This archive report was first published on 3 January 2020.
Published on January 3, 2020, residents of Wajir and Mandera Counties in northern Kenya have been battling a massive invasion of desert locusts that swept in from neighboring Somalia five days ago.
Desperate to scare away the insects, residents have employed a range of unusual methods, including shouting, honking vehicles, striking metallic objects, and even whistling.
Some residents have also resorted to reading the Koran in an attempt to repel the locusts, while police have been seen shooting in the air to scare them away.
"The police may have used rubber bullets in some instances to scare the pests away, but they were there specifically to provide the residents with security as the area where the insects first settled is a terror hotspot," said Hassan Gure, a county agricultural official.
Despite these efforts, the locusts have continued to wreak havoc, with the first group successfully repelled to the Wajir-Marsabit border via several areas.
However, their celebration was short-lived as another colony of desert locusts migrated into northern Kenya from Ethiopia, forcing residents to once again take to the streets to repel the pests.
Wajir agriculture chief officer Noor Mohammed announced that a helicopter had been dispatched to Mandera for aerial spraying, with officials expecting the operation to begin by Monday.
