Police: 48 Dead in Kenyan Clashes Over Land
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MOMBASA, Kenya August 22, 2012 (AP)
Hundreds of farmers attacked a village, killing at least 48 people in
southeastern Kenya in an escalation of clashes between the farming and
pastoral communities over land and resources, an official said Wednesday.
Some people were burned to death in their houses, while others were hacked
to death or shot with arrows, said Tana River region police chief Joseph
Kavoo.
The majority of those killed were women and children, said area resident
Said Mgeni. He said the attacks began Wednesday at dawn when a group of
about 200 people belonging to the Pokomo ethnic group raided a village in
the Riketa area and torched all the houses belonging to the Orma, a
pastoralist community.
Mgeni, who is in charge of a government fund for development in the
constituency, said it was a retaliatory attack sparked by incidents last
week when the Pokomo protested over Orma grazing their cattle in their farms
and farmers attacked the pastoralists and injured hundreds of their
livestock.
The Orma then retaliated and killed two Pokomo's over that altercation,
Kavoo said. The two tribes clash perennially but death tolls have remained
low through reconciliation meetings between the communities' elders, Kavoo
said.
"We were making arrangements to finance peace campaigns and today we were
even supposed to have a last meeting... ahead of the process, but this would
now mean that we have to wait," said Mgeni.
A member of parliament representing a constituency in the district, Dhado
Godana, said the retaliatory attacks could not be controlled on time, since
the area is hard to reach.
"We had planned to meet and resolve the issue since that area is prone to
conflict and the same may spill over to nearby areas," said Godana.
The legislator attributed the frequent clashes to an influx of foreigners
from Somalia in the area, and also the fact that residents in the area own
illegal arms which they use for their survival.
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Received on Wed Aug 22 2012 - 12:40:55 EDT
