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14 killed and thousands flee as
violence spreads to Naivasha
Story by NATION Team
Publication Date: 1/28/2008
At least 14 people were killed, 10 of them burnt after their house
was set ablaze as violence erupted in Naivasha Town Sunday.
The burnt victims had locked themselves inside the house after
running away from a gang of youths, which was armed with machetes.
The gangs, believed to be from Central Province, set the house on
fire after dousing it with petrol.
According to a witness, the victims had initially attempted to
flee to Naivasha Police Station after word went round that they
would be attacked.
The arson attack happened at around 10am in Kabati estate. The
fire also burnt 10 other houses in the residential block.
Three other people were stoned to death while several others
sustained deep cuts after being attacked by groups of youths.
The death toll from the Nakuru and Naivasha killings in the last
four days rose to 83.
The gangs, armed with pangas (machetes) and rungus (clubs),
erected roadblocks on the Nairobi-Naivasha highway.
At one of the roadblocks, a man believed to be from Nyanza
Province was hacked to death after being flushed out of an Akamba
bus bound for western Kenya.
The youths inspected all vehicles at the barricades and attacked
those who could not speak their mother tongue.
Police appeared overwhelmed and the military was deployed to
restore order.
At around noon, entry into Naivasha Town was completely cut off
after the youths blocked a two-kilometre stretch.
Looted chemists
The gangs also broke into two chemists at the town centre and
looted the stocks and also burnt medicines worth thousands of
shillings.
Medical officers at Naivasha District Hospital said the majority
of patients admitted there had deep cuts.
In Nakuru, Red Cross officials said more than 2,000 had fled Free
Area and Kiratina estates alone.
Consequently, travel between Nairobi and western parts of the
country was cut off as most transport operators suspended
operations.
In Naivasha Town, the gangs went from house to house slashing out
people from western Kenya and burning their houses.
The attacks spread as mediator Kofi Annan said he had given both
sides in Kenya’s growing crisis a roadmap to peace. Separately,
ODM leaders accused the Government of using the outlawed Mungiki
sect members to escalate the crisis.
In Nakuru, fleeing residents sought refuge in churches, police
stations and Afraha stadium.
The Nation team visited the affected areas which included Mwariki,
Kaptembwa and Gilanis estates where residents were fleeing to
safer grounds.
Panicky residents
In other estates like Pangani, Racetrack, Free Hold and Lake View,
panicky residents stayed outside their houses.
Two Kenya Army helicopters monitored the situation from the air
for the better part of Sunday.
Patrolling area
Residents complained that police officers patrolling the area were
doing little to contain the attacks.
They said some of the police officers were disarming one group and
leaving another group to roam the area and cause destruction.
There were no public transport vehicles to town while most of the
shops were closed. Churches in the affected areas recorded low
turnout as most worshippers kept away.
And as residents were fleeing, some of the police and Kenya
Wildlife Service vehicles were evacuating their staff and
relatives in Racetrack, Langa Langa and Mwariki estates.
At the Kaptembwa, there was a heavy presence of GSU men who kept
vigil as fleeing residents thronged the nearby Holy Cross Catholic
Church.
At the church, the entire compound was full of displaced persons
mainly from Kaptembwa and Gilanis estates.
A priest at the church, Father Bernard Ngaruiya, said at least
2,000 people had sought refuge there.
Most of the displaced people complained of hunger saying they had
no food to eat as the shops in the surrounding areas had closed
down.
Evicted from homes
Over 2,000 people were evicted from their homes in Free Area and
Kiratina estates in Nakuru Town on Saturday.
The victims who had sought refuge at the Lanet chief’s camp were
later evacuated by Kenya Red Cross Society officials and taken to
Afraha stadium.
The society’s Nakuru branch co-ordinator, Mr Josphat Wafula, told
the Nation Sunday that his team evacuated 1,950 people from the
chief’s camp on Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday, close to 500 people evicted from their homes in Lanet
area were camping at the local police post while more than 600
people were camping near Pipeline Police Post in Mwariki area.
Mr Wafula said he had received reports that an unspecified number
of people were camping at different points in Subukia and Kabazi
townships and at Kiamaina in Nakuru Town.
Other displaced families were camping in Solai area.
The branch co-ordinator added that the number of clash victims at
Nakuru ASK showground had increased to 8,000 following
displacement of people in Nakuru Town, Total, Timboroa, Londiani
and Kipkelion, among other places.
Mr Wafula said he had not yet established the total number of
people camping at the Afraha stadium as more displaced families
from Lake View, Mwariki, Kaptembwo and Ponda Mali area had
streamed in.
Nakuru Town centre remained deserted Sunday with only a few
traders opening their businesses.
The premises were later hurriedly closed after gun shots were
heard from Shabab area where police officers were repulsing gangs
of youths.
Rival communities
And one person was killed and another seriously injured when
youths from rival communities fought at Karagita area in the
outskirts of Naivasha Town.
According to police, the fight broke out on Saturday when a group
of armed youths attacked houses belonging to people from western
Kenya.
“They broke doors and windows and flushed out men, brutally
attacking them,” said a local resident. However, police repulsed
the attackers and arrested seven of them.
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