Nairobi — Potential witnesses appearing before the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission have appealed for protection.

They say perpetrators of crimes against humanity and other historical injustices might target them because of their testimony.

The witnesses were speaking when the commission begun its public hearings in Kipkelion and Mount Elgon districts.

One witness whose property was destroyed at Londiani Township, Kipkelion, told TJRC chairman Bethuel Kiplagat to provide a mechanism that would ensure they were protected from possible harassment.

The commission split into two on Monday, with one group going to Londiani and another to Mt Elgon.

"What we are appealing to your commission is to ensure that those who have made presentation in this forum are not victimised because the views presented are not of the individuals," said former Londiani councillor Jonah Koech.

He singled out the police saying they were likely to intimidate witnesses "should something related to issues that we have raised here crop up later when the commission has concluded its public hearing sessions."

During the 2008 post-election violence, he said, his business premises was torched by arsonists about 100 metres from the local police station.

District commissioner Mohammed Halakhe attributed the post-election clashes to the locals' preoccupation with politics. Leaders on the campaign trail were also to blame for issuing inflammatory statements.

He said the local security team had a difficult time dealing with the violence because there was a perception that it favoured one of the parties in the disputed presidential vote.

Representatives of the minority the Talai community who were evicted from Kipkelion district by white settlers claimed they had been sidelined by successive governments.

"We should be compensated for the land that we lost to white settlers when they established tea, coffee and pyrethrum plantations in our ancestral land," said a community representative.

Religious leaders were not spared for taking sides in the 2007 General Election campaigns which stoked the skirmishes.

In Mount Elgon, the commission visited Chebyuk, in Kopsiro Division, the scene of some of the worst atrocities carried out between 2006 and 2008 by the Sabaot Land Defence Force militia.

District officer Timothy Tirop said he looked forward to the commission resolving the issues of Mount Elgon once and for all.

"It is my hope that the recommendations that the TJRC comes up with are implemented and have the problems which have bedevilled this region since independence, solved once and for all," Mr Tirop said.

The commissioners met with people displaced by the violence, including Ms Agneta Mabutu, a grandmother who lives by the roadside and struggles to fend for seven grandchildren.

"My son, who looked after us, was killed and our home destroyed. I do not even know where they took him and have not buried him so I cannot rest," she told the commissioners.

Ms Violet Chesondi said they were only beginning to resettle on their farms and lamented the loss of life and property during the land related violence in which an estimated 3,000 people were killed.

Mr David Chemiat Ndiwa showed the commissioners a mass grave in his backyard which still has the remains of 16 people killed by the militia.

"My land was turned into a court and they chose this area as a burial site," he said.

"We tried to exhume one body but it just fell apart. We asked the government to help us but no one has bothered," he said.

He urged the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to end the constant warring between the Bukusu and Sabaot communities and within the Sabaot between the Soi and Ndorobo.

Vice- chair Tecla Namachanja urged the potential witnesses to help the commission to document the violations and injustices they suffered.

"These statements will form the basis of further research and investigations, a historical record of violations and human rights abuses as well as identification of additional victims and perpetrators that may qualify for a public hearing," she said.