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Government Told to Stop Violence

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The Catholic Church yesterday told the Government to move in swiftly and stop the resurging tribal clashes.

Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki expressed concern that the violence on the Gucha-Trans Mara border and at Kericho's Kipkelion and the widespread insecurity in the North Rift could be a repeat of the clashes that preceded the l992 and 1997 elections.

He accused the Government of being privy to the planning and execution of the violence and then deliberately failing to stop it.

Archbishop Ndingi said the church would tour the affected areas to emphasise its demand that the Government stop the violence.

Sending security personnel to the troubled areas was not a solution, the prelate added. He asked why the Government was just watching as people are killed and property is destroyed. "If the Government will not stop it, is it part of it?" he asked.

He accused the provincial administration and the intelligence unit of allowing the mayhem to continue. The primate was addressing journalists soon after he conducted a thanksgiving mass at Kanunga High School, Kiambu.

The church leader, who headed the Nakuru archdiocese during the 1992 tribal clashes in Rift Valley, said: "I went through it and I know what it means."

The violence between the Kisii and the Maasai on the Gucha/Trans Mara border has claimed 21 lives in the past two months.

Security personnel have been deployed to the area to quell the anarchy.

Meanwhile, the Government yesterday donated 200 bags of maize to the victims of the violence at Kasheen, Kipkelion Division.

District Commissioner Athmani Shauri said arrangements were being made to supply 300 more bags of maize and several of beans and other foods.

He appealed to those affected to forward their names to District Officer Aloyce Otieno to receive their rations. Mr Shauri was speaking at two reconciliation meetings at the Kasheen shopping centre. The communal representatives resolved to urge their people to sue for and maintain peace.

The DC appealed to those who stole seven cows, 12 goats, 19 sheep and other property to return them.

He said police were investigating the violence and that three assistant chiefs and a councillor had recorded statements.