Armed militia attack Wajir County leaders

Updated Sunday, June 30th 2013 at 19:18 GMT +3

By Adow Jubat

Wajir, County: A team of political and community leaders from Wajir County came under gun ambush in Burmayo village from suspected clan militia during a tour to assess humanitarian needs sparked off by the inter-clan conflict that rocked Wajir and Mandera Counties.

The leaders led by Wajir Senator Abdirahman Olowand Governor Ahmed Abdullahi were caught up by the armed militia, who were burning deserted traditional  houses by the time the leaders arrived at the village at 11.30am on Sunday.

Speaking to The Standard on phone from Wajir, Senator Olow said their assailants were seemingly hiding behind nearby hills and monitoring their movement before opening fire on them shortly after they disembarked from their vehicles to assess the damage and displacement caused by the conflict pitting Degodia and Garre.

“The bandits opened fire on us moments after; we started moving around the deserted and seriously burnt village. The attack was so sudden that we were found unaware, but luckily none of our team was hurt in the unfortunate incidents” he said.

Other leaders, who were in the ambushed convoy, were Wajir-East MP Abass Sheikh Mohamed, Tarbaj MP Mohamed Ibrahim Elimi and Wajir County women representative Fatuma Ibrahim, County peace committee elders and former councillors.

Olow said the unknown militia who attacked them, were repulsed by the security personnel accompanying their convoy after exchanging gun fire for about ten minutes, before they hurriedly jumped into their waiting vehicles and drove back to Wajir town.

According to a local journalist who was with leaders said, “Pandemonium broke and everyone run helter skelter, with some leaders leaving behind their shoes in the melee. Every one of us had to jump into the speeding vehicle including women”.

“We thank Allah, who saved our lives. These bandits are determined to cause chaos in the region and they must be dealt with forcibly by the government security apparatus. Bandits who are daring leaders escorted by security personnel can’t be left to roam freely in our borders,” said Olow who was sounding agitated by the incidents.

The senator, said the government must deploy enough and adequately equipped security officers to the clash-torn Counties of Wajir and Mandera to flush out all armed clan bandits, who are killing innocent people and displacing thousands of families from their villages thereby creating unnecessary humanitarian crisis.

The leaders said from their two days preliminary assessment over 4,000 families from the both fighting clans were uprooted from villages in Burmayo, Ogoraley, Basiniche, Batalu and Duntow adding the named affected villages were ghost villages.

“There is a serious humanitarian crisis here. The displaced families are staying in the cold for many days without sufficient food, water and medicine. We appeal to the government and other well-wishes to intervene with humanitarian aid” the Senator lamented.

He said the government and local NGOs’ distributed some food to the displaced families, but he noted the assistance was too little compare to the prevailing humanitarian needs by the IDPs.