15 arrested over Tana river clashes

Written By:Irene Muchuma,    Posted: Sun, Sep 09, 2012

Officials from Kenya Red Cross are assisting families affected by the clashes The death toll of Tana Delta clashes has risen to 14 after one victim succumbed to gunshot wounds at Malindi District Hospital. Thirteen others died in the Friday morning clashes between two warring communities at Chamwanamuma village in Tana Delta. Fifteen suspects have been arrested including one Kenya Police reservist in Dalga village considered to be the armory of the Orma community. Police are at this hour are headed to Dalga village where more people are said to have been killed after deadly confrontations. Disarmament exercise continues in tana-delta district amid tension following fresh declaration of immediate forceful disarmament in district. Coast Provincial Commissioner Samuel Kilele has given a week ultimatum to armed residents to return the illegally possessed weapons. Addressing the press, after attending a long day closed door meeting with the area‘s political leaders together with the region's high profile security personnel, Kilele urged security organs to turn to a door to door hunt in search of the weapons. He vowed that his team will not relent in investigating the ethnic killings, disclosing that already 10 people have been grilled by investigating officers over the issue. Tana delta district has in a fortnight now witnessed the bloodiest tribal conflicts in recent past between the Pokomo's and the Orma's . The two warring communities have largely been fighting over the region's limited resources. Meanwhile, the number of IDP's at makeshift camps in the Malindi and Magarini districts has doubled, as families flee the recent retaliatory attack that left 14 people dead and several injured .   Garsen MP ,Danson Mungatana has however urged his constituents  to restore calm as local political and government seek for permanent solution