Mandera leaders apologise over mass graves claim

A section of Mandera County leaders, led by Senator Billow Kerrow, have apologised for claiming that there were several mass graves in the area.

The apology came hours after Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery ordered all those who made allegations that there were mass graves in Mandera to apologise by Thursday December 10^th or face arrest.

Nkaissery termed the allegations as alarmist, saying they frustrate the war against terror.

Speaking while addressing the media at Harambee House on Wednesday, the CS ordered journalists Yassin Juma and Mohammed Ali, who he blamed for breaking the news, to apologise, further accusing them of lacking patriotism.

He also faulted a section of Mandera leaders led by Billow Kerrow for issuing the alert on the graves that were later proven to be non-existent.

“Nothing was found in the 15 sites that were dug. Excavators were brought in but still found nothing,” noted the CS.

He claimed the alert was a sinister political agenda that was aimed at painting the government negatively.

Nkaissery disclosed that 3000 youths had returned from Somalia after leaving the Al Shabaab militant group and noted that it was wrong to assume any missing persons had been killed by security agents.

He asked parents to report their missing children to police to enable investigations into their disappearance.

The CS revealed that the woman whose body was found in a shallow grave had been an Al Shabaab sympathiser and that she worked as a cook for the militant group.

“The woman who died was a cook for the Al Shabaab but investigations into her death are still ongoing,” he said.

Meanwhile, The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Chair Gakuria Mbogori revealed that the organization had sent a team to probe the allegations of mass graves in Mandera, and noted that one body had been exhumed and a postmortem done.

He stated that no other bodies have been found in the exhumation exercise but said they were awaiting a full report from their team.

The woman was identified as a mother of five who operated a kiosk at Arabia and was allegedly taken from her kiosk at 1pm on December 4 by armed people dressed in army uniform.