Resource 2: ‘Ten killed in Kenyan tribal warfare’

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Nairobi – Ten people were killed on Saturday in a remote Kenyan district as rival tribes clashed over unresolved feuds, touching off a perennial conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives in recent years, police said.

Pokot and Samburu tribal warriors fought in Samburu district, a volatile dust bowl area about 260 kilometres northeast of the capital, Rift Valley police commander Everette Wasike told AFP.

‘After a period of calm, it seems they have started fighting again. But we have sent in reinforcements to restore calm there,’ he added.

‘Ten people have died – five each from the rival sides and several others have been wounded,’ said a top police official.

The warlike Pokot and Sumburu tribes have traditionally feuded over cattle rustling and access to resources, claiming hundreds of lives in recent years, but the practice has become increasingly bloody after the rivals acquired modern firearms.

A government bid last year to disarm the tribes, in which human rights groups accused authorities of using excessive force, failed after the fighters refused to give up their arms.

Cattle rustling has increased in the impoverished region in recent months as pastoralists seek to restock herds that were badly affected by a searing drought across east Africa over the last two years.

Adapted from:IOL News for South Africa and the World