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Maasais killed three Kisiis
- Details
- Published on Saturday, 07 July 2007 07:16
A witness, Mr Joshua Moroko Onkomba, said the incident led to more clashes in which seven other Kisiis were murdered and 18 houses burnt along the Gucha-Trans Mara border in 1997.
He said 100 armed Maasais intercepted the three policemen who were leading a search party of Kisiis. After being threatened, the policemen surrendered their guns and took to their heels with hands in the air, the witness said.
He added: "After the policemen, who were meant to ensure our safety surrendered, we also took off. Those who were killed were the ones who could not run fast enough."
Armed with arrows, spears and clubs, the Maasai threatened to lynch everybody on sight, forcing the security officers and the more than 50 Kisiis they were leading to take to their heels, running towards the border.
Mr Onkomba, the 280th witness and who was led in his evidence-in-chief by a counsel assisting the commission, Mrs Dorcas Oduor, said that the clashes between Kisiis and Maasais had been flaring up for many years but heightened between 1991 and 1997.
He claimed that the Maasais had started the fights which led to the killing of the ten Kisiis "because they have always been rude whenever we tracked our stolen cattle into Trans Mara".
The first incident where the three Kisiis were killed, he said, occurred when a team of Kisiis, who included Mr Onkomba, crossed into Trans Mara to track down a herd of cattle allegedly stolen from the home of a Kisii assistant chief. Seven others were later killed in the fights that followed.
Mr Onkomba, who hails from Mageche sub-location in Kenyenya, Gucha District said the fight that followed the slaying was fierce and lasted eight hours before police moved in to quell it.
The night before the killings, he added, Maasais burnt down 18 houses belonging to Kisiis at the Riotiri centre along the border.
He said that the fight continued the following day forcing more than 20 police and GSU officers, who had accompanied DCs from both sides to fire several shots into the air to disperse the crowds.
Earlier, another witness told the commission that a group of Kisiis attacked a squad of General Service Unit (GSU) officers at the Trans Mara-Gucha border, killing their commander, before the officers killed two of the attackers to gain an escape route.
Mr Tomoko ole Kurao, the chief of Osinoni Location in Trans Mara said the GSU officers were patrolling the border when they were attacked by Kisiis.
He said that with the advent of multi-party politics, people living along the border took the law into their hands and did not fear police. This, he explained, heightened tribal clashes between Kisii and Maasai.
Examined by assisting Counsel Bernard Chunga, Mr Ole Kurao said the GSU officers had run out of ammunition when they were attacked. After their commander was killed, he helped transport three of the GSU officers who were seriously injured to Kilgoris hospital.
Justice Akiwumi: Can you recall one incident when a policeman was killed?
Ole Kurao: Yes, my Lords. One day after stock theft in Trans Mara, GSU followed the suspects up to the Kisii area. The Kisii fought the GSU officers. The officers fired in the air until they ran out of bullets and one of them, their leader, was killed.
Chunga: Then what happened?
Ole Kurao: The GSU officers then killed two Kisiis and ran away.
Mrs Oduor earlier questioned Mr Onkomba on his mission to track the stolen cattle into Trans Mara.
Oduor: Did you call the police?
Onkomba: Yes, my Lords.
Oduor: How many policemen?
Onkomba: Three, my Lords.
Oduor: Did you enter Maasailand?
Onkomba: Yes, my Lords.
Oduor: Did you find the animals?
Onkomba: No, my Lords
