UN concerned over inter-communal violence in Kenya
New York, 06 Jan – (ANA) - The United Nations today voiced concern over inter-communal clashes in northern Kenya where some 46 people have died in recent months in reprisal attacks linked to rivalry over pasture and cattle rustling.
The clashes between the Borana and Gabra livestock herding communities around
the northern Kenyan town of Moyale, which is situated on the border with
Ethiopia, have reportedly also displaced thousands of people.
“What we are seeing up there is cyclical inter-communal revenge attacks and
violence between the communities,” said Matthew Conway, spokesperson for the
East African bureau of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA), which is based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
“What appears to be motivating the violence is competition for land for grazing
and livestock,” he said in an interview with UN Radio, adding that the violence
follows the recent drought in northern Kenya during which pastoralist
communities lost large numbers of their livestock due to the lack of pasture and
the drying up of water sources. (ANA)
FA/ANA/06 January 2012-----------