Police in Lamu have warned residents, who fled to IDPs camps due to violence, not to secretly return home because it’s not safe.
This is due to the security operations in their villagers. Some 2,150 IDPs are in the Katsaka Kairu camp. The others are in another camp at the AIC Church in Witu town. Some want to return to tend their crops and guard their property.
The IDPs mostly from Jima, Poromoko, Kakathe, Pandanguo and Nyongoro fled their homes, following a spate of al Shabaab attacks. More than 10 people were killed.
In July, the government directed villagers closer to Boni Forest to move to the camps to allow for Operation Linda Boni security agencies to bomb militants’ hideouts and flush terrorists from the forest.
Yesterday, county commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo said he is aware some IDPs were secretly leaving the safety of the camps and going back to their homes without police approval.
Kitiyo said the IDPs are supposed to wait for permission from the security agencies that will advise when it’s safe to return.
Going back too soon could result in injury and death, he said. The four men beheaded by suspected fmilitants in Maleli village on August 18, had disregarded the directive against leaving.