[Garissa Senator Mohamed Yusuf Haji has urged the military to reconsider bombing Boni forest.] (nation.co.ke)
Garissa Senator Mohamed Yusuf Haji has urged the Kenyan military to come up with a better solution than bombing Boni forest, the hideout of Al-Shabaab that have been terrorizing residents.
Senator Haji said that planned bombing of the Boni forest might result in loss of lives of innocent civilians, wildlife and livestock.
Mr Haji said that the military should instead pursue the Al-Shabaab militants on foot instead of telling the residents leaving near the forest to move.
“If they must bomb, then they should narrow it to areas that are feasible to avoid wildlife, livestock or even human casualties.”
“In as much as we are in full support of the government move to flash out the militants that are causing human suffering in the surrounding areas, the exercise should not be done in a way it could threaten the lives and livelihoods of our people,” said the Senator as quoted by KNA.
He said that the herders leaving in the forest have nowhere to go after they were ordered to leave with their animals and warned those who will ignore the warnings would be treated as terrorists.
Mr Haji added that the herders were yet to recover from the recent severe drought and majority of them have moved to the grazing fields near the Boni forest and had nowhere else to run to.
“Telling the pastoralists to leave is like condemning them. Where will they go and this is the area they have depended on for generations?” he said.