What’s behind the violence in Kenya’s Marsabit region?

“I lost a schoolgirl. Eleven-year-old. My first-born daughter. She was just killed in cold blood – simply because of her ethnicity.” Marsabit in Kenya is a frontier district which borders Ethiopia. Because it’s arid, water is scarce – and over the years the two main communities living there have clashed over resources and politics. But now the violence has reached a new level: with children and city dwellers killed. There’s concern that weapons and disputes are being imported from across the border with Ethiopia. So the government has introduced a month long curfew – and a police operation, backed by the army - to search for and confiscate the illegal arms. It says it’s concerned the weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.

In response to allegations that they’ve used excessive force during the crackdown, the Kenyan Police Service has asked for the community’s patience, while the interior minister stressed that the operation would be ‘painful but necessary’.

Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja spoke to the BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza during his visit to the area.

Presenter: Alan Kasujja (@kasujja)