Officers and Machinery Deployed In The North Rift To Remain Even After Areas Pacified

NAIROBI, Kenya April 26 -Security officers and military machinery deployed in the North Rift to deal with the banditry will remain in the region even after the multi-agency operation is over.

The Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kindiki Kithure on Wednesday told the Senate the team had managed to take control of most areas of the Samburu, Turkana, West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet counties that had been identified as hideout spots for bandits.

“Our presence will remain permanent even after we call off the operation, we will not withdraw the presence of security officers. They will dominate those areas and make it impossible for bandits to retreat,” CS Kindiki told the Senate.

He added that the status of security in Samburu since the deployment of the military to assist the police had improved tremendously from what was the case before the operation was declared.

“We identified certain parts of Samburu and the other counties which were being used to hold bandits,” he said.

Kindiki further said that though the operation was largely successful, there were still gaps to be sealed. “We will stay there for as long as it takes. We are on course, and we will win the war,” he vowed.

Mid-February this year, the government ordered the deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers to hold a joint security operation with police to flush out bandits wreaking havoc in the region.

The government termed the security situation in the North Rift as a “national emergency” that had led to loss of over 100 lives in just a period of six months.