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40 Hurt in Anti-US Riot

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The East African Standard (Nairobi)

December 14, 2003
Posted to the web December 15, 2003

Victor Obure
Nairobi

More than 40 people including a chief were injured on Friday when hundreds of Muslims attempted to eject US Marines from a Garissa hotel.

Scores were pelted with stones as riot police engaged protesters in running battles in the town's streets.

Placard-waving residents torched American flags and an effigy of US President George Bush at a Garissa playground before accosting the Marines.

They also mounted roadblocks on the major roads and indiscriminately pelted motorists with stones while chanting anti-US slogans.

The Marines arrived in the town last week to offer free medical and veterinary services but met a hostile reception from residents amid claims that they were pursuing terrorists in the region.

Imams and Sheikhs reportedly incited faithful in local mosques against the charity claiming the drugs offered were laced with toxic substances intended to wipe out the Muslim population from the world.

Nine Marines caught up in Friday's violence were visibly shaken and held lengthy conversations via powerful military satellite phones before Garissa police chief Remmy Ngugi beefed up security and assured them of their safety.

And tempers flared up during the Jamhuri day celebrations at Garissa's Baraza Park when Fafi MP Adden Sugow clashed with immediate area MP Elias Shill over the presence of the Marines in town.

Sugow insisted that the Americans should leave immediately but Shill, who had apparently accompanied the soldiers in their tour, said they should carry on with the charity amid booing from the public.

Sugow said America wanted to replace the dominance of Islamic NGOs in the region and demanded that such charities be run by local organisations.

"We don't want American soldiers in our manyattas, we can only deal with them indirectly through other agencies because we believe they have a hidden agenda," he shouted.

North Eastern Provincial Commissioner Abdul Mwasera cautioned leaders not to politicise the charity and said treatment was voluntary.

He censored religious leaders for inciting residents against the Marines and urged them to appreciate their noble gesture.

The protest comes after a similar outcry in Wajir District where pastoralists claimed that some of the animals vaccinated by the Marines died after the treatment.