By PAUL GITAU
The Government blocked access to two mass graves at the scene of recent violence in Tana River County.
Security teams unearthed what they claimed appeared to be bodies packed into two graves, but because they barred journalists from entering the remote area, it was not possible, by the time of going to press, to determine how many bodies were found.
The Kenya Red Cross Society are treating the find with secrecy. It confirmed that it had received reports of the alleged mass graves at Ozi, but was unable to reach the village due to a police lockdown.
Caleb Kilande, the Kenya Red Cross relief officer in charge of the county, said security teams combing the region for weapons and militiamen closed all roads into the village.
“We are trying to enter the village. At the moment we are in Kipini. We want to see if we could access the area by speed boat,” he told The Standard.
However, the discovery is already stocking suspicion of earlier killings prior to the ones first reported three weeks ago in skirmishes that occurred when the Government was in deep slumber as rival communities massacred each other.
By the time the Government attempted to restore calm, over 100 people had been slaughtered according to official figures.
The two suspected mass graves would therefore open up another can of worms by revealing that more bodies could have been buried secretly.
Close scrutiny
And in a new twist of events, sources told The Standard that the police had confiscated 10 cell phones from suspects in the area, which had revealed shocking details.
The sources said upon scrutiny of the SIM cards and the M-pesa communication, it was found that the suspects had been communicating and even receiving funds from suspected operatives of the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) and other personalities from outside the area.
