Spotted this artical on the BBC news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4682117.stm
In short, 76 Kenyan villagers murdered by bandits.
After seeing that, I wondered what the rules were on civilians owning defensive weapons, so Googled "gun laws in Kenya", and found this:
"East Africa Unites Against Small Arms"
http://www.iansa.org/regions/cafrica/small_arms_protocol.htm
BBC article:
IANSA article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4682117.stm
In short, 76 Kenyan villagers murdered by bandits.
After seeing that, I wondered what the rules were on civilians owning defensive weapons, so Googled "gun laws in Kenya", and found this:
"East Africa Unites Against Small Arms"
http://www.iansa.org/regions/cafrica/small_arms_protocol.htm
BBC article:
Kenyans fear further killer raids
This is the worst attack in a long-standing feud
Kenyans are fleeing the area where a massacre was carried out in the north-east village of Turbi in which 76 people died, fearing further attacks.
A truck-load of villagers arrived in the nearest large town, Marsabit, saying they feared more unrest.
Hundreds of armed men surrounded Turbi primary school and nearby houses and opened fire as children were making their way to school early on Tuesday.
Security forces are pursuing raiders, who stole cattle, goats and camels.
Kenyans say the killers have fled north, towards Ethiopia.
Of the 76 people killed in the frenzy of violence, 22 were children. Ten bandits are said to have died.
Police are also investigating a suspected revenge attack.
"I appeal for calm as the government embarks on a security operation to track down the perpetrators of the attack," President Mwai Kibaki said on Wednesday.
Tuesday's raid in Turbi village - populated by the Gabra clan - is blamed on the rival Borana some of whom come from Ethiopia. The two groups have feuded over water and pasture in the semi-arid region.
Cross-border raids for livestock are common in the area but correspondents say this is one of the most deadly such attacks in Kenya's history.
Correspondents says tension is high in Marsabit, 130km from the attack, where villagers are continuing to flee.
Deaths
Deputy provincial police officer Gerald Oluch told the BBC's Network Africa programme that the raiders were being pursued near the Kenya-Ethiopia border and that some cattle stolen by them had been recovered.
"More than a 100 policemen are on the ground, and the army," he said, adding other units were on their way.
In Marsabit 16 people are being treated in hospital, the BBC's Adam Mynott in northern Kenya says.
Among those who fled the violence, one person said he left because his home had been destroyed and had no confidence in the security forces.
Bodies have been left on the streets where they were killed.
Former Kenyan Foreign Minister Bonaya Godana, who toured the scene of the attack, told the AFP news agency that many of the victims were shot dead while getting ready to go to school.
He said most of the 22 children "died in their school uniforms".
Survivors
Grandmother Darare Bathacha told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper that she had survived by crawling under a bed as the killers murdered her son, Ukur Boru, 40, his wife, Kabane Ukur and their nursery school age son.
This seven-year-old boy was air-lifted to Nairobi 560km away
Another survivor Okille Hukha, 46, ran into the bush but his wife and four children were all killed.
James Galgalo of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Marsabit said he believed the raiders were seeking revenge for earlier attacks.
"There have been clashes all around here in the past three months between the Gabra and Borana," he told the BBC.
"They are massacring people - from what we saw they used a lot of spears and knives."
Kenya's media say dozens have been killed in clashes between the two ethnic groups this year.
IANSA article:
East Africa Unites Against Small Arms
Eleven East African countries have signed the Nairobi Protocol on small arms and light weapons, the first binding agreement on small arms in this gun-affected region.
Signed by Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, the Protocol is a giant step toward the achievement of uniform tough gun laws. It requires these countries to incorporate provisions into their national laws including the following:
ban on civilian ownership of automatic and semi-automatic rifles
registration of all guns
regulation of gun storage and competency testing for prospective
owners
restrictions on the number of guns a person can own
ban on pawning of guns
uniform minimum standards regulating the manufacture, control, possession, import, export, transit, transport and transfer of small arms
standardised marking and identification of small arms
regulation of security companies regulation of small arms brokering
uniform tough sentencing for unlicensed gun possession
States must also create and maintain complete inventories of state-owned small arms, sufficient to effectively trace the movement of these weapons. Requirements for secure disposal or destruction of surplus and confiscated weapons are also included.
Governments have undertaken to ratify the Nairobi Protocol by the end of 2004 and will create a Regional Centre on Small Arms to ensure its coordinated implementation. A Civil Society Dialogue Forum will also be created to coordinate small arms activities between NGOs, National Focal Points and the Nairobi Secretariat.
To find out more visit the SaferAfrica website.
