Leaflets spark fear in Kenya

2005-04-10 13:27

Mai Mahiu, Kenya - Fears of new ethnic violence have surged in Kenya's central Rift Valley province after threatening leaflets warning residents to leave the region were distributed, local police said on Sunday.

"We are giving you one week to vacate from Kigecha," some of the tracts read.

Hand-written in Kiswahili language, the leaflets were discovered in the strife-torn area of Mai-Mahiu, Naivasha police chief Simon Kiragu said.

Some 30 people have been killed in the area since January in clashes between Kikuyu and Maasai tribesmen over the right to pasture and water, after the Maasai accused a Kikuyu farmer of diverting the waters of Ewaso Kedong river and causing shortages downstream.

Kiragu said it was not clear if the message was addressed to Kikuyu or Maasai tribesmen, but he downplayed the incident and said the leaflets could be the work of one discontented resident.

The tracts nonetheless sparked fears among locals who were contemplating going back to their homes, torched during the January clashes.

"The last clashes started after leaflets were distributed and we fear that the same would recur," Samuel Wachira, whose house was set on fire in the area two months ago, told AFP.

Since the clashes erupted in January, legislators have traded accusations and blamed each other for the violence.

Sporadic attacks in the region have claimed the lives of at least 30 people and hundreds have fled. Several houses have been torched and hundreds of livestock stolen.

- AFP