Clan elders in southern Ethiopia have agreed to hand over suspects believed to have taken part in a village massacre in northern Kenya early this month, sparking reprisal attacks that left at least 82 people dead, Kenyan police said on Wednesday.
They said Kenyan officials had been negotiating with Ethiopian authorities in a bid to arrest bandits from the Borana clan, who on July 12 raided a village of their rival Gabra clan in Turbi about 580km northeast of Nairobi, then fled over the border into Ethiopia.
”Our security team will travel to Ethiopia on Friday, when Ethiopian clan elders have promised to hand the suspects to us, but they have not specified the number of people to be handed over,” said Thomas Chigamba, police commander for eastern province.
”In addition, they [the Ethiopians] told us to go with Gabra elders who will assist in identifying recovered animals that were stolen,” during the attack, added Chigamba.
Officials said the eastern province’s head of police operations, Robert Kipkemoi Kitur, was currently on the Kenyan-Ethiopian border trying to organise the operation to recover the livestock and receive the suspects.
At least 24 people have been arrested in Kenya over the village raid and revenge attacks in the region, largely inhabited by rival Borana and Gabra clans, who have a long-running disagreement over access to limited water and pasture in the semi-arid region.
Cattle rustling is traditional among the two clans, but the increasing use of weapons and targeting of women and children has made it a deadly affair.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has repeatedly vowed to restore stability in the region and arrest the killers of the villagers, who were mostly women and children. – Sapa-AFP