Even as a dark cloud continues to hang over Tana River County following a spate of violence, Kenya is once again under watch of the international community, as it prepares for the General Election.
On Thursday, the Obama Administration asked Kenya to create conditions for credible and peaceful elections.
A statement from the State Department asked the Government to resolve differences among sections of Kenyans to allow voters to participate in the March 4, 2103 elections.
The US said it is worried that the current cycle of killings might lead to more serious communal violence as the elections approach.
At the same time, a global team of experts on democracy chaired by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has equally urged the Government to avoid the mistakes that led to the 2007-2008 post-election mayhem in which 1,133 people were killed, 600,000 uprooted from their homes and property worth billions of shillings destroyed.
These warnings come against the backdrop of unprecedented violence in Tana River County over the last one month.
So far, 110 people have been killed in the worst conflict to hit the area since independence.
Even as an uneasy calm returns to the area, pictures of villagers fleeing for fearing more attacks by raiders are worrying.
This also indicates the people can no longer trust security officers to protect them after enduring weeks of untold terror from Orma and Pokomo raiders.
The crisis in the Tana Delta must worry us all, especially when armed and daring attackers kill police officers.
There was no denying that the security situation in Tana River was getting out of hand and even earlier assurances from Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere that security had been stepped up did not deter the attackers from staging their heinous acts.
While we appreciate the Cabinet decision on Thursday to give the police the green light to act decisively and end clashes in Tana River County, we must at the same time ask why it had to take the deaths of over 100 people for the Government to act.
