Over 60 killed, 75,000 displaced in Kenya clashes: UN

Nairobi, June 23 (IANS) Communal violence in northern Kenya's Wajir and Mandera counties since May have claimed at least 60 lives and led to displacement of 75,000 others, the UN said Monday.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) eastern Africa office said the violence between the feuding Degodia and Garre clans in the two counties has indirectly affected an additional 60,000 people in Wajir county, where 50 houses were also burnt.

It said the county governments of Wajir and Mandera were working with Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) and other humanitarian partners to deliver assistance to those displaced and affected by the clashes.

Both Garre and Degodia have communal presence and have sophisticated armed militias in Ethiopia which have been used in clan fighting in the country.

The east African nation faces challenges related to resurgence of militias and the internal risks to stability posed by Kenya's external war on the Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The death toll came after some 20 people were killed and 13 others seriously injured in renewed ethnic clashes in Wajir county, in the restive northern Kenya Sunday.