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Cattle Theft Disrupts Peace Talks At Border
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 22 July 2007 23:08
Leaders meeting at Poroko, Trans Mara, were taken aback when Maasai morans raided the nearby Nyangusu market and drove away cattle belonging to a Gucha farmer.
The 2.45 pm incident triggered war cries as leaders, led by Gucha District Commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan and his Trans Mara counterpart, Mr Wilfred Ndolo, met under a mugumo tree.
The war cries spread like wildfire over a 20-kilometre radius from the market, prompting the two DCs to send armed policemen to the place of attack.
Panic gripped those attending the meeting.
Five kilometres away, residents of Kiango on the Gucha side buried two young men shot dead by the police on Madaraka Day.
Emotions ran high at the burial ceremony attended by armed youth and grieving elders.
Chanting war cries and armed, the youth performed mock-war rites around Mr Fred Makambi's grave.
At the Poroko meeting, hopes that the bloodshed would stop were dashed when councillors representing wards at the border boycotted it.
The civic leaders complained that the meeting had been scheduled despite the burials of the two young men.
They also wondered why the venue had been shifted two kilometres away from the border - in Trans Mara District.
"The meeting point was dictated to us by the Trans Mara administration. We were not consulted. We are busy burying our dead killed by government agents," said Mr Andrew Mokua who represents Bomachoge/Borabu Ward.
"Peace meetings without the participation of MPs will achieve little," he said.
The MPs representing the constituencies affected by the ethnic clash are Cabinet Ministers Julius Sunkuli (Kilgoris) and Sam Ongeri (Nyaribari Masaba), Zephania Nyang'wara (Bomachoge) and Chris Obure (Bobasi). The Poroko meeting came up with 11 resolutions, including a ban on leasing land and grazing rights in Trans Mara for people from Gucha.
The two issues have been contentious and have triggered most of the attacks.
Due to population pressure, the Kisii lease the land on the Trans Mara side for grazing and farming.
But of late, the Maasai have been uncomfortable with the arrangement and have not only ignored the lease agreement but also used violence to drive out the occupants.
They often take cattle by force in a bid to discourage the farmers. Due to the clashes, land where 750,000 bags of maize are harvested has not been cultivated this year. The meeting also resolved that anybody carrying offensive weapons along the border be arrested and charged. Mr Ndolo said the two districts' security committees would intensify patrols along the border.
At Tabaka Mission Hospital, the Nation found 14 violence victims being treated for arrow and bullet wounds.
