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Mt Elgon: Refugee crisis a big shame
DAILY NATION
Publication Date: 4/19/2007
Up to 5,000 Kenyans have reportedly sought refuge in Uganda following the violence in Mt Elgon district. Authorities in eastern Uganda say the refugees are living in deplorable conditions.
Their hosts also fear that the Kenyans could become a source of insecurity. The conditions in which they are living also make them prone to communicable diseases.
As the Ugandan authorities and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees look into their plight, we, in Kenya, should be hanging our heads in shame. Kenya, it is that has traditionally hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees from troubled neighbouring states.
We have welcomed people fleeing civil wars, dictatorships and repression in Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Uganda itself. It is not for nothing that Kenya earned the tag of an island of peace in a turbulent region. When Kenyans flee their own country in such numbers, we must recognise that something is terribly wrong.
The authorities must work harder to restore security in Mt Elgon and prevent the violence from spreading to neighbouring districts.
Also, the recurrence of clashes between pastoral and farming communities in Tana River district, may indicate that violence is becoming the preferred method of solving disputes.
The violence is not confined to remote communities. It is also being witnessed close to the capital as matatu operators take on Mungiki gangs.
Obviously, there is a big problem that reflects inadequate policing in the trouble spots. The outbreaks of violence may be an indictment of the police force, but they also point to a total failure of the national security intelligence mechanism.
With effective intelligence, police would have been alerted and moved in to nip any planned violence in the bud. Such outbreaks of violence are not just an issue for the affected area, but a national problem that must be handled with utmost
seriousness.
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