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Senators probe alleged abductions, disappearances in Wajir

 

Senators have launched investigations into alleged abductions and forced disappearances in Wajir county.

Wajir Senator Abdullahi Ali claimed residents, including elders, have been disappearing mysteriously. Some are abducted in broad daylight by unknown people or people in uniforms belonging to security agencies.

“This is becoming a routine in Wajir. People are abducted from their houses using vehicles full of security agents,” Abdullahi said.

“They are not asked questions. They are just thrown into the vehicles and then disappear.”

Ali spoke on the floor of the Senate where he sought the intervention of the government, through the National Security Committee, to unravel the abduction of a sheik, among other unresolved past cases.

The senator claimed that Ali Mohamed Yussuf Sheikh was picked up from Barwaqo in Wajir town by alleged state security agents on November 14.

Sheikh had travelled from Sire location in Korondinle division of Wajir county. He is yet to be found despite frantic efforts by his family to establish his whereabouts.

“This is an old man who is over 65 years old. When he came to Wajir town to visit some relatives, he was abducted,” the senator said.

Ali sought to know the measures the government is taking to deal with the alleged abductions and extrajudicial killings.

Deputy Speaker Margaret Kamar ordered the committee chaired by Senator Yusuf Haji (Garissa) to support Interior CS Fred Matiang'i and Police IG Hillary Mutyambai to explain the disappearances.

Meanwhile, the committee is investigating alleged attacks on Turkana herders at the Isiolo and Meru borders.

In a joint statement, senators Malachy Ekal (Turkana) and Fatuma Dullo (Isiolo) demanded a probe to unearth perpetrators of alleged armed attacks against Turkana herders.

“The committee should find out and report why herders from Turkana county are being forcibly pushed out of grazing lands that they occupy in Isiolo and Meru counties,” the statement read.

“The said people have occupied those lands as far back as the 1900s before our country came to be. Their forefathers have been buried on those lands and so naturally, they belong to those lands.”

On November 14, 10 police officers were seriously injured after an attack by armed bandits in Meru.

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