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Incident Report Description:Collins Odour: The situation is improving in most parts of the country but not most parts of the Rift Valley among the Kalenjin community, these areas are still volatile and hard to reach because of the persistence and resistance of Kalenjin fighters being fueled by the current political stands being pulled by the president, the Kalejins fighters are taking advantage of the current political situation to flash out non-Kalenjins from the Rift Valley mostly Kikuyu community, one of the area is Kuresoi, immediately after I got support from Dennis Kimambo +254722388275I have been in communication with young people from Kuresoi which is made up five divisions Ole Ngureon, Keringet, Kamara and Kuresoi. The area has been badly affected by the post election violence. Though again Kuresoi has been a no go zone even before the general elections during the campaigns leading to elections and historical Kuresoi has been associated with a lot of tribal fighting during the election in 1992, 1997 and 2002 affecting Molo town, and some parts of Nakuru town. Personally I have been involved in youth peace rallies in the area by organizing youth forums and sporting events under the banner of youths for peaceful and democratic election just before the general elections the situation was tensed with homes being touched by the Kelenjin fighters. When I called Victor Achami one of the long term peace cruder in the area at night he hard to lock himself in the house before communicating through the phone, we talked for about 2hours on phone. Achami is a resident of Kuresoi for a long time with the experience of the place he was able to report the following shocking findings to me. On phone Achami told me that confirmed deaths in Kuresoi is 26 people though most of the deaths have not been confirmed because the Kelenjin fighters do not leave their own behind even if one is dead or injured, so Achami says that there are more deaths that have not been reported. Some people have died because of injuries sustained during the fighting and buried without the knowledge of the government. Another shocking report I got is that most of the Kelenjin fighter’s are children between the ages of 14 and 16 who are actually still in primary school. The oldest among the fighters is 25. This is bad news because it reflects the emergence of child solders in Kenya which is totally a new phenomenon to this country. Involving children in such conflict may develop into long term conflict between them and other non Kalenjin community. After facilitating Achami with phone credit He was able to communicate to 10 Kelenjin fighters in the bush. The only problem he told me is that the fighters do not disclose information about what and why they are fighting yet they are saying that they are not willing to give up the fight until the non-Kelenjins leave Kuresoi. He has also been in talks with the provincial administration to hold community peace meetings with the elders because the elders play a major role of instructing and financing the young fighters, the District Commissioner has promised to speared head the talks thanks to the small money I got from Dennis. The situation can be salvaged through intensive outreach in the areas to all the affected areas. Shocking enough is that the fighters get man power support and boost from the community members who offer to transport fighters from Bomet, Transmara, Kilgoris, and Kipkeleon. Kalenjin fighters travel all the way from the above area to give support to their brothers in Kuresoi; this has made the situation difficult to manage because of the movement of the fighters traveling as far as Kericho to Kuresoi. Achami is very gratefully of the initiative being conducted by the Dennis and Friends which has enabled him to reach to 10 Kalenjin fighters effectively and he is welling to do more, though access to communication apart from the phone is difficult because of the situation on the ground. Achami has promised to reach out to more Kelenjin fighters in the region. He will be sending me phone numbers of the fighters so that I can also talk to then directly and if possible travel to Kuresoi and meet them personally. To get more incite of the story you can communicate to Achami Through the following numbers +254720613379 and my number is +254721637457. I will keep you updated. |
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