Updated at 6:20am, 28 Oct, 2014(PST)
October 28, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — According to the latest reports from Kakuma Refugees camp, clashes resumed on Tuesday morning following a fight that broke out on Sunday at 5pm between the Nuer and the Dinka tribes in various zones of Kakuma in Turkana District of Rifty Valley province, Kenya.
The correspondents reached by Nyamilepedia’s editorial team alleged that a teenage girl of about 11 years old from one tribe was raped by a man from the rival tribe at Hongkong market in Kakuma.
The correspondent explains that the victims went to the market, locally known as Hongkong, where she met the man who lured her to the destination where the incident followed.
After the local security and Kenyan police were involved, the accused was reportedly arrested, and the girl was rescued. However, members of the girl’s tribe at Hongkong speculated that the accused was “bribed out” by his family members. The speculation set the two sides on standby, anticipating an attack from the other tribe.
A few hours later, the fight broke out at Hongkong, an area predominated by the Dinka ethnic group. The Nuers were outnumbered and fled the zone.
Part of the group ran to Kakuma three and others ran to Zone five (Kakuma 1), where they urgently briefed their fellows on the incident.
A few others from HongKong reached Kakuma 4, a new zone that is predominated by the new arrivals, locally known as “Ci Nuer Ben -CNBs”, who were displaced, mostly, by the current conflict from South Sudan.
Upon receiving the news, the CNBs retaliated on the Dinka population in Kakuma 4, leaving 7 dead and many others injured. Women and girls were reportedly raped before the Kenyan police intervened.
According to Emmanuel Nyabera, the UNHCR spokesperson, this attack followed at around 9pm. A few hours later, the Kenyan police managed to separate the two sides and imposed a curfew.
The two sides went on guard the all Monday night as either side anticipates an attack from the other, especially from the ones that were disadvantaged in the earliest encounters.
Calls as early as 6Am, Kenyan time, on Tuesday morning by Nyamilepedia’s editorial team confirmed that the Monday night was calmed but schools remained closed on Tuesday morning.
Before the afternoon begins, however, fighting resumed at phase two of Kakuma. Members of the two sides, who were on standby at various parts of the camp, compete with the Kenyan police rushing to the site of incident, phase two, to reinforce their counterparts.
The Kenyan police could be heard firing bullets and tear gas at random to separate the two sides. The shooting has not completely cease, at the time of this writing, as groups of young men from the other zones attempt to find their ways to phase two.
A boy has been reportedly shot by a stray bullet and rushed to Kakuma hospital. Two others are believed dead in the recent clashes.
Nyabera confirms that the UNHCR and LWF are working with the Kenyan police to separate the two sides and to restore order.
