Assailants kill 30 in Kenyan village

Farmers and cattle herders in the area have long been at odds over resources.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Attackers swept into a southeastern Kenya village involved in long-standing ethnic disputes and killed 30 residents early Friday, police and the Kenyan Red Cross told local media. Nine of the assailants also died.

The assault on Kipao ref lected long-held tension over land and access to river water between rival communities of Pokomo farmers and Orma cattle herders in the region. The attack was carried out by about 150 Pokomo, Kenyan police spokesman Anthony Kamitu said.

Police imposed an over- night curfew in the area.

Clashes in August and September in the volatile Tana River coastal region killed more than 100 people. A judicial commission of inquiry led by Judge Grace Nzioka is investigating the cause of that violence.

Tension had been building anew in recent days, police said. Friday’s raiders, armed with spears and AK-47 rifles, reportedly burned down dozens of huts and hacked people to death. Thirteen children and six women were among the dead.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said the assailants would be caught and prosecuted. “No effort will be spared in ensuring perpetrators of the heinous act are brought to book,” he said.

The violence was believed to also have political undertones in the lead-up to elections in March, prompting concern that the vote could spark the kind of ethnic violence that accompanied balloting in 2007, when riots left about 1,500 people dead.

Although on the surface the violence appears related to competition over land and water, an underlying trigger could be the redrawing of electoral boundaries in the area, which caused a shift in the relative power of several communities, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator in Kenya said in August.

After the clashes several months ago, local lawmaker Dhadho Godhana was accused of stoking the tension. He was removed from office and charged with inciting violence. Godhana denies the charges.

Politicians were also accused of stoking the 2007 mayhem. Four prominent Kenyans have been charged by the International Criminal Court with inciting violence, including Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and lawmaker William Ruto.

The violence that erupted in August began with the communities trading accusations over cattle grazing on farmland, leading to a cycle of revenge attacks. Government troops were stationed in the area, but attempts to prevent a repeat of the violence failed.

Nzioka, whose commission has interviewed 95 witnesses, told Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper that the attack Friday came as a surprise.

“We thought progress was being made, but now we may have to review the position,” she said.