Nairobi--A dozen top Kenyan athletes, including former World Marathon champions Paul Tergat and Tegla Loroupe, are to lead a 22-day "Walk for Peace" against ethnic violence.
Cattle rustling and revenge killings between rival communities are common in Kenya's remote and impoverished northern regions, an area awash with automatic weapons.
The 836 kilometre (520 mile) walk is being organised by former Commonwealth marathon champion John Kelai, who was spurred to act by continued violence, marching in memory of three of his uncles killed in cattle raids when he was a teenager.
"We are going to inspire and engage the young people from the divided communities and help to break the cycle of violence," Kelai, the 2010 Commonwealth marathon gold medalist, said in a statement.
Other athletes expected to take part include former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang, and Uganda's reigning Olympic and world marathon champion, Stephen Kiprotich.
Kiprotich comes from Uganda's border areas with Kenya, which suffers from cattle rustling and violence.
The marathon march begins in Kenya's northern town of Lodwar in the volatile Turkana region on July 15, heading south for some 40 kilometres every day through the vast Rift Valley to Lake Bogoria on August 6.
"Running has brought me a lot of championships, fame, accolade, but what it has not brought me is peace," Kelai said in a video message.
"When I was 13 years of age I lost my three uncles, they were killed by cattle rustlers."
Last year at least 310 people were killed and more than 220,000 fled their homes as a result of inter-communal conflicts attributed to competition over land and water resources, cattle rustling, and struggles over political representation, according to the United Nations.
AFP
