Watoro Kamau And Lorraine Anyango
6 January 2008
Nairobi — At least 80 people have been killed and 180 others injured in Nakuru town and surrounding areas such as Molo, Kuresoi and Njoro since the announcement of presidential election results last Sunday.
And four people were killed and scores of others injured in Narok North district. The bodies were taken to the district hospital mortuary.
Hundreds of houses and other property valued at millions of shillings were destroyed by arsonists while hundreds of families were displaced in a five-day orgy of violence.
The violence targeting mainly one community was perpetrated by groups of youths armed with bows and arrows as well as other weapons.
On Friday, 47 bodies were lying at the Nakuru municipal council mortuary, while 30 others were at the Molo district hospital hospital mortuary.
The bodies of three other people who died while undergoing treatment were at the Rift Valley provincial general hospital morgue. The hospital received 90 victims with various injuries, 39 of whom were admitted.
The Molo hospital received 96 cases, 30 out them 30 persons with severe injuries were admitted.
The bodies taken to the municipal council mortuary by police had been collected in Nakuru town, Eldama Ravine, Lower Solai, Ndeffo, Kihingo, Likia, Lare, Mau Narok, Elmentaita and Mogotio.
Those at the Molo hospital had been picked up in various areas around Molo town.
Hundreds of victims who had been trapped in Timboroa, Kericho and other areas of North Rift started arriving in Nakuru town on Thursday under heavy police and military escort.
The victims, most of whom had left their homes empty-handed, recounted with bitterness their experiences at the hands of their attackers.
Some of the shock-stricken families who had nowhere else to go, were taken to the Nakuru showground where the Kenya Red Cross Society and other well-wishers gave them food and other supplies.
According to the local branch of the Kenya Red Cross Society, about 20,000 people were camping at police stations, primary schools and church compounds in Molo and Kuresoi constituencies as well as Kericho and Kipkelion divisions.
"The Government had donated 5,000 bags of maize and 2,000 bags of beans for distribution to the displaced in Molo and Kuresoi," said the branch chairman, Mr Josphat Wafula.
Another 1,500 bags of maize and 1,000 of beans would be taken to the showround camp, he added.
Although the society has a large number of volunteers, it does not have enough vehicles to transport food and non-food materials to the victims, he said, and appealed to well-wishers for more donations.
The society also appealed to private organisations to make their trucks available for the distribution of relief supplies.
Mr Wafula said the society could not access parts of Mau Narok as sections of the main road had been barricaded. His staff could not reach parts of Kipkelion district either.
Violence in Nakuru town was concentrated in the slums and the western part. Several families were evicted from Baruti, Kapkures and Mogoon areas, about 5km from downtown Nakuru.
Others fled from the sprawling Kwa Rhoda and Kaptembwo rsidential areas. Nakuru town chief Stephen Karanja told the Sunday Nation that about 50 families fled from their homes, and were camping at the showground.
Violence broke out also at Biston in Njoro, Lare, Kihingo, Ndeffo, Mutukanio, Meta, Likia, Mathangauta and Mau Narok - all in Molo constituency.
Also affected were areas such as Muchorwe, Sirikwa, Moto Farm, Murinduko, Kijokety, Kamawura, Mungetho and Kapsita Settlement in Molo and Kuresoi constituencies.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
i feel so bad when all this is happening. Kenya has never been like this and we hope and pray for peace before things get out of hand. We want to remember Kenya in a ggod way. Kenya mama yangu is a good thing. If all this keeps on happening we might loose all that we have gained and working for for all these years. I give all my regards to all that have lost snyone or anything. Let there be peace and love shared among us and let us remember Kenya.