NCIC chair Francis Kaparo to broker lasting peace between Mandera, Wajir clans

NCIC Chairman Francis Ole Kaparo

MANDERA: The National Commission for Integration and Cohesion (NCIC) has moved to broker peace between two feuding communities in Northern Kenya.

NCIC chairman Francis ole Kaparo has urged the Degodia and Garre communities living in Mandera and Wajir to end hostilities that have led to death and displacement of people.

The two rival communities, which recently signed a deal ushering in relative peace in the troubled counties, were advised to engage in dialogue and reconciliation.

Speaking in Rhamu town, the epicentre of the deadly skirmishes, Mr Kaparo said the killings had tainted the image of the region.

Kaparo said several people had died while tens of thousands others were forcibly displaced and property worth millions of shillings lost.

The chairman further said hundreds of innocent school children were affected by the conflicts after their schools in Rhamu and Banisa were closed down. Exam candidates could not find ample time to prepare for their papers.

WILD ANIMALS

He told locals to stop blaming the national government for the way resources were shared among the different communities living in the area, saying unlike before, the resources were now fully in their hands.

"It is as if communities in Northern Kenya have turned to human hunting after the Government outlawed hunting of wild animals. We must restore the sanctity of human life and turn to development that can only be realised by peaceful co-existence," the former Parliament Speaker said.

Kaparo said pastoralists were blessed with two-thirds of national land mass, adding the inter clan flare-ups had nothing to do with land but political supremacy.

He was accompanied by a host of Mandera and Wajir MPs including Adan Keynan, Mohamed Elmi, Mohamed Abdow, Mohamud Mohamed, Mohamed Mohamud and Fauzia Mahabub.

Kenya's ambassador to Kuwait, Adan Mahat, was also present.