By Okello and Shidad
A refugee man survived gunshots wounds in a night attack in Kakuma
A Sudanese refugee sustained bodily injuries including gunshots wounds that landed him in the camp hospital. The incident happened in the evening of 14th November 2017 at around 8 o’clock in Kakuma 2 zone 1 block 7 settlement within the camp.
On the night of attack, Peter Ali was at his home when he ran out of the house after hearing the smashing of his entrance door to the plot. “I was preparing to sleep when they arrived, they break the entrance door and demanded for my phone on the spot,” Ali said.
When Ali refused to surrender his phone the three thugs beat him up. “I was trying to resist and I got one of them down but when the other hit my head with a sharp machete, I fell down,” Ali states. According to Ali he fought with the armed thugs for about ten minutes without anyone of his neighbors intervening.
Ali could not get his breath while he was being kicked on the ground and trying to escape from the sharp end of an AK47 rifle aimed at him by one of the thugs.
“I was on the ground, then the trio move backwards and one of them fired the gun at me. That was all I could remember,” Ali told KANERE in an interview.
He stated that while he was lying helplessly on the ground of his compound, the thugs fired two gunshots at him but only one bullet hit him just below his neck, leaving a huge open wound.
(Ali at the refugee clinic after sustaining a gunshot wounds in Kakuma)
“a bullet barely missed my head but the other shot on my neck and exited on my left shoulder. I was in so much pain,” Ali continued to explain.
It was around 9 o’clock when Ali was taken to the refugee hospital in Camp 3 where he underwent surgical treatment on the holes left by the bullet.
The area local security stated to have alerted the Kenya police and the ambulance upon arriving the scene of the incident. “I couldn’t believe what I saw, there was pool of blood around his (Ali’s) body. I thought he could not survive,” Sharif, the area camp security, told KANERE.
On the 20th November, Ali was discharged from the clinic and was instructed to undergo daily dressing at Clinic 5 – another clinic in the camp.
Ali complained about his treatment at the refugee clinics which he described as poorly equipped with poor skilled nurses and lack of proper medication. “It was a painful process during operation and I was then discharged with only painkiller tabs.” A few weeks down the line, Ali was complaining about severe pain in the arms, head and neck. “My condition wasn’t stable and there’s swelling around the wounds and constant pain all over my body. In some nights, I cannot sleep due to severe pain, I have no options,” Ali complains.
(Ali at the refugee clinic after sustaining a gunshot wounds 1/2..)
Peter Ali aged 20 arrived in Kakuma in 2013 from Sudan due to the violent political conflict in Sudan. He has lived in the camp with his uncle since then. He completed his secondary education in Kakuma in 2016 but the prospect of furthering his education is grim. The refugee youths who graduate from secondary schools in the camp normally face similar challenges to further their tertiary education. Ali remains optimistic, in his camp where resources are limited and opportunities are unattractive.
In July, a secondary school girl was sexually assaulted by an armed gang, while in October, a Congolese refugee man suffered three gunshot wounds from armed criminals who have been terrorizing the camp residents despite the presence of the camp authority.