The Turkana Professionals Association (TPA) has urged the national government to launch a military operation in the county to curb militia attacks in the county.
The plea comes after several fishermen were shot and killed in the Todonyang area on Thursday, May 15.
In a press briefing on Sunday, May 18, a representative of the association said that the residents of the county have been experiencing recurrent militia attacks, which have claimed lives and led to loss of property, and intervention from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) is needed.
Through the operation, the TPA representative pointed out that the military should also weed out illegal immigrants, who he claims are the root cause of the attacks.
The representative has asserted that through the operation, the KDF should also recover all the stolen items, such as fishing nets and boats, and return them to the residents.
"I want the government of Kenya to show that it is protecting the whole country and people from Turkana should also be given the protection with equal strength. An operation should be launched to flush out people who are not Kenyans and return them to their countries," the representative said.
TTP has further called for the compensation of families whose loved ones have died as a result of militia attacks. According to the representative, residents of the county have the right to security just like other Kenyans.
"I would like the government to follow up on the ships and nets that have never been returned, and even those who lost their lives should also be compensated. When we continue like this, these people will come again and commit these crimes," the representative said.
The plea comes a day after Dassanech District officers in Ethiopia arrested four suspects linked to the killing of the four fishermen, following a security operation conducted on Friday by the Ethiopian authorities in collaboration with Kenyan Officers.
According to reports, the four were apprehended after the security officers detained the parents of the suspects in a bid to pressure the suspects to surface.
During the attack, the four fishermen were killed as they prepared to cast fishing nets in the lake. The bodies of the four, according to the Turkana Deputy County Commissioner George Orina, were discovered on Thursday lying beside the lake.
In a similar incident earlier this year, on February 23 this year, 20 Kenyan fishermen were killed on the same spot by heavily armed militia from Ethiopia.
