Sombre mood as 21 Samburu raid victims buried in mass grave

By Beatrice Obwocha

Twenty-one victims of the recent killings in Samburu have been buried in a mass grave at the scene of the attack.

The burial took place as members of the Samburu community vowed to revenge against their Pokot neighbours.

Samburu prepare a body for burial, in Kanampiu village in Samburu, Wednesday

Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa, the provincial security committee and Samburu leaders attended the burial yesterday.

A sombre mood engulfed Naibol, a place where the victims had migrated to in search of water and pasture for their livestock.

Carcasses of the 40 dead cattle and the 14 bodies of the suspected Pokot bandits who were gunned down during the attack were strewn at the manyatta.

Police were scheduled to take the bodies to Nyahururu District Hospital mortuary.

Laikipia North OCPD John Ngare said there was no space at the Maralal District Hospital mortuary to store them.

Conducted post-mortem

Armed Samburu morans helped police bury the 21 bodies covered in red ‘shukas’, traditionally worn by members of the Maasai and Samburu communities.

A Government pathologist Dr Karemi conducted post-mortem examination of the bodies at the scene before the burial. It was an emotional ceremony that left morans and villagers bitter.

The PC asked locals not to take the law into their hands and pleaded with Samburu and Pokot elders to attend a peace meeting scheduled for Friday.

He also announced the setting of four police posts in PND, Mwaraka, Naibol and Tinga Mara to contain incidents of cattle rustling.

At Maralal District Hospital, nine people were still recuperating while the Government moved six others to hospitals in Nakuru and Nairobi for specialised treatment.

Three of them, including a 10-year-old boy whose jaw was shattered by a bullet, were taken to Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital.

A caterpillar at the site. [PHOTOS: BONIFACE THUKU /STANDARD]

The other three were scheduled to be flown to Nairobi Hospital by yesterday afternoon.

Survivors told The Standard at the scene they anticipated the attack since a similar one occurred at the same spot in 2006.

"When we decided to come here, we knew the risk we were taking. We had no option. It was either we watch our livestock die or Pokot raiders kill us," said Mr Lolpanyo Loroso, 18.

Less pasture

Loroso said they had another option of driving the animals to Kanampio, which was equally dangerous but with less pasture.

"We could not watch our livestock die and there was pasture here," he said at the scene where he killed two Pokot raiders.

The bloody killings came soon after Laisamis MP expressed concern over increased insecurity in northern Kenya. Of the 35 killed, 21 were said to be Samburu women and children. A herder , who sustained minor injuries and was recuperating at Maralal District Hospital said the high number of casualties were a result of from Pokot raiders who did not expect much resistance.

The attack on the Samburu was at a spot where there is plenty of pasture and water. It is an area sandwiched between the insecure Suguta Valley and Kirimon area.

A security operation in the area is yet to bear fruits, as the raiders remain at large.

Tension high

Local DC Amos Mariba said a combined force of security officers had been deployed to the area from Laikipia North and neighbouring Samburu, Laikipia East and Laikipia West districts. He said the situation had been contained although tension was still high.

The Deputy Rift Valley PPO Mbaya told The Standard a contingent of security personnel was pursuing the rustlers. He, however, disputed claims that some cows were stolen saying the rustlers opted to shoot the cattle in the manyatta at Naibol after they realised they had been overpowered.