Three more people have been arrested in connection to the Tana Delta clashes that left over 60 people dead in the past one month. This brings the number of those arrested to 12 since the crackdown began. Three weeks ago, 52 people mostly children and women were massacred in Riketa village, while three people were killed in Kau village in Kipini division.
Tana Delta District Commissioner David Kiprop said the government was pursuing people suspected of orchestrating the killings. The latest killing took place at Tarasaa division. He said any politician who will be linked to the conflict will be "brought to book" and "the full force of the law will not be spared against people who are bent on causing violence in Tana Delta."
The DC said "the government was following crucial leads" and had "put on notice all the perpetrators of the violence. They should know their day are numbered." Speaking on phone, Kiprop said it did not matter the position or influence of the perpetrators, "if we get evidence linking them to the killings, we will nail them.
"Those who caused the killing others will not get away, because the government cannot not tolerate despondency." Among those who have already been brought the court are four chiefs and their assistants and five other people from Kilelengwani. The Chiefs were have since been released on a Sh200,000 bond with a surety of a similar amount.
He asked the local communities, including the Pokomo, Orma, Wardei, Malakoti and the other smaller tribes to embrace peace. Kiprop said peace campaigns have been launched at locational level and will be extended to the village level to ensure the message percolates to the grassroots. He appealed to leaders to help in peace campaigns to end the animosity and tensions. He said it was wrong for people to contribute to the tribal clashes as they contributed to under development leaving the region behind while others forged ways of developing their regions.
Currently the DC said situation had returned to normalcy and appealed for relief food and other humanitarian assistance from government and well wishers ij order to help the Internal Displaced people affected by the clashes. ''The government has already availed some assistance of food and non food items through the Ministry of Special programmes, we also recognize the Kenya Red Cross Society and others that have supported them with food ,'' he said.