own land without title deeds. The incident completely paralyzed transport on the busy Garissa- Fafi road with buses plying the road being forced to go back to Garissa for fear of being attacked.
The injured that had cuts on their bodies were quickly rushed to Garissa provincial general hospital for specialized treatment. Clashes over pieces of land are common in Garissa County with several people losing their lives and scored getting injured as a result.
Residents say the loss of communal grazing land to farming and environmental degradation has also fuelled conflicts in a number of pastoral areas across the Horn of Africa region, noting that freedom of movement over large areas was a crucial element of the pastoralists’ dry lands resource management system.
Analysts say competition for scarce natural resources is widely understood to be a primary cause of conflict in the region and is in part related to the inability of pastoralists to assert their land rights. The absence of the government in some parts makes people take the law into their own hands. Poor leadership and a breakdown in community values also help to foster insecurity. (Xinhua)
