Kenya: Marsabit County Commissioner Rotich Urges Cooperation for Successful Illegal Weapons Mop Up

Nairobi — Marsabit County Commissioner Paul Rotich has emphasized the need for collaboration between different stakeholders to ensure effective disarmament exercise in the Eastern region county that has borne the brunt of conflicts in recent months.

Rotich spoke Thursday when he led a multi-agency security team to Sololo Sub-County, where they conducted a disarmament sensitization meeting with area chiefs and assistant chiefs in the wake of spate of attacks that has left scores dead and displaced hundreds.

Sololo Sub-County borders Kenya and Ethiopia and covers Obbu and Uran Divisions.

“During the meeting, the County Commissioner highlighted that the Local Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs play a crucial role in ensuring that the community is safe owing to their vast knowledge about the area,” the National police Service said in a statement Friday.

During the meeting, the County security boss noted that Chiefs play a crucial role towards the safety of the communities owing to their vast knowledge about their areas of jurisdictions.

He further instructed the administrators to continue cooperating with security agencies to address the growing concerns about contraband goods and drug trafficking by disseminating timely information for action to be taken.

The visit comes a few days after security forces deployed in the troubled Marsabit County vowed to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to crackdown on illegally acquired firearms which are being used by criminal elements to wreak havoc in the Eastern region County.

The pronouncement came in the wake of an existing 30-day dusk-to-dawn curfew which was initiated by the government two weeks ago following a spate of attacks in the region.

The frequent attacks have been widely blamed on ethnic conflicts and the proliferation of small and light weapons from Ethiopia which has been embroiled in conflicts.

In a recent interview with journalists, Bernard Mbatha the operation commander said that they had managed to recover some arms since the operation began.

“The 30 days span was only on the curfew, the operation in Marsabit has got no timeframe, the only thing that it has are targets. Unless those targets are met, the operation is here to stay with us,” he said.

Mbatha called on the residents to work together with the security agencies to restore peace and assured them that the security agencies engaged in the operation will operate within the confines of the law while executing their duties.

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