By: JAMES MBAKA
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
GARISSA COUNTY: About 100 families were rendered homeless in fresh skirmishes in Garissa County. The families were displaced after their traditional Somali huts were set on fire by hooligans believed to be from a clan locked in a border feud over a settlement area between Dadaab and Balambala constituencies in the county.
According to Garissa County Commissioner Rashid Khator, nobody was injured in the incident. The county commissioner however said 21 houses and a drilling machine worth Sh20 million were reduced to ashes at the disputed Qabobey location when unknown assailants torched an entire settlement.
Khator said the days of those instigating violence in the county are numbered as the government will establish the perpetrators and punish them
Meanwhile area MPs have called upon their constituents to refrain from taking the law into their hands.
BORDER DISPUTE
Dadaab MP Dr Mohamed Dahiye said leaders will work together to resolve the border dispute between the two communities.
Balambala Member of Parliament, Abdikadir Aden urged the people to desist from any form of violence, adding the two clans are not enemies.
Early this year, there was a deadly clash between the two clans; Abdiwak and Auliyan who have a historical land feud, which left eight people, including the area chief with serious injuries. Two chiefs from the area are facing court cases for failing to stop the skirmishes.
Aden said area leaders have formed a mediation team of elders from both clans to immediately embark on reconciliation process.
“It’s regrettable that this incident happened. We had already resolved that all developments and resources that come to the area will be shared fairly among the residents,” said the Mbalambala legislator.
The Mbalambala CDF team had commenced a Sh10 million water drilling project in the disputed Qabobey area, which the Auliyahan clan members from Dadaab are opposed to, claiming implementation of the project was tantamount to declaring the place falls in Mbalambala Constituency.