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Two 'militiamen' held in Kenya
05/03/2008 11:27 - (SA)
Nairobi - Two suspected militiamen were killed and more than a dozen arrested in western Kenya as police searched for a group accused of a village raid that claimed 15 lives, said police on Wednesday.
Police on trucks moved into villages while helicopters flew over forests in Trans Nzoia and Mount Elgon districts, where 15 people were killed and several houses torched on Monday.
The attack was blamed on the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF), militia demanding nullification of a government settlement scheme, which it deemed unfair because it displaced the small Sabaot tribes from their ancestral land.
A police commander said: "Two militiamen were shot and more than 12 arrested on Tuesday. They are all members of the SLDF." Police said the crackdown would continue until the group is vanquished.
Kibaki, Odinga 'to unite Kenyans'
National police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe said: "We are out in the full swing and all the criminals are better on notice."
The security campaign came as President Mwai Kibaki and opposition chief Raila Odinga agreed to unite and heal the nation that was nearly destroyed by deadly post-election violence.
Odinga's claim that Kibaki stole a December 27 presidential poll touched off widespread violence that took on a tribal nature, claimed at least 1 500 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
The crisis was resolved after the leaders agreed to share power and Odinga to become a prime minister in a coalition government.
The Kenyan parliament was due to convene on Thursday to start a process to entrench the power-sharing agreement into the constitution.
The post-poll crisis, which had battered the economy, tapped into simmering resentment over land, poverty and the dominance of the Kikuyu, Kibaki's tribe, in Kenyan politics and business since independence in 1963.
It had also weakened the tourism and agriculture sectors, and tarnished the country's reputation as an island of stability in a region beset by conflicts.
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