Arrest, charge officers who shot and killed 100 camels, says Haji

A former Defence minister has condemned the shooting to death of 100 camels in Tana River and Kitui counties.

The camels, some of which were pregnant, died in front of horrified villagers who described the attack as sickening.

MBura MP Ali Wario points at a bullet wound on one of the few camels that survived in Bangale, Tana River, on Monday /STEPHEN ASTARIKO

Yusuf Haji, former Defence minister and now Garissa Senator, said the officers who shot the animals must be arrested and charged.

“The shooting is unprecedented and amounts to deliberately starving people to death. The officers concerned must be arrested,” he told the Star on the phone.

Police killed the animals when they moved to quell a longstanding border dispute between residents of Mwingi in Kitui and those of Basin Hargeisa, Tana River.

sprayed with bullets

Herders said security officers in two vehicles and a lorry descended on their camels at noon and indiscriminately sprayed them with bullets.

Haji said families with no food rely entirely on camel milk. He said the Somali community values camels even more than human life.

“The 100 camels can feed 1,000 people. There must be full compensation for families that lost their animals,” he said.

Source:the-star.co.ke