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End killings in Mt Elgon, NCCK boss tells Kibaki
KENYA TIMES
ANTONY NDWIGAH & RUTH WAKAPE
08/04/2007
In the wake of land clashes that have hit Mt Elgon region claiming scores of lives and destruction of property, the outgoing National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) Secretary General Mutava Musyimi now wants President Mwai Kibaki to take a personal initiative to stop the mayhem.
Speaking in Kirinyaga District yesterday, Musyimi reiterated the Council's desire to see an end to clashes that have left over 150 dead and thousands displaced.
The call to end the killings in Mt Elgon was on the list of demands contained in a memorandum presented by the Council’s officials to President Kibaki at State House Nairobi when they met him late last month.
Musyimi decried the barriers that have emerged in the attempts to solve the conflict, saying the unrelenting clashes in Mt. Elgon District are politically instigated and urged the Government to arrest those behind the killings.
On Wednesday, Mt Elgon MP John Serut implicated four Members of Parliament from Rift Valley Province in the clashes, when he claimed on the floor of the House that the mayhem is bank-rolled by the politicians he named and refuted assertions that they were sparked by land disputes.
As an intervention measure, the Government has deployed security personnel that include the General Service Unit (GSU) to increase security patrols in the clash-torn district to stop the warring clans from attacking each other.
On Wednesday night, security forces led a sting operation in Lukhome area, taking its residents by surprise and were still in the area by yesterday morning.
Residents initially fled their homes and spent the night in bushes thinking they had been attacked by the infamous Sabaot Lands Defense Force militia.
This confusion was prompted by reports that SLDF fighters who raided Kapsokwony District headquarters and killed seven people were reported to be wearing uniforms similar to those of Kenyan police.
Speaking at an official luncheon of the Bungoma West District at Chwele trading centre, Western Provincial Commissioner Abdul Mwasera said sting operations will be extended to Chwele, Lwakhakha and Trans Nzoia Districts where SLDF militiamen are reported to be
hiding.
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