Deadly xmas as rustlers gun down five herders

By Ali Abdi

It was a gloomy Christmas for Isiolo town residents as armed raiders armed with semi-automatic rifles gunned down five herdsmen.

Home guards put up a brave fight against the raiders in a four-hour battle, killing five of the attackers who are reportedly known persons in Isiolo.

Hundreds of camels and cattle stolen during the raid were recovered by a joint security team. However, about 400 goats were driven away.

Monday, hundreds of residents led by Livestock Development Minister Mohammed Kuti turned up at Odha Muslim cemetery to bury four of the dead herdsmen.

The deaths occurred when over 100 raiders attacked makeshift villages at Isiolo’s Burat Two area on Christmas Day.

Wabera Ward councillor Ismail Galma, who was accompanied by 15 Isiolo councillors, identified those killed as Hussein Maalim, Barre Ali, Gedi Hilole and Ibrahim Elkwen.

Elkwen, who sustained multiple gunshot wounds, died at the Meru General Hospital Monday morning.

Bodies of five of the raiders were abandoned at the scene, about 30km west of the town.

Isiolo OCPD Augustine Thumbi spent the day at Burat together with the officer in charge of police operations in Eastern Province Willy Lugusa and Upper Eastern Regional Commissioner Isaiah Nakoru.

Kuti said one community responsible for the conflict had pledged to uphold peace in the presence of Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, but was now behind the flare-up.

Masterminds

"The Government knows who the masterminds of the killings are and their motive. Steps should immediately be taken. But one thing should be clear — no one is going to be evicted from here," Kuti told the mourners, who demanded overhaul of the district security committee.

"The problem here is of one community blocking the rest from grazing their animals in Kipsing, Mulango and Burat. The Government knows this and has not taken any action," said Galma.

But a tribesman from the raiding party claimed the herders, who also hail from Isiolo Central, had trespassed through their land and that they were out to protect it from ‘outsiders’.

"We stopped them because this area is our land. Everyone should stay at his or her place," said the man without elaborating.

Waso Trustland Project, an NGO working among pastoralists in the region, said it was wrong for the Government to allow one side to block others from accessing pastureland.