Red Cross faces setbacks in locating the sick in Baringo operation

Baringo’s rough and challenging terrain has complicated the Kenya Red Cross society operations at Silale hills of Tiaty constituency, with casualties relying on herbal medicine administered by traditional doctors.

Herders who have been allegedly targeted by several explosives directed at the rocky hill by the military to flush out Pokot bandits who brutally murdered 21 police officers continue descending deep down calderas instead of seeking medical help from Red Cross fearing to be arrested.

Speaking in Chemolingot, Kioko Kiilu said many terrified victims venture far away from residential areas complicating their volunteer work for last one week.

Kiilu said most of the population especially those at the edge of the escarpment have moved towards the interior part of the mountainous region to avoid advancing military officers who have now surrounded the target areas from all corners.
His staff, who have been distributing kits to households, have attended to 121 cases of minor ailments at Nakoret area but after scaling up the mountains in the expansive sub-count. “Fear and anxiety has gripped this region, families are fleeing from areas they feel are unsafe, away from shopping centres and health facilities putting their lives at risk,” he confirmed.

A spot check has established that those with thousands of livestock had started moving them away towards Samburu and Laikipia with others heading towards Suguta Valley to escape security personnel as they pursue armed bandits.

Shopping centres, including Chesitet, have been closed as residents flee for safety after several shops and residential homes were set ablaze by suspected security officers two days after Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo issued a shoot-to-kill order on armed criminals in the area.

For the last one week, Red Cross deployed 45 medical doctors and volunteers who have also assisted residents at Kapau, Chesawach, Kongor, Kulal and Lomelo near Baringo Turkana border.

“The situation here is tough for us, sometimes we were are forced to move around with pangas to clear bushy roads to access deserted areas due to insecurity,” Kiilu said. The Kenya Redcross were the first people to encounter the rotting bodies of police officers and three civilians under the scorching sun of Kasarani two days after they were ambushed ascending a seasonal river along the Kapedo-Lokori road.

Since the operation begun, traders at Chemolingot, the headquarters of Tiaty, said there has not been free movement of goods as traders relocate or completely stop restocking as they wait for the operation’s outcome. David Lomelo, a shopkeeper at Chemolingot, pleaded with the Government to consider reviewing its directive for a massive security operation insisting that innocent and law abiding citizens will suffer as he maintained that those behind the killings might not be apprehended.